[Eric Hansen]

hey Jason

I’m a bit confused. You stated in your earlier thread that you were disappointed that you couldn’t get 3 streams of ProResHQ over 1GbE on Promax Platform. But now you’re going with a setup that uses 1GbE? Are you expecting this 1GbE to be faster than Promax’s 1GbE?

I have been testing a similar setup as this. Be aware that Thunderbolt doesn’t have as much bandwidth as SAS for the same number of drives (ie, the Areca SAS box will be faster than the Areca TB box). This configuration might not be able to scale as large as you’re hoping.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

GTX580 3GB, modified so it can run on internal power from the Mac Pro. The standard GTX580 requires more power than a Mac Pro can provide.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

hey Evans

6 months from now you will post a similar question: “Should I invest in this old Titan when the Titan 2 is coming out in a few months?”

This will never stop with technology. There’s always something newer/better/cheaper on the horizon. A 570, 580 or 680 card will be faster than your Q4000. So your investment will start paying off for you right now. I have the 570 in my home computer and a 580 in my work computer (they’re very similar in performance). They’re both awesome and way better than the overpriced Q4000.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

Ricardo

i’m surprised to see the writes so much faster than the reads in your tests. is that the case, or are the number flipped?

thanks

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

wow, i apologize for being so wrong about the Reds. i guess i shouldn’t trust what i read on a company’s website.

i wonder why WD would tout an Intellipower 5400 RPM drive as their RAID drive?

still recommending the Ultrastars. been using them for years in 24/7 RAIDs with no issues. they’re expensive because they’re the best. 5 year warranty. HGST has a no questions asked return/replacement policy.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

the Reds will be 7200.

use cheap hard drives for archive, not for RAIDs

e

Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

interesting, thanks Tom.

hopefully whatever they settle on (most likely LTFS), can be a simple add-on for whatever LTO system a production house might already have. i would be disappointed if my $20k LTO system couldn’t write the exact file that the networks are asking for.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

I don’t see “Ultrastar” on WD’s site. is the RE the same?

all i see are HGST, subtitle “a Western Digital company”. are they sticking with the HGST name or switching to WD eventually? kinda confusing.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

Western Digital has changed their line up a bit. they no longer recommend the Black (or what they’re now calling the Black) for RAIDs. their new desktop RAID hard drive is the Red. they also have an enterprise version called the RE. but my go-to is Hitachi Ultrastar.

you’ll also get a massive performance increase if you switch your boot drive to an SSD.

e

Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv

[Eric Hansen]

There is a speed limit on the bus. If your goal is speed, a 4 drive RAID connected via SAS to an ATTO R680 card will be faster than the 4 internal drives RAIDed together. the internal SATA connections are 3G whereas modern drives are now 6G. Software RAIDs (using the internal bays) have a bit of processor overhead too.

if you’re going to RAID, make sure you use drives designed for that. don’t use “green” drives or those that spin down.

you can put drives in the optical bays too, for 6 drives internally.

if you’re only going to use all these drives occasionally, i would recommend an external box that you can shut off. I have all the bays in my Mac Pro filled and it’s amazing how much power this thing sucks at idle. Surfing the internet uses like 300 watts, whereas my MacBook Pro is like 20w. just another thing to keep in mind.

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Eric Hansen
Production Workflow Designer / Consultant / Colorist / DIT
https://www.erichansen.tv