Which thunderbolt drive enclosure: HighPoint or StarTech?

[Eric Sternberger]

promise…

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah why go ultra cheap with your precious creative work? Lots of really nice name brand RAID drive and NAS boxes out there with warranties, service, support, etc.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP eXchange – FCPX Workshops

[Noam Osband]

I saw this: https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Mercury-Elite-Thunderbolt-Enclosure/dp/B00PR2YSZY/ref=br_lf_m_1001100051_1_5_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=pc&pf_rd_p=2238246262&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1001100051&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=02RYS1QQB2EF2WC5ZZ3P

I just want a dual enclosure. I do wonder if it’s worth the extra 100 if performance wise they will be about the same. Any thoughts? Often on these technical issues, there are little things I just dont know.

[Doug Metz]

It really depends on how you’re going to configure it – if you’re going RAID 0, then the Thunderbolt enclosures will likely be faster (assuming identical HDD specs).

The thing about RAID 0 is that you trade speed for safety. If one of your drives dies, you lose everything. So a rigorous backup schedule is necessary. I’d recommend going with a 4-bay chassis and configure RAID 5 – this way, if one drive crashes, you can pop in a new one and the RAID set can be rebuilt – saving your data.

I run an 8-bay enclosure configured RAID 6, which allows for 2 drives to fail and still retain the ability to rebuild the volume, FWIW.

Doug Metz

Anode

[Kevin Rag]

I’ve been using a Promise Pegasus R4 (4 drives RAID 5) for over 3 years now without any problems. RAID 5 is the ideal setup for editing as it offers both speed and safety. While it maybe a bit expensive, the warranty offered and the performance is totally worth it.

Kannan Raghavan
The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd.