Best Economical Storage for RED Footage

[Nick Mah]

Hi All-

I'll soon be directing/producing my first film shot on RED, and I need to buy some storage. My DP thinks we need 2 TB total, 1 for storage, 1 for backup. Any recommendations on brands/systems to go for? I'm trying to spend less than $300 if possible. He also wants to go with FW800.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Dave Weber]

I like G Tech or WD. They work well for me.

Depending on how much you are shooting, I would question size.

I like esata over FW800

 

[James Press]

Hi Nick,

$300 to store the master footage of your film? I realise you might be strapped for cash but it's your raw footage there, you can't risk it disappearing. Obviously the choice is yours but best practice would be to have at least 3 copies-- the working files and 2 backups. Re 1TB of actual footage: depends how much footage you intend to shoot...4K 16:9 at Redcode36 is about 100GB per hour, so 1TB would be about 10 hours of raw material. Also, most would use a RAID for the working files (at least a mirror/ RAID1) which will double or triple your required space.

Don't forget you're going to need more space to accommodate the transcoded files (for example ProResHQ at 1280x720 is about 40GB per hour) and the rendered files and any other media you're using.

Best of luck with it!

 

[Tom.Wong]

for PURE budget concerns, you can always get a esata dock and run all your backups on internal hard drives. at 1 TB hd's running at 80 bux a pop now you can save a lot of money. However, you will need to take EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA care of transport of internal drives. Anti static bags, proper packaging, etc. You eliminate the protection to the eliminates and of shock from a proper enclosure, so you have been warned.

 

[Nick Mah]

Thanks for the thoughts...

I'm thinking of going with two G-Tech 1 TBs, and i've also got a spare 2 tb seagate at home i can use as an extra back. So...1 G-tech for working files, 1 g-tech for backup, seagate 2tb for extra backup. I'd love to RAID 1 the working files, but I don't know think that's going to be an affordable option.

I'm also looking at LaCie quadras, but for some reason I have hesitations.

Anyone think that's a horrible idea?

 

[michael zaletel]

LTO-4 all things considered.

-michael zaletel

 

[Nick Mah]

Oh, also forgot to mention this is just a short film...10 min final length.

 

[Tom.Wong]

my person experience, avoid the quadras, only thing i like from lacie now are their rugged drives and that's about it. I used to be a big fan of lace, and i still have several drives from them that are running solid, but all the newest one's i've seen from friends and colleagues using them, 3 out of 8 people i knew that had quadras had failures within months of buying it. One didn't work straight out of the box.

 

[Nick Mah]

Those were my thoughts on LaCie too.

Thanks!