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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

4TB DIY RAID enclosure spanks CalDigit HDPro. And costs < $1500.

M

mjeppsen

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Hey all, just wanted to mention an exciting bit of news I stumbled across this morning. It's the shopping list for a simple 500GB x 8-drive DIY RAID that offers over 400 MB/s write and 500MB/s+ read in RAID 0 configuration. Assembly looks simple, and the parts will only set you back about $1450 including shipping. Figured there'd be a few folks here on this forum that would appreciate the indie price point.

In comparison, the well-reviewed CalDigit HDPro is somewhere in the neighborhood of $5700 for the same capacity, and it doesn't quite match the performance of this DIY option.

I'm not saying this DIY solution is better in all respects over the HDPro or similar products. I am saying, damn, this is an option that appears to deliver pro-level performance at a mere fraction of the price.
 
Cool, indeed. Here's the link to the full article: http://lifezero.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/super-fast-4tb-raid-for-under-2k.html

Conclusion
The RAID is fast, cheap and is a pleasure to build and use. I've color corrected feature films (at 2k), worked on That Media Show (1080p), edited RED footage and done a lot more. The RAID just keeps going and going and doesn't seem to slow down or have any real issues.
In RAID 5 configuration, expect 300 MB/s writes and 400 MB/s reads on average, ignoring the manufacturers claims (I've tested the system in RAID 5).
Click to expand...
 
I am using something very similar (with all the goodness of CalDigit HW) - basically You get 8TB RAID-5 for Mac Pro under $3K...:

http://www.scarletuser.com/showthread.php?t=1236

Here's the summary:

A) Get the 1TB HDElement as ti comes with the RAID card under $1.5K (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._1TB_HDElement_External_Hard.html#accessories)

B) Buy 8x 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0005N1A1ASRK_1TB_Barracuda_7200_11_SATA.html). The are $195,- from B&H, but if You shop around You can get them for lot less ($ 140,- at NEWEGG - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...TC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives-_-Seagate-_-22148274)

C) "Throw away" the internal 250 GB drives from the HDElement and replace them with the 1 TB Seagates...

D) Put the other 4 1TB drives inside Your Mac Pro

Voila! You got Yourself a 7 TB RAID-5 storage (already deducting 1TB parity) for under $3K!!! It will easily sustain speeds well in excess of 500 MB/s... (both READ/WRITE)

I have spent couple of years researching all sorts of high performance storage system including some very interesting prototype technologies. Nothing comes even close to this deal. Highly recommended...

Hope this helps... :)

Peter
 
Peter,
Replacing the drives with the Seagates, is that fairly straightforward? Great idea, by the way. Also, what did you do with the 250GB drives you had left over?

Thanks,
Ben Rowland
 
Peter Majtan said:
Ben, if You can replace a HDD in Your laptop, this will be walk in a garden... :)
I use the leftover drives in a single external enclosures for various purposes, mostly backup...
Click to expand...

That's what I figured. Thanks, Peter.

And many thanks to Matt for bringing this to our attention (and for all the work you put in at FreshDV).

-Ben Rowland
 
Thanks for sharing.
 
I wish we could buy those CalDigit enclosures without drives. I prefer buying bare Seagate drives and installing them myself anyway. Anyone have a connection for HDPro enclosures?
 
since Jan of this year ive been using my
own diy RAID 0 with great success.

-my boot drive is located in the optical bay
-i have 4 500gb inside the mac and 2 outside using
the 2 extra sata ports behind the fan assembly.

AJA system test gives me 430 MB\s write and 433 MB\s read
Speed Tools' zoneBench reflects my setup can maintain 325+ MB\s
up to 70% capacity of the RAID volume.

I have been running techTool Pro's drive tests at least twice a day
since Jan and only one drive had bad sectors. I RMA'd the drive to
western digital for a replacement in march.

"I should also point out, for the record, I don't care about
redundancy. If I want something backed up, I'll use external
drives, or better yet, a Drobo." I agree with John's point here...

As soon as techtool pro indicated bad sectors on a
specific drive I had to move everything over onto
another external drive attached via an addonics card.
I did this after the new drive came in.

A few days ago i just ordered 2 more 500 WD
so i will have an 8 drive RAID 0 setup...

my original set up was under $700
the 2 new drives wer $120 from newEgg
imagine the speed =>

aJa_system_test.png

zoneBench_10_zones.png

zoneBench_20_zones.png
 
...just what I was looking for.
Thanks!
 
What is the fastest 16 bay SATA RAID enclosure currently available? I've been looking at the JMR but don't know any downsides to using it. Basically looking for storage fast enough to run Smoke on Mac.
 
Andre you'll be looking at either a SAS with poss an expander or one that uses pci-e extender.

Fastest.. well.. there all the fastest :) lol.. to be honest depends on the sas expander and the HBA and the drives etc..

JMR are good. The sonnet is the jmr rebranded.

iStar USA do a 16bay expander
http://www.istarusa.com/storage/sas/dage316u40sasexp.aspx

netstor
http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?NzQ=

Also Enhance tech do one
http://www.enhance-tech.com/products/ultrastor/RS16_JS.html

and a newish (rebrand) ci design do one now.
http://www.istoragepro.com/ir16saej.html

These require a raid card in the macpro

If you get one with raid built in ( more $$$) you just need a sas hba without raid.

Personally I'd got for a AttoR380 or maybe Areca but prefer atto.

Drives, Hitachi Ultrastars if 2TB. If 1TB Hitachi do a 24x7 which is deskstar but is apparently enterprise/raid capable.


If you go for a pcie version basically you buy a raid card (hba) and put that in the chassis and connect to the macpro with a card that comes with the chassis. so you need a raid card with internal not external connectors.

Though tbh a 8 bay with no expander would probably be fine for Smack*
http://www.enhance-tech.com/products/desktop/E8_MS.html
We run these with an ATTOR380 and at 70% full currently were still getting over 500MBs



hope that helps. anything else DM me or hit me on Wave :)

Si
 
I have a PROAVIO enclosure with 8 Hitachi 1TB "generation 2" drives connected to a Highpoint 4322 in a Raid 5 Config. Empty i was seeing close to 700mb/sec write and 750mb/sec write. if you get the Segate 7200.12 hard drives you can probably get over 1GB/sec in Raid 0. Cost me less than $2200. the PROAVIO is a great enclosure. Can play two streams of 2K DPX frames fine. Even when the raid is 75% full. If you put two of these cards in a system, you can even do 4K DPX playback.

Matt Riggieri
 
Thanks everyone and especially Simon. I think I'll go with the JMR... just got to do a lil more research.
 
I called Enhance Technologies about the UltraStor JS and they actually recommend the LSISAS3801E as the controller for their JBOD. The card is significantly cheaper and faster than the ATTO. I think this is due to the ATTO R380 not supporting Wide Port. The UltraStor JS is Wide Port and uses a LSI SAS Expander Board.
 
mjeppsen said:
Hey all, just wanted to mention an exciting bit of news I stumbled across this morning. It's the shopping list for a simple 500GB x 8-drive DIY RAID that offers over 400 MB/s write and 500MB/s+ read in RAID 0 configuration. Assembly looks simple, and the parts will only set you back about $1450 including shipping. Figured there'd be a few folks here on this forum that would appreciate the indie price point.

In comparison, the well-reviewed CalDigit HDPro is somewhere in the neighborhood of $5700 for the same capacity, and it doesn't quite match the performance of this DIY option.

I'm not saying this DIY solution is better in all respects over the HDPro or similar products. I am saying, damn, this is an option that appears to deliver pro-level performance at a mere fraction of the price.
Click to expand...


Matt:

How about 900MB/sec for $1875 E8 MS LSI3801E 8x500GB drives and cables. If you have a multi CPU MAC use one of the several CPU to drive the scatter and gather functions. Set up RAID 5 in your utilities of the O/S and see jsut how fast you can go!

Thanks
Mike Thurston
 
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