RAID drive recommendations

[Guthrie Andres]

The advantage of RAID’s is that you can use a cheap drive like the Western Digital, and if they fail it’s fine because of redundancy. Drive’s have a limited lifespan and it definitely varies from drive to drive, even within the same model. You can pay for super expensive server grade drives, but I prefer to take solace in the fact that I have a hot spare, and that if a drive fails I’ll be fine and can just buy slip in a new one. I use the Hitachi DeskStar 2TB and have had no failures with them.

[David Roth weiss]

[Guthrie Andres] ” You can pay for super expensive server grade drives, but I prefer to take solace in the fact that I have a hot spare, and that if a drive fails I’ll be fine and can just buy slip in a new one. I use the Hitachi DeskStar 2TB and have had no failures with them.”

Most of the major RAID manufacturers agree. Very few use enterprise rated drives and most are now using Hitachi drives. Seagate had a few bad runs that put them down a few tiers, and it seems that Hitachi’s firmware just seems to work better for most.

However, I always suggest that everyone ask the manufacturer of their particular RAID controller for that company’s recommendation, because they most likely built and tested using a particular brand, and if you stray, you might pay.

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.

[Donato M. rondinelli]

Thanks.
This a generic server raid in the IT server room. It will be RAID 6 so I have some safety there. But this is not for editing, this is near line for all P2 and EX3 media. If this takes a dump, I have no other backup. At some point I’ll get an archive appliance, but in the mean time this is where everything get dumped to.

David, I learned about enterprise drives from one of your post way back when. But as you say, that may now be overkill.

If Hitachi’s are the standard, I’ll consider them. Tapeless…this is a scary new world!

-dMR

[David Roth weiss]

[Donato M. Rondinelli] “David, I learned about enterprise drives from one of your post way back when. But as you say, that may now be overkill. “

Donato, I don’t think anyone had a clue that SATA drives would be so robust as they have proven to be.

Like everyone else, even the RAID manufacturers have to weigh the costs vs. the benefits of spending the extra $$$ that enterprise drives command, and the fact is, most have determined that, even though their reputations depend on reliability, they don’t seem to lose a thing by saving on that particular expense.

That being said, backing up P2 cards to BluRay discs as an extra measure of safety is probably the most fail-safe and cost efficient method that exists at this time. BluRay burners and discs have really dropped in price now. So, if I were you, I’d take the money you save by not buying enterprise drives and spend it on BluRay hardware.

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.

[Donato M. rondinelli]

Great suggestion!
Thanks,
-dMR