What RAID systems are you using? at DVinfo.net

David Lorente · October 14th, 2008, 03:11 AM

I'm thinking about buying a RAID for my Mac Pro. Since I buyed the XDCAM EX I edit in HD, and you know what amounts of data we have to handle. I currently have two 500 GB drives in the Mac and several external drives. I manually copy valuable data/footage/FCP projects to external drives for backup, but this is not a very reliable solution, and it is slowwwwww...

So I want something like a RAID 5 for fast and huge redundant data storage. But I don't have a big budget, and everything I have seen on the net is just out of my reach.

What brands and models are you using?

Harm Millaard · October 14th, 2008, 05:08 AM

Areca ARC1680-iX series PCI-e controller with 4 GB cache and BBM. 8 internal disks in raid50 for media, 4 external eSATA drives in raid3 for projects/previews. Effective storage up to 6 or 9 TB internally, 3 or 4.5 TB externally, depending on the disks.

IMO this is the best solution currently, albeit not the cheapest one.

George Kroonder · October 14th, 2008, 07:04 AM

Check out http://www.barefeats.com and read there RAID reviews from earlier this year. The RocketRAID cards are pretty good and reasonably priced.

You can use an RR2322 card in a faster Mac Pro with good results, even though it is software based (through the driver). Also see the review here but note that this is software RAID and if you're 8 disks in "RAID0" (stripe set) you have no redundancy and 8 times the risk of losing all your data (which may be 4TB which never ever is "easy" to get back. But the 'blueprint' and experience is valuable on it's own.

Use an RR3522 for bootable, "true" hardware accelerated RAID performance. This is especially needed if your running a RAID and parity needs to be calculated (RAID3/5/6) or if you are running processor intensive processes and needing full disk performance at the same time (compositing, 3D, etc).

George/

Roger Wilson · October 14th, 2008, 09:22 AM

I've been using LaCie's products for some time and have always had good results. The newest RAID I've purchased from them is the Biggest S2S with PCI-Express card. 5GB of drive space on 5 drives. I have it stup as RAID 1, but it supports RAID levels 0, 1, 0+1, and JBOD. Current price $1,900.

Harm Millaard · October 14th, 2008, 09:44 AM

About the same price as my solution, only LaCie gives you half the speed at best, a third of the capacity and fewer raid options. Better build it yourself than buying an overpriced LaCie.

October 14th, 2008, 03:11 AM	#1
David Lorente Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cuenca (Spain) Posts: 92	What RAID systems are you using? I'm thinking about buying a RAID for my Mac Pro. Since I buyed the XDCAM EX I edit in HD, and you know what amounts of data we have to handle. I currently have two 500 GB drives in the Mac and several external drives. I manually copy valuable data/footage/FCP projects to external drives for backup, but this is not a very reliable solution, and it is slowwwwww... So I want something like a RAID 5 for fast and huge redundant data storage. But I don't have a big budget, and everything I have seen on the net is just out of my reach. What brands and models are you using? __________________ Wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Radio operates exactly the same way, but there is no cat.

October 14th, 2008, 07:04 AM	#3
George Kroonder Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Utrecht, NL \| Europe 3rd Rock from the Sun Posts: 612	Check out http://www.barefeats.com and read there RAID reviews from earlier this year. The RocketRAID cards are pretty good and reasonably priced. You can use an RR2322 card in a faster Mac Pro with good results, even though it is software based (through the driver). Also see the review here but note that this is software RAID and if you're 8 disks in "RAID0" (stripe set) you have no redundancy and 8 times the risk of losing all your data (which may be 4TB which never ever is "easy" to get back. But the 'blueprint' and experience is valuable on it's own. Use an RR3522 for bootable, "true" hardware accelerated RAID performance. This is especially needed if your running a RAID and parity needs to be calculated (RAID3/5/6) or if you are running processor intensive processes and needing full disk performance at the same time (compositing, 3D, etc). George/ Last edited by George Kroonder; October 14th, 2008 at 10:23 AM.

October 14th, 2008, 05:08 AM	#2
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Areca ARC1680-iX series PCI-e controller with 4 GB cache and BBM. 8 internal disks in raid50 for media, 4 external eSATA drives in raid3 for projects/previews. Effective storage up to 6 or 9 TB internally, 3 or 4.5 TB externally, depending on the disks. IMO this is the best solution currently, albeit not the cheapest one.

October 14th, 2008, 09:22 AM	#4
Roger Wilson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Denver, CO, USA Posts: 85	I've been using LaCie's products for some time and have always had good results. The newest RAID I've purchased from them is the Biggest S2S with PCI-Express card. 5GB of drive space on 5 drives. I have it stup as RAID 1, but it supports RAID levels 0, 1, 0+1, and JBOD. Current price $1,900.

October 14th, 2008, 09:44 AM	#5
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	About the same price as my solution, only LaCie gives you half the speed at best, a third of the capacity and fewer raid options. Better build it yourself than buying an overpriced LaCie.