external RAID: eSATA or FW800? at DVinfo.net

Philip Fass · October 6th, 2010, 05:27 AM

Trying to decide whether to spend the time installing an eSATA extender cable or just plug in a FW800 into my 2007 Mac Pro.

It's a 2-drive RAID 1 that will be used for MOV files recorded from HDV on Adobe OnLocation.

Any major difference in the two interfaces for this kind of use?

Damian Heffernan · October 6th, 2010, 05:45 AM

esata is supposedly faster but I've had no issues with firewire 800. I have two raided external drives daisy chained via FW800 (2 cases each with 2 drives but raided redundent so they appear as 2 drives total). No issues with performance, fast enough for full HD editing, playback etc - XDCAM footage.

Philip Fass · October 6th, 2010, 05:53 AM

Good to know. I have the eSATA cable (included with RAID) and I'd rather put it away for now.

Heiko Saele · October 7th, 2010, 01:54 AM

The point is that Sata was never really developed for external drives.
What I'm trying to say is that eSata isn't always as foolproof as Firewire or USB. Depending on the drive and the controller you might run into problems.

I've had one drive that just wouldn't initialize on eSata unless I restarted my computer.
It works well with other drives, although with some drives I have to unplug them, wait until the drive is running, and then plug them in - when I just switch them on, they won't register in Windows neither. Maybe it's because my mainboard is almost 3 years old, I don't know.

What I'm trying to say is that Firewire800 (and also USB 3) will be better suited for plug'n'play operation, however eSata is also nice when it works ;)

Dean Sensui · October 7th, 2010, 03:36 AM

I have a couple of external SATA systems and have been using them for the past several years. There are several terabytes of hard drives on my shelf that work with these "hot swap" systems. They've been working very nicely and I haven't encountered any serious problems.

It's from Firmtek. FirmTek, LLC

Also, can't beat the price for expansion: $22 for a sled for each drive, plus the cost of a bare SATA drive. Brings the cost of storing XDCamEX footage down to about $3.50 per hour on a mirrored RAID. That's on par with DVCam tapes.

October 6th, 2010, 05:27 AM	#1
Philip Fass Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Charlotte, VT Posts: 397	external RAID: eSATA or FW800? Trying to decide whether to spend the time installing an eSATA extender cable or just plug in a FW800 into my 2007 Mac Pro. It's a 2-drive RAID 1 that will be used for MOV files recorded from HDV on Adobe OnLocation. Any major difference in the two interfaces for this kind of use?

October 6th, 2010, 05:45 AM	#2
Damian Heffernan Major Player Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: c Australia Posts: 234	esata is supposedly faster but I've had no issues with firewire 800. I have two raided external drives daisy chained via FW800 (2 cases each with 2 drives but raided redundent so they appear as 2 drives total). No issues with performance, fast enough for full HD editing, playback etc - XDCAM footage. __________________ http://onarafilms.com/ http://gentlespirit.com.au/

October 7th, 2010, 03:36 AM	#5
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	I have a couple of external SATA systems and have been using them for the past several years. There are several terabytes of hard drives on my shelf that work with these "hot swap" systems. They've been working very nicely and I haven't encountered any serious problems. It's from Firmtek. FirmTek, LLC Also, can't beat the price for expansion: $22 for a sled for each drive, plus the cost of a bare SATA drive. Brings the cost of storing XDCamEX footage down to about $3.50 per hour on a mirrored RAID. That's on par with DVCam tapes. __________________ Dean Sensui Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing

October 6th, 2010, 05:53 AM	#3
Philip Fass Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Charlotte, VT Posts: 397	Good to know. I have the eSATA cable (included with RAID) and I'd rather put it away for now.

October 7th, 2010, 01:54 AM	#4
Heiko Saele Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Wurzburg, Germany Posts: 316	The point is that Sata was never really developed for external drives. What I'm trying to say is that eSata isn't always as foolproof as Firewire or USB. Depending on the drive and the controller you might run into problems. I've had one drive that just wouldn't initialize on eSata unless I restarted my computer. It works well with other drives, although with some drives I have to unplug them, wait until the drive is running, and then plug them in - when I just switch them on, they won't register in Windows neither. Maybe it's because my mainboard is almost 3 years old, I don't know. What I'm trying to say is that Firewire800 (and also USB 3) will be better suited for plug'n'play operation, however eSata is also nice when it works ;)