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Storage Advice
Hello all,
I am a relativley new MAC user / non-linear video editor looking for a good cheap solution. I have a large amount of DV that I need to edit and I am quickly finding that I have storage and space issues.
I use a Power MAC G5 Dual 2GHz with Final Cut and I will be working with DV for the most part. I currently have the stock 160GB SATA Drive as well as a 250GB Maxtor in the expansion bay. I am looking to purchase some storage soltuions and I was wanting to know what people think of using External Firewire Drives as a location to edit from.
I have looked at some RAID firewire solutions at macsales.com like a 1TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL PRO 800 RAID Dual Drive 7200RPM Storage Solution w/16MB Data Buffer(8MB per HD).
Has anyone experienced any issues with these kind of drives keeping up in an editiing environment. I know that a true solution would be to go with some sort of Ultrawide SCSI break out box option but something like that is beyond my budget at this point.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
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5 Replies
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LaCie and G-Tech both make outstanding FW800 RAID drives that will work extremely well for DV editing. I run both the Big Disk Extreme (LaCie) and the G-RAID’s here and they’re both good. See my reviews of both units in the Features section, or just click on my head and there are links after my bio.
Even when you get the money, stay away from SCSI as it’s more prone to problems with OS X, especially now with Tiger. You’ll want to go with some super fast Fibre Channel, like the Medea FCR2X.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
G5 Dual 2.0, AJA Kona 2, Medea FCR2X
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Look into a SATA Raid. Cheap, dependable and super-fast!
Here’s a great link for info.
https://www.hdforindies.com/2004/12/review-of-firmtek-seritek-1se2-and -
[Ernie Santella] “Look into a SATA Raid. Cheap, dependable and super-fast!”
I’m hearing very mixed reviews on SATA here. Cheap and fast yes, but reliable is a moving target so I’m staying with Fibre Channel for the fast arrays.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
G5 Dual 2.0, AJA Kona 2, Medea FCR2X
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Walter,
Please point me to some bad reviews of SATA Raids? I’ve read only great things. (Except for some physical drives that are flakey (the Hitachi’s are rock solid) I’ve had my SATA Firmtek/Hitachi Raid for a while and it has been perfect. I have seperate replaceable drives for each client and it’s been flawless.
The replaceable drives is the only way to go. Perfect for multiple clients. Just pop them out, store them and when you need to go back, put them in and your up and running instantly. And at a price of about $250 for two 250gig drives, it’s very cost effective to have a set for each major client.
Thanks!
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Thanks for the info! I appreciate your time!
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