Hi all, I recently started a business doing promotional vids for outdoors oriented companies. We use two HVX's generally shooting at 720p/24pn, mainly to save space. We need to retain all the data for future use as stock footage. So far this year, I've used up 3 TB (including backups) of external hard drives (mainly LaCie D2s). I now have a total of 8 external hard drives which is becoming a management nightmare so I need some advice/knowledge about my options.
Should I go with one of the lower cost ethernet NAS drives such as LaCie
4TB Ethernet Disk RAID - Network Hard Drive Array, ?(Link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/501148-REG/LaCie_301236U_4TB_Ethernet_Disk_RAID.html)

Or should I go with some internal drives in an enclosure with eSATA connections such as the AMS DS-2340SES eSATA VENUS T4S External Enclosure - Retail? (Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332013)

Or maybe a SATA array such as the Buffalo DriveStation Quattro 2TB eSATA and USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Array (LINK: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/481043-REG/Buffalo_HD_Q20TSU2_R5_DriveStation_Quattro_2TB_eSATA.html)

Obviously, cost is an issue, but I'm more worried about being able to access more than one drive (within arrays or stand alone) at a time. I'd also like to have the drive accessible to more than one work station at a time, but I'm concerned about through put speed of ethernet since my understanding is that it parses out the data into packets prior to sending it to a client. I like the price of external enclosures but I'm concerned about the ability to plug into more than one of the drives within the enclosure at at a time. I'm also open to other suggestions if I've overlooked an option.
Thanks.

Ok, so that was a little technical. Can anyone tell me if the NAS option would be sufficient for my needs?
Thanks

Just a thought, but if you could archive to tape your life might be easier.

Not video tape, though - you might want to look into something called LTO which is a linear tape format (ie it writes data straight down the tape and not in diagonal stripes like the helical scan tapes found in video applications)

The latest generation of the technology stores 800GB on a single 4" square (approximately) tape cartridge, and there are several small libraries available from Dell, IBM, Tandberg, HP etc. Of course if you have a LOT of data you can get libraries from IBM or Sun/STKthat hold around 6000 cartridges:<)

At the low end of the product spectrum, there are a number of simple products from the same set of makers that consist of just a tape drive and power supply etc in a shoebox sized enclosure.

Not terribly cheap, but if you're generating this much material a year, it might be worth looking at.

Here's a link to the HP product - it's about $2700 using the previous generation drive which has 400GB per cartridge.

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1152157

There are a few versions around that might be a bit cheaper, but from a reliability point of view, IBM and HP (as well as Dell) are the best

These drives are extremely reliable - they're designed to run for years in commercial system back up environments. The cartridges themselves are rated to be re-used 5000 (yep - five thousand) times but I've known some cartridges to survive over 20,000 read/write cycles). I also know that several Japanese broadcasters are using them to archive everything that gets broadcast due to govenrment regulations.

Disclosure - My client in Japan is involved in the design and manufacture of these drives in partnership with IBM and I've been on the project for over 10 years now, so I'm biased in favor of the technology.

Henry,
regarding your needs and budget, and IMHO, a NAS solution like the LaCie one (Raid 5 +gigabit Ethernet) is the right direction.

I would only prefer the Thecus 5200 PRO (a new and more powerfull version of the 5200, that had already very good performances and a very good reputation) over the LaCie one.

A good Web site giving information about NAS in general: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/.

Or should I go with some internal drives in an enclosure with eSATA connections such as the AMS DS-2340SES eSATA VENUS T4S External Enclosure - Retail?

I just bought two of these 4 tray enclosures at Fry's. They were $129 each and they had a sale on 500Gig drives. I set them both up in 15 minutes and they work great! I would have only boght one though if they made seperate trays to swap in an out. I am totally satisfied with the speed. I captured 40 40 minute HDCam tapes to Pro Res HQ and they handled it fine. I just wish I would have bought a two port expresscard 34 module.

Jeff