-
Need advice on building a RAID
Hello Creative cows,
I’m setting DaVinci Resolve on my MAC and I’m about to build my first RAID.
I want to start out with a simple (cheap) RAID but would like to be able to expand (buy more hard drives when I have the money) later on.
What is a basic external RAID that I could set up? I would like to play 2048×1556 DPX files in real time – ungraded. And be able to play back the same files close to real time once I start grading?
I’m not even sure what I need.
I think I need an interface PCI card. I know there is a Caldigit for $600 dollars, but what would be my other (cheaper) options?
Also I think I need some sort of rack for the hard drives. I’ve seen some for a PC for around $300 dollars. What would my MAC options be in that area?
Thanks much for any help!
-
10 Replies
-
The Caldigit card is a great option but it no longer will control the internal drives on newer Mac Pros and as far as I know it will only work with the Caldigit HD Elements that are four-drive solutions.
It’s pretty great in that you can attach one, two, or three HD Elements in a combined RAID. I started with one, and now have two. I use them as separate 4-drive RAIDs and have no problem with 2048×1152 DPX sequences at 24fps, but you might find that 2048×1556 is stretching it… potentially you would need to combine two for 24fps playback…
Mine have been extremely reliable…
KC
prehistoricdigital.com
hardworkingpixels.com -
Look at the Highpoint Rocket Raid products. The Rocket Raid 2314 which is a 4-port eSata card which works with port multipliers and will support up to 20 drives and is cheap. There are also newer SAS controllers and HBA’s from them which are inexpensive and support allot of high speed sata 6g drives.
I have a 12Tb disk on a Rocket Raid 2314 which supports a single stream of 2K DPX very comfortably.
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
-
[Robert Houllahan] “Rocket Raid 2314 … is cheap”
That it is, and so are its features and support. E.g. it advertises to support OCE for Mac OSX yet it doesn’t.
Alex (DV411)
-
Again it is a cheap solution, I have a R680 on the Resolve box now but that ATTO card alone is almost as much as a cheap 8Tb raid with the 2314, two Port Multipliers and drives. I have the 2314 on another machine now but it does work in Raid-5 for 2K DPX files. Horses for Courses and You generally get what you pay for…. If you need a “starter” Raid the Highpoint will do.
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
-
I’m running my RAID off of a RocketRAID card. It has some strange things. If your RAID is switched on after the machine is started and logged into your user, it may crash with a nice kernel panic. Easy fix: start the RAID before you start the machine.
Except that, I have no problems with RocketRAID.
-
When I put together the eSata Rocket Raid a few years ago it went something like this:
RR 2314 $160.00 3X Addonics Port Moutipliers $350.00 12X 1Tb Deskstars Enterprise Drives $2000.00 (a while back) 12Bay Enclosure $650.00
Total $3160.00 for 12Tb
Today with a Rocket Raid:
Rocket Raid 2722 + Sans Digital 8-Bay SAS/Sata enclosure $500.00 8 2Tb enterprise Drives $1400.00
Total $1900.00 for 16Tb
The Atto setup I have on Resolve now:
Atto R680 $950.00 Astek A33606 SAS Multiplier $600.00 20 SAS Disk Server Chassis $700.00 20 1Tb Hitachi Ultrastar Dives $2240.00
Total $4490.00 for 20Tb
The Atto solution is probably the best but a 16Tb Highpoint 8 Disk array with SAS connectivity for less than $2k is pretty damn good.
Computer junk gets cheaper by the minute.
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
-
WOW! Great info! Thank You!
That gives me a very good place to start.
I have a new question. The “multiplier” looks like it uses a PCI slot. I can only afford 1 PCI slot for the RAID (I can’t afford a Cubix at the moment)
Do all RAID setups need a Multiplier? Looking at this option, it looks like it does not need one?
“Rocket Raid 2722 + Sans Digital 8-Bay SAS/Sata enclosure $500.00 8 2Tb enterprise Drives $1400.0”
-
No miltipler needed with that new Highpoint SAS and that enclosure only one PCIe slot in the Mac-Pro for the raid card.
-Rob-
Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.comMAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.
-
[Robert Houllahan] “Astek A33606 SAS Multiplier”
Thank you for bringing it up. Looks like one of the least expensive SAS 6G expander solutions.
Did you install it into a PCIe slot, or in a chassis bay? If the former, does it come with a mounting bracket to be installed internally in a system?
What are the speeds you are seeing with 20 drives?
Thanks!
Alex (DV411)
-
Hello Robert,
Sorry for hacking this old thread, but I am looking at building a RAID and during the last 48 hrs I have been all over the possibilities of building an external RAID rather than running an ATTO R608 with 6 internal drives.
After posting inquiries about this two days ago, I have only more questions and a tight budget, so I can’t go too crazy, but if I can afford it, I will go for a 16 bay enclosure with miniSAS, Enterprise drives SATA or SAS III (6Gb/s) and the ATTO R680.
So far, I had understood that as an internal RAID in my MacPro, I would only need to mod an optical bay to house two drives there, mod the four existing backplanes and add the R608 plus two fan out cables. But I am considering the cost of a bigger set up instead…I want to get the parts myself and put them together, even if it is my first RAID. I need to get an enclosure, plus a RAID card for it (is that the one I linked below?) and a ……… RAID pcie card for the 12 core Mac. And then connect the two cards with…? Is it possible for money similar to an internal RAID as I was originally planning?
I know we are all very busy, but you came up with three very reasonable set ups and if you are aware of any similar set ups today, that I can look into, I would be a very happy man.
By the way:
https://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_expanders/A33606-PCI.aspIf this is too much to get into, no worries! I understand busy!
Thank you for reading,
Alex 🙂
Alex Vargas
filmmaker/composer
Macpro 5,1 12 core 48GB RAM – Macbookpro 15″ – FCP 7+/Logic 9
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up