Dave Mac
Forum Replies Created
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Enterprise-level drives are available from most drive makers.
Just visit their Web sites and select their “enterprise” products rather than their “desktop” products.
As David mentioned, Maxtor’s Maxline III drives are among the cheapest drives of this category available. FYI, Seagate just purchased Maxtor a short time ago.
-Dave
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The availability of PCI Express SATA cards is a couple of weeks away. PCI/PCI-X cards are currently available, though the higher-end “hardware RAID” variants are generally not available for Macs yet.
The availability of hardware-based RAID host controllers that will work with Macs should continue to improve.
Firmtek and Sonnet make solid, problem-free cards. Highpoint, NetCell, etc. are other choices.
I would follow Frank’s suggestion to learn about this stuff, so you’re less likely to get into a sticky situation later on.
-Dave
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Jeremy,
My comments weren’t directed specifically at anyone in this thread. In fact, those involved with this thread are among the most genuinely helpful in the FCP forum. That said, I meant to suggest that getting carried away with our comments without answering a poster’s question isn’t being as helpful as possible. No worries.
Many people use FCP with FW drives and internal drives. No one really discourages this in provided advice. However, when someone mentions taking a step up and getting a “less expensive” RAID solution, some people all of a sudden start discouraging the use of such setups. Some of this (unintential, I’m sure) comes off as if it were a situation similar to when FCP first became viable (version 2). At that time, I am sure many AVID afficianados were a bit defensive that a “toy system” could actually compete with their big bucks “pro” systems.
The point being that any level of storage solution may work in a given environment. Yes, if you do broadcast work with uncompressed 10-bit HD footage and typically have short timelines, then spending more for equipment easily washes out in the end. But, a lot of people aren’t in that kind of environment, yet still use FCP.
I would strongly disagree with the assertion that a less expensive RAID, or FW, system, properly configured with quality components, is any less reliable than one of the high-end systems. Probably just as important would be to ask if all important data is backed up regularly, if systems are running on uninterruptible power supplies, if there is an “active/ready-to-go” backup of all working media, etc. If I were working under tight deadlines, I would have a standby system available, as well as a mirrored/current backup of all media files, so that I wouldn’t even have to wait for overnight shipment of a replacement component.
And, as I stated before, I could get a second RAID to mirror the first in realtime, which would provide immediate access in case of any failure on the primary system. Both systems, completely installed, would still cost less than one of the “high end” systems. In this case, one would have better reliability than the “high end” system (unless multiple high end systems were in use, but then the price difference would be even larger).
Thanks again for everyone’s contribution in this forum. I personally appreciate it a lot.
-Dave
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Hi,
I believe that many of us would buy the world, no questions asked, if we had unlimited resources. I suspect that Varangian may not have huge resources available, he/she wants to build a decent media storage system. Some of the comments made don’t seem to be as helpful as they could be. And, after an initial “warning” about potential issues with “rolling your own” solutions, subsequent comments restating that concern begin to come off as “I have a bigger RAID than you do,” without helping further.
The fact is that there are many “pros” with different budget levels. Would anyone really say that a PVM series Sony monitor is insufficient for color correction when compared with a BVM series model? I don’t think so. The latter is primarily made for 24/7 heavy-duty usage, for years on end.
Now, to actually answer the original post….
I compared prices myself and found out that I could roll my own SATA RAID with enterprise level hard drives for less than 1/2 the price of an Apple branded model (same with others).
I bought an external enclosure recommended by barefeats.com from macgurus.com, along with a Sonnet 8-port (external) PCI card, eSATA cables (2m in length), and enterprise level drives from Western Digital (RE2 models).
The case I bought has 8 bays. I opted for the LCD hot swap drive caddies. I use 6 drives RAIDed together, with the remaining two as swappable backup drives. I use SoftRAID, as Apple doesn’t support RAID use (via Disk Utility’s software RAID) under anything but Mac OS X Server. I keep full backups of my media by swapping drive caddies to a local storage space (closet 😉 ), with duplicate storage off-site.
At some point, I may RAID all 8 drives for even better performance, upgrade to a “better” hardware-based RAID PCI (or PCIe) card, and get a duplicate setup to serve as a Mirror/”safety net,” all for less than the price of a “high-end” system (not counting support contracts). In this setup, I could switch to a backup system, as needed.
With 6 drives RAIDed (striped), I get over 300 MB/sec read and write performance (read is a bit faster than write). I am pleased with the setup. Do I feel vulnerable to a disk failure? Heck no. None of this means I wouldn’t enjoy having a fully-loaded Apple X-RAID system sitting next to my G5 (especially if someone else paid for it)….
Hope this helps.
-Dave
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Mat,
You can contact me via the address in my profile. My unit died in December 2005 (it was purchased 6 Nov 2004).
I can confirm that the bridgeboard died (I tried a couple of good power supplies and even bought a new one). The new power supply/brick that I tried made a clicking sound when plugged into the unit (doesn’t make that sound on two other good LaCie units). I moved the hard drives into a new FW enclosure and all is well.
It’s too bad the case went bad just after a year. The drives in the enclosure were enterprise-rated Maxtor Maxline II drives, with 5 year warranties.
-Dave
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Mike,
A couple of suggestions….
(1) Most good computer “transcription” software (you talk and the computer converts it to text) require the user to train the software to recognize your voice. So, unless you were to train the software with the actual people appearing in the film, you would have to repeat the dialog yourself after training the software (still faster than typing?).
I believe that the only current option for voice to computer text transcription for the Mac OS is iListen from MacSpeech. This kind of software requires consistent audio levels and a very good signal-to-noise ratio to work well.
(2) If you have the budget, you may want to check into hiring a transcription service or a “court recorder” (can’t think of the proper term). With fairly clear and understandable recordings, they could transcribe an audio tape with almost 100% accuracy on the first listening….
-Dave
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I mentioned that sometimes the price difference may be (partially) due to differences in latency, not entirely.
If the modules are essentially the same spec., the price difference can be accounted for by the difference prices charged by manufacturers, when the modules were sold (these things are commodities and are traded as such), margin desired by any given vendor, etc. The real secret here is that most modules of a given type are made by one or two manufacturers, i.e., the vendors don’t make the modules… they just buy them and put their sticker/label on them. It is a bit confusing when each vendor’s on-line listing may describe a “feature” differently from another.
Perhaps, more important than price alone is the quality of service of a given vendor. What is their replacement policy? Do they ship replacements before receiving your “bad” modules? For larger companies, price may be more important, as they could afford to have extra modules on-hand. It’s a balancing act.
I do like RAMJET.com for memory. Some of their modules come encased in metal (no exposed chips) for better heat dissipation (dust does kill electronic parts). Their prices were in-between Crucial and OWC/all4memory. I would guess that Crucial charges a bit more to pay for their advertising, which is much more substantial than the others.
The final question to consider may be: “What is the best mix of price and service for a given vendor.” At the end of the day, except for “deluxe” modules (like I mentioned above from RAMJET, and others), the modules of a given type are all the same (different resellers/vendors may sell the same exact SAMSUNG module, for example).
I don’t think you’ll go wrong with any of the mentioned vendors.
-Dave
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Geof,
Noise levels can be a rather arbitrary matter. Some may consider any fan noise unacceptable, while others may not mind.
I would second the recommendation to consider other vendors besides LaCie. G-Technology, WiebeTech, and others provide similar or better-performing products, sometimes with better warranties. Other good vendors include FWDepot, MacGurus, and OWC (macsales.com).
You didn’t specify whether you are considering only pre-packaged two-drive (or four-drive units), or not. There are “mini-tower” swappable systems that have larger cases and much more quiet fans. Locating drive systems under a desk can make a huge difference in noise levels.
Once you’ve decided on what type of system you really want, you should try to test drive different models, or at least get some info on ambient noise levels generated by the various products. Good luck with your selection process.
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Tom,
I believe you’re mistaken in correcting the original poster, regarding the terminology of “multicam” and “multiclip.” The correct terminology in FCP 5 is “multiclip.”
Just trying to prevent continued confusion over this terminology. 😉
-Dave
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Another possibility is the upcoming Mariner Montage:
I believe it’ll be cheaper than the others. It may combine the functionality of both Final Draft and Final Draft AV. There is a beta version available right now.
FYI, Mariner has made word-processing and spreadsheet apps for the Mac OS for some time.
-Dave