ICY Dock -or- SansDigital TowerRaid : Any User Comments?

[David Roth weiss]

Ralph,

I doubt anyone here is familiar with those brands, because they are consumer-level hardware, and not designed for serious video editing applications.

Do your self a favor, take the time to click on my headshot above the FCP Forum and skim over my latest review of the CalDigit HDPro2.

I’m not saying that you must buy that brand, it’s just that there are many things in the article you can learn about RAID technology in general from that review, and from that information you will learn why price alone is not the determining factor in a RAID purchase, and why most professionals here don’t use the “off the shelf” brands.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Ralph Chaney]

Thank you, David. I’ll give it a read. Eager to learn about the differences between consumer and pro enclosures. It’s

There’s this odd balance between buying professional gear and consumer stuff. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, as in DV versus HDV tape. Even if there was a measurable advantage to HDV tape, the loss of one shot due to (extremely rare) dropout is minor. But lots of captured footage feeding a must-be-done-by-6pm edit session is another story.

-R.

-> Ralph

[David Roth weiss]

I agree with you Ralph, overspending is not something that makes one feel particularly good. Informed shopping is always a good idea.

Pay particular attention to the parts of my article about 100% hardware RAID, and the single vendor solution. These are critical unless you want to spend your time recovering lost files and going around in circles calling vendors who will all point to the other guy instead being accountable.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Ralph Chaney]

David,

What a great looking piece of equipment. It’s beyond my scope right now, I think. I edit at ProRes standard and don’t need the impressive throughput the CalDigits provide. I’m working from a Mac 2.66ghz Dual Core. I would be good to see multi-layered sequences real time, but I think I need to up the ante on my Mac first. So I think I’ll be on hold for something like this.

…unless this level of throughput would eliminate long rendering times. But I usually output to computer files, not to tape, so the renders would probably still have to take place?

It would be great to restructure my studio and workflow, given the budget and supporting projects.

Perhaps when I get into the Red-esque bitrates I’ll be going this way.

Thanks for pointing out the road.

-R.

-> Ralph

[David Roth weiss]

Take a look at CalDigit’s other offerings Ralph. Their VR, a firewire 800 RAID solution may be more suitable for you at this juncture.

https://www.CalDigit.com/CalDigit_VR/

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Christopher Delaine]

If you really want to do it your self check out pc-pitstop.com. They sell custom Built SAS and ESATA enclosures. Check out Newegg for a good deal on drives and Raid cards. I recommend the Highpoint 4322 or the atto R380.

[Ralph Chaney]

Christopher,

I’ll probably go this direction at this point. Price is certainly driving the decision.

Do you have any experience with the 4-bay enclosures? I like that they have 2 fans.
Any experience or observations about heat levels in the case, or the drives themselves?

Thanks very much!

-Ralph

-> Ralph

[Christopher Delaine]

There are two fans in the four bay.