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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 :)

best cheap notebook to copy redmags into?

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jorge krausch

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Ive noticed budget 13" notebooks that have usb3.0 .. anyone use them to empty your redmags on the go (on a budget)?

Theres even a few usb 3.0 tablets coming out...
 
Just because they have USB3.0, it doesn't mean they're fast. You're still limited by the speed of the storage and the quality of the chipset(s) used, bandwidth allotted to them, etc..

How much data are you looking to move in a day? You need to be able to offload the REDMAGs fast enough and have enough storage to hold what you shoot in order to make it worthwhile. I can't think of any decent notebook to do this that would qualify as "cheap". You can get a small i5 based ultrabook that has dual USB3 ports and hopefully an eSATA port too. Then copy from the REDMAG USB3 reader to external drives like G-Drives or whatever.

What does "on a budget" mean? What is your ideal budget? How much data? how fast do you typically fill your cards and need to cycle them? How many REDMAG cards do you have and what size are they?
 
Hi Jeff... At the moment I just have one REDMAG.. sounds crazy I know.. small steps.. Anyway, if i could offload a 64Gb redmag in 8-9 minutes id be happy... Do I need a retina macbook pro for that?
 
jorge krausch said:
Hi Jeff... At the moment I just have one REDMAG.. sounds crazy I know.. small steps.. Anyway, if i could offload a 64Gb redmag in 8-9 minutes id be happy... Do I need a retina macbook pro for that?
Click to expand...

No, definitely don't need a retina macbook pro to get fast downloads. 64GB in 8-9min means you are aiming for ~133MBps. Are you only going to one drive? I highly recommend backing up to two drives as it protects better against hardware and other failures. What kinds of drives are you looking at or are you thinking about backing up to a laptop's internal drive?

To get 133MBps downloads to one external drive, you need either a particularly fast, single 3.5" hard drive or RAID or SSD connected through USB3, esata, or thunderbolt. It is quite possible for you to get the speed you want from an i3 laptop with the right inexpensive external drive, but I would not expect most off the shelf budget USB3 3.5" hard drives to write faster than around 100MBps, and 2.5" HDDs will be even slower, probably writing around 60MBps on average.

What is your download workflow? Are you buying external drives for the job so you can hand them to clients/editors? Are you shooting for yourself and just need the most portable and cheapest solution to offset your lack of extra redmag media?
 
I've been using an 11" MacBook Air for data managing. It's small and has 2x USB3 and Thunderbolt. It has been fast enough so far. I usually use the Thunderbolt to eSata hub going to a G-Safe so that slows me down a bit, but going straight to a USB3 drive is fast.
 
Retina MacBook and USB 3.0 architecture has been great, I usually just use WD or Segate drives from Costco for traveling light and I always back up right away.
 
Noah is right about bandwidth and most single drives are not going to sustain a consistent 133MB/s write speed across the entire drive. Good 2-drive RAID setups can do it, even made with 2.5" HDDs. The G-RAID mini and CalDigit VR mini are good options for compact and fast external HDDs.

If you go with single drives, that's fine too, just be aware that your offload times will be a bit longer, probably more in the 10~11 minute range if that card is full.

You just need a small notebook (ultrabook) or sub-notebook that has dual USB3 ports and ideally an eSATA and/ or Thunderbolt as well. The 11" Macbook Air is an awesome solution here, but definitely not the cheapest. I don't know what to recommend for cheap. I've seen an ASUS one that seemed promising not too long ago, but didn't actually test it for anything and don't recall the model. I would look to the better brands, read reviews. ASUS, SAMSUNG, Lenovo or go with a Mac if the budget fits and that's what you would like. Personally, I love my 15" MBP retina for field work, it's the best laptop I've ever owned, period. But it's total overkill for just offloading files. The 13" is a compromise somewhat with the smaller screen and lesser specs. It's nice for those looking to cut a bit more bulk who don't need the power of the 15".

Only problem with going to the smaller ones like MB Air or similar spec'd PC is that you get to be rather limited on what you can actually run on it and the screens are cramped. I'm expecting the next revision of MB Air systems, as well as similarly positioned PC's, to have retina displays this year. That's going to help a ton for a lot of things.

For just offloading of files though, the computer itself doesn't have to be that special as long as it has the ports. Read up on them to see which ones can handle the throughput on their ports, if that info is out there.
 
The G-Raid is very interesting, thanks for the info.. very happy you all shared your experiences.. The only problem is the G-Raid needs a mains so not ideal for field work.. I didnt know macs had a 11" option.. gona look into it.. :)
 
Les Dittert said:
I use an asus netbook with usb3. Copies at 55MB/sec.
I have to travel ultra light.
Runs Rcx but slow. Enough to check shots.
Click to expand...

Is that copying to a 2.5" HDD/portable drive or to an SSD? That is to say, is the 55mb/sec a drive limit or a bus/usb3-on-netbook-chipset limitation?
 
Last edited:
Mike P. said:
Is that copying to a 2.5" HDD/portable drive or to an SSD? That is to say, is the 55mb/sec a drive limit or a bus/usb3-on-netbook-chipset limitation?
Click to expand...

Chipset limited. To drive or internal Samsung ssd is about same speed.
 
Damn it. Kind of looking for something stupid cheap, but with real speed (something that could max an SSD would be a real winner).

For some reason I thought RED would release a "dump" drive -- battery powered, crc checking, portable "REDstation-like" unit that you just popped in two HDD/SSDs and the REDmag and hit "copy" for on the fly redundancy and REDmag back-ups.

What's the lowest end chipset/cpu combo that wouldn't be limited by traditional netbook chipset performance (or is that exactly what this thread is about)?
 
Would be cool if they made a REDMAG reader in which you can load in two 2.5 drives to RAID offload onto.. using a battery :)
 
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