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external SATA enclosure cooling
As I prepare to start shooting a lot more DVCPRO-HD, I’m thinking about storage. Hot-swapping dual SATA drives on external enclosures set to RAID-1 seems the best way to go, but I’m worried about cooling. Many enclosures don’t include active cooling.
Should I be worried about disks overheating inside an enclosure? Would placing the enclosures on a laptop cooling pad solve the problem?
Also, if I set the 2 disks for RAID-1 using software utilities, will this place much strain on my CPU?
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5 Replies
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[John Kersten] “Should I be worried about disks overheating inside an enclosure?”
Not if you buy a decent drive, and are not planning to shoot and edit in the Gobi desert.
I’ll spare you the usual “I use these” answers – there are plenty of good, reliable eSATA drives advertised to the left and right of this post.
If you want a good balance of speed/safety, I’d go with a RAID 5 system for editing. For field storage and backup, mirroring is fine, but I wouldn’t edit with both drives connected, just use one to backup captured media.
Ben
Edit Out Ltd
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FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer -
A RAID 5 array is much much better. Better protection for your work.
If you purchase a proper SATA array, cooling is a non-issue. Look at Maxx Digital, Sonnet, Dulce and others you see here on the banner ads.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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If your looking for just a dual disk enclosure, I’ve had very good luck with Firmtek’s products. I’ve been running a pair of dual enclosures for almost two years with no heating problems at all. The newer box also has a multi-speed fan in it. FWIW
Tom -
John,
I have the same Firmtec 4 banger that Tom has. Here in Arizona though, a little extra ventilation is a good thing, as my edit bay is really hard to cool.
So, I bought a little tower fan at Fry’s to blow over the unit, and have survived two summers with it so far.
Have a wonderful day.
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Yep.
I’m in Wisconsin where we rarely have heat issues…
Tom
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