Best hard drive config for new mac at DVinfo.net

Benjamin Eckstein · January 14th, 2008, 11:42 AM

So I am piecing my new MacPro together and am wondering about hard drive options.

I will be cutting mostly XDCAM footage in its native format or in ProRes. Hard drive speed is important, but I have been fine doing this workflow on a MacBookPro with FW800 drives, so clearly it doesn't have to be the fastest.

My plan is to buy the stock config 2.8 8 core from Mac then add stuff from other vendors. My biggest priority is redundancy, with some type of RAID system that is writing to 2 drives. Should I be getting internal drives to do this, or should I just have 1 internal drive to run my system (which I would back up on a firewire drive periodically)? I have heard people talk about eSata arrays. What I need is about 1tb of useable online storage (meaning 2tb....if its mirrored).

Thanks,
B

John Stakes · January 14th, 2008, 12:33 PM

I'm not too sure about RAID configurations, but ALWAYS have an external drive as a full backup. And never run any software off of an external drive.

Rick L. Allen · January 15th, 2008, 08:04 PM

Here's my drive configuration on a 3 GHz dual, quad core - all internal.
350 GB system drive
500 GB drive for storing useful graphics, files, movies, etc.
2 (two) 500GB drives striped together, RAID 0 to make a 1 TB internal drive.

Works great and will play back your XDCAM or ProRes files without problems. You won't be able to play back uncompressed HD without an external 5 drive or more SATA RAID or equivalent.

January 14th, 2008, 11:42 AM	#1
Benjamin Eckstein Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 380 Images: 1	Best hard drive config for new mac So I am piecing my new MacPro together and am wondering about hard drive options. I will be cutting mostly XDCAM footage in its native format or in ProRes. Hard drive speed is important, but I have been fine doing this workflow on a MacBookPro with FW800 drives, so clearly it doesn't have to be the fastest. My plan is to buy the stock config 2.8 8 core from Mac then add stuff from other vendors. My biggest priority is redundancy, with some type of RAID system that is writing to 2 drives. Should I be getting internal drives to do this, or should I just have 1 internal drive to run my system (which I would back up on a firewire drive periodically)? I have heard people talk about eSata arrays. What I need is about 1tb of useable online storage (meaning 2tb....if its mirrored). Thanks, B

January 14th, 2008, 12:33 PM	#2
John Stakes Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 558	I'm not too sure about RAID configurations, but ALWAYS have an external drive as a full backup. And never run any software off of an external drive.

January 15th, 2008, 08:04 PM	#3
Rick L. Allen Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 535	Here's my drive configuration on a 3 GHz dual, quad core - all internal. 350 GB system drive 500 GB drive for storing useful graphics, files, movies, etc. 2 (two) 500GB drives striped together, RAID 0 to make a 1 TB internal drive. Works great and will play back your XDCAM or ProRes files without problems. You won't be able to play back uncompressed HD without an external 5 drive or more SATA RAID or equivalent.