G-Safe RAID 1 backup

[Paul Cronin]

I use the G-SAFE RAID 1 (500GB) back up for Final Cut and now have 3TB backed up this way with ease. Grabbing clips or full jobs off the drives is easy and the FW800 is pretty fast.

My question is I am looking at their G-SAFE RAID1 (2TB) system. This is much for cost effective and will be a big savings in the long run. Problem I have read Hitachi has purchased G-Tech and the firmware on the 2TB systems over heat with MAC OS.

Is anyone using the G-SAFE RAID 1 2TB system on their MAC OS? If so can you let me know if it works properly and if it overheats?

Also what other options are being used that are as cost effective and easy to backup and recover? It must be RAID 1 or I have no interest.

[Jeff Krepner]

Paul,

I can't speak for the G-Raid Safe, I'm using the new 2TB G-Raid 0 model that says "by Hitatchi" with no problems to speak of. Of course this one is Raid 0 for speed but I'd guess the hardware is similar.

As far as backups go, I kind of got tired of buying external drives because it gets a bit silly with all of the power supplies, cables, enclosures, extra packages to throw away, etc and ended up going with two Voyager Q's quad interface drive caddies that I call drive toasters.

NewerTech® - Voyager Q “Quad Interface” FireWire® 800/400/USB 2.0/eSATA - SATA I/II Hard Drive Docking Solution

It allows you to buy any internal SATA drive, pop it in the toaster, mount it, copy the data, and then stick the drive back in its OEM package or drive box and be done with it. I buy 2 of whatever the best gig-per-dollar drive is available when I'm ready and make a mirror copy of all final projects.

I name my mirrored sets like this:

Archive_001_A
Archive_001_B

Once they got full, I bought two more SATA drives and did:

Archive_002_A
Archive_002_B

I also treat source files (i.e. camera files) in a similar fashion, RAW_001_A, RAW_001_B, etc.

So far this works well for me and allows me to buy drives that are cheapest / biggest at the time and I also don't have to worry about enclosures failing or power supplies breaking and getting lost. Even if I lost the Voyager Q's, I know I can simply open my Mac Pro and stick one of my archive drives in and get to my data. I also don't trust RAID for long term backups. Who's to say the RAID controller in the G-Raid won't poop out forcing you to pry open the case and get the drives out?

I also use the Voyagers for Time Machine backups too.

Good luck!

edit: if you are real Doomsday person, you could store one of the mirrored drives off-site. I worked with a client that also stores data this way using a Weibtech system. He recommended firing up each drive once a year in order to keep the hardware working correctly. He does his over the X-mas break.

[Paul Cronin]

Now Jeff this is exactly why DVinfo is so great. I had no idea about the NewerTech Voyager Q. It looks perfect for backup, and the fact that you can use any 2.5" or 3.5" drive, not proprietary drives like G-Tech the savings are huge over time.

By the way the G-Safe is the same concept but more money.
G-Technology - G-SAFE - RAID 1 (Mirrored) Storage Solutions for Data Security

Where did you buy the unit and what drives to you buy? I am interested in 2TB since the GB saving is great

Edit:
I do store both my back up drives off site. And I fire them up at least three times a year.
.

[Jeff Krepner]

Paul,

Thanks for the link to the G-Raid unit, I was thinking of a different product all together so obviously that is way different than the G-Speed I'm editing on so my comments don't apply :-). Funny enough, the G-Safe is more or less similar in function to the Voyager product, but, like you said the G-tech uses specialty drive trays. The only draw back to the Voyager route is that you have to manually drag-n-drop to both drives, or I suppose you could use a tool to clone the data, but either way it probably isn't as easy as copying to the G-Safe. When I do my archiving I open a Finder window for each drive and copy to #1, then copy to #2 and wander off while it does it's thing.

(edit: I started off with just one Voyager but quickly figured out it is easier to have a pair to copy simultaneously.)

I got mine from OWC.
Voyager by NewerTech - Hard Drive Dock for 3.5" and 2.5" SATA Devices provides high-performance and flexibility

I'm not drive picky, I've had cheap drives live forever and expensive drives double over and croak 2 weeks in. I usually order a pair of 2TB drives from New Egg. I'm using these now: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive, even though they aren't 7200RPM, they still seem to backup pretty quickly.

I'm looking forward to the day I can take all of my 2TB drives and copy to a pair 200TB drives that cost $99 each!



-Jeff

[Paul Cronin]

Jeff,

How much have you backed up on the unit?

It looks good. I will now run the numbers but the savings right off is $350 with the first two 2-TB drives over the G-Safe. The time should be similar but that we would have to see.

[Jeff Krepner]

Paul, I have a 1TB and a 2TB drive I use for nightly/weekly Time Machine backups which I've been running for over a year now (save for the week I DIDN'T and my Lacie RAID died as Murphy's Law would suggest). The nightly backups have been written and erased enough times that I couldn't easily figure out the amount, but it would have to be close to 100TB all told. Then I have 4 archive drives (2 mirrored sets) that must be close to 4TB, plus another 4TB on my camera raw file drives. I was doing a lot of ProRes projects that ate more space than normal.

I'm connected FW800 of course so they go pretty fast, identical to the internal SATA drives as far as I can tell. I've even edited from the Voyager, but wouldn't make a habit of it. The drive fits in pretty well, but I'd suggest keeping it on a sturdy surface since the drive only connects under its own weight and doesn't lock into place. Make sense?

[Paul Cronin]

Thanks Jeff that all makes sense to me.

I have not been doing Time Machine on my Edit system. It slows it down too much. I have 250GB system drive and two 750 GB internal drives then my RAID 3 working drive hooked up. Also run a Mac Book Pro for all on-line work and travel. That has Time Machine but only run a few days a week to a FW800 RAID 0 mini G-Drive.

On my Edit Mac Pro I back up when I start new projects and then daily while working on them. This keeps me up to date on my RAID 1.

Will sleep on the Voyager idea, but I like the savings and HD options.

[Jeff Krepner]

FWIW, I've been using these drive cases for storing the drives. It makes them about the size of VHS tape and comes with labels for the case front and side. I've been using a Sharpie on the drive itself.

WiebeTech Micro Storage Solutions - Protective Hard Drive Cases

[Paul Cronin]

Thank Jeff,

A shame there are no anti-static protective bags that go with the cases like the G-Safe. I will see if there are other cases on the market that offer anti-static bags with the case.