RAID Rage II

[Dean Sensui]

I’m using a SATA RAID based on a pair of Hitachi/IBM SATA drives in a Seritek 1EN2 housing. Using the SeriTek 1SE2 SATA card with external ports.

It’s nice to be able to swap RAID’s for different clients. That way each project or series of projects have their own storage space.

It’s also less expensive when more space is needed. Just have to purchase the bare drives and a pair of hard drive trays.

These were ordered from Other World Computing.

Dean Sensui
http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com

[Michael Calvino]

Hey Dean, what sort of footage are you working with?
Just wondering about speed and stuff?

also how much did the set up cost you initially,
as I’m trying to get some sort of raid system
approved for purchase.

Thnx

mc

[Dean Sensui]

Hi Michael…

I work with DV, mastering to Betacam SP.

The drives are about $140 each.

Package deal for the Seritek Bundle: One SeriTek/1SEN2 External Enclosure & One 2-Port Host Adapter — $260.

https://store.yahoo.com/firmtek/sata1sen2.html

Dean Sensui
http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com

[Michael Calvino]

Dean,

Do you really need Raid for DV…?

I suppose you have the drives mirrored for security yeah?

or are you working with uncompressed titles?

cheers

[Dean Sensui]

Michael…

I’m using it as a Level-0 RAID for speed and to ensure against dropped frames. Ever since I began working with a RAID I hadn’t had any problems with dropped frames.

Having a RAID also helps if you’re working with several clips in a composite or with other applications such as Live Type or Motion.

The only time I work uncompressed is when I’m doing a composite in Commotion or After Effects. Otherwise it’s pretty much native DV.

Dean Sensui
http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com

[Jerry Alto]

Michael- Been using a sata raid system (2X250GB) for over a year with very few problems. We do betacam sp digitized at 8-bit uncompressed and our timelines are all 8-bit uncompressed. In the past we mastered back to Beta SP but recently our dub house bought a G-5 with FCP and we’ve been delivering them 8-bit Quicktime movies of our half hour show (about 30GBs) on lacie drives. They copy to their 2nd internal sata drive and are going off to Digibeta SDI. We’ve been very pleased with our sata raid O.
Jerry

[Walter Biscardi]

[Tom Matthies] “OK, I’m looking for a recommendation for a proper RAID array. Since this is a home system, I don’t want to (or need to) buy a BIG raid system. Something in the range of about 500Gb to a TB. I’m thinking about a G-Raid, a small Huge system or a (gasp) Lacie 4-disk system. I forget what it’s called…”Biggest disk?” or something like it. Or should I even trust in a Lacie product anymore. Hard to say…”

Tom, I’ve reviewed both the G-RAID and LaCie Biggest Disk F800 in the Cow Features section. If all you’re doing is DV, then the Biggest Disk is a nice deal with up to 2TB in a small footprint.

If all you need is 500GB, then a single G-RAID or a single LaCie Big Disk Extreme will function quite nicley. You can also pick up two G-RAID 500’s and stripe them together for more speed.

There’s no big deal about RAID’ing two FW800’s together. I run FW800’s in both suites depending on what I’m working with. The Fibre Channel array is the main workhorse, but I’ve cut dozens of 8bit SD projects on my FW800’s.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Tom,

If you think it’s hot there you should check out Phoenix. It was 116 yesterday. With three machines and 7 monitors in my studio, the heat even in winter is unbearable. So last spring what I did was got a small ac unit at Lowes for around a hundred bucks. What a difference! I can get it down to 75 from around 90.

[Tom Matthies]

Yea, I have a window AC unit in the studio. It gets pretty hot in there during the daytime. I normally go in and turn on the AC a little while before going editing. Last night, all I needed was to dub a few spots out of the computer so I didn’t turn on the air. The ambient temp in the room was around 87. Just a short time after turning on the computer, the Lacie drives were acting up. Dropping frames and just running sluggish in general. Eventually, while loading a project they will just quit. The blue activity lights will just start flashing at a rapid rate. At that point, you’re pretty much done for the day. These things are freestanding and not in a cabinet or something where the flow on air is restricted. They are basically at room temp…87 degrees in this case. Once they heat up, they are useless. They have no active cooling in the cases at all. I guess the aluminum case is supposed to act like a heat sink to cool the drives. Well, I hate to say it Lacie, but it doesn’t work very well. These drives run HOT on a normal day. I’m looking for something a bit more stable and fan cooled if possible.
I guess in a few months, it won’t matter. Whereas you enjoy 100+ temps in Phoenix in the summer, we, here in Green Bay will get to enjoy those below zero temps soon enough. I’m not sure which is worse…
Neither is much fun. Keep cool.
Tom

[Mitchji]

Hi,

I second the Firmtek SATA recommendation. I think SATA is more reliable than FW. I would get the Firmtek four port external card even if you only plan to use two external drives at the present time. This card and the enclosures are reviewed here:
https://www.barefeats.com/hard46.html

Best Wishes,

Mitch