[Rainer Wirth]

Why do you want to use DNx codecs,

these are Avid codecs. If I were you I would go for ProRes because it works with all platforms (Premiere, Avid, FCP, Davinci). If I were an Avid user I would go for DNx, but just with Avid alone.

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi Terence,

are you a newbi to editing?
Before you start a project you transcode all your files into one editing format according to your workflow.
What is your workflow? You should have one. You can’t just throw any codec onto your timeline. This blows your system.
For example: We have set our workflow to ProRes422 if we work in HD, for 4k we have set it to ProResHQ.
Avoid all H264/H265 files (needs transcoding), GOP files are a pain in the ass for any cutter.

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi Mick,

first of all back up your data, because you’re on Raid0 level now with you Pegasus R4.
All the drives are older than 5 years, so it is very likely that you get another drive failure in the nearest future.
if you want a reliable raid system, you should swap all drives plus one drive as a spare (all 5 drives must be exactly the same drives within the specs of your Pegasus R4. You find the possible drives in the promise compatibility list. I wouldn’t use drives, which are not on this list. Phone Promise and ask them, because your R4 is a little old.
My guess is, that the max. drive capacity is 2TB drives. You won’t get these drives any longer. You should definitely think about a new Raid. You Raid is dying.
Trying one different drive working together with your 3 existing drives is experimental. It might work for some time, it might not. It will be a non reliable raid – the worst case – then better no Raid.
Cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi Craig,

the thunderbolt adapter will do the job.
If you’re going for a new computer with TB3, your raid system is up to date.
I strongly recommend a 8 bay drive system, because of speed.
The price difference is not so much, and you look a little into the future,

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

by the way, we work with 10TB enterprise HD’s,

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

First question:
Do you have Thunderbolt 3 or 2?
The best speed within a raid you get with a minimum of 8 drives, better more (16 or 24 bay).
I would run the raid (minimum of 8bay) with raid 6 level.
We’ve got a thunderbolt 3 Netstore raid. It’s good.
Areca raid card is a good choice. The advantages of the Netstor raid are 4 PCIx slots within the Raid enclosure.
So we have one slot for a FC Raidcard (connect older FC systems), one for the areca raid card, and one slot for Video/audio breakout card for monitoring.
Your Raid5 owc’s are good for back-up,

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi Doug,

what do you mean with not powering up?
Perhaps your power supply unit is bust,
and you have to swap just the power supply. You can get it from Sonnet directly.

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi folks,

you just can’t throw any compressed format onto the timeline, and expect everything works flawlessly.
If a project gets bigger your CPU will slow down and finally crashing.
Even pictures, for example png are critical. A proper 4k editing format works with over 400MB/s and not 50-100 MB/s.
For pictures I would go for a tiff file.
So first converting all footage into one editing format, then you can start editing.

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi folks,

any software frame rate conversion looks crappy, especially when the camera is in motion.
You have to do a hardware conversion. Mostly these are stand-alone boxes or PCIx-cards.
A professional product is the Motion Compensated Converter MCC-4K.
But it is expensive. Any software conversion is not professional.
I would outsource the job to a professional (depends on how often you have to do that).

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi Adrian,

when we buy a used system, we swop all drives and replace them for new ones..
You have to use a set of drives out of the compatability list of Promise.
Always use exactly the same drives.
We always buy 5 drives, one drive as a spare, which is stored, just in case.
The other drives out of the used system we use as single HD’s for second ot third back-up storage.
When one drive already failed, it is likely that the others can fail too. You just don’t know how many working hours the drives have. With enterprise class drives, they last around 50.000 working hours. Either a drive quits within the first year, or it works around 5-7 years. When you buy enterprise class drives you have a 5 year warranty, so a drive dying within the first year will be replaced by the manufacturer.
First of all – buy a min. 3TB HD and save your data.
Second: rebuild your Raid out of 4 new HD’s from the compatibility list of Promise.
Use Raid 5.
You will sleep much better.
cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems