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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 :)

GROUP PURCHASE - 3ware Sidecar RAID Solution

Okay, lets see what I can do to answer some of this...

First, the 9690SA series is a SAS controller and even though it uses a similar type of cable connection it is keyed differently. The SFF8088 connector has a different key for SAS versus SATA. We also have not tested the 9690SA series with the Mac driver so at this time there is no support.

As for x-SATA versus e-SATA, the main advantage is that x-SATA gives each drive its own independent channel for data transfer. With e-SATA, it uses a shared channel for all drives using port multiplication. This is much slower than x-SATA. As Thor had mentioned, we do support single disk mode which can be configured through our management software once the drives are connected to the card. There is no jumper or switch, it is all done through software. The RAID functions are handled by the controller directly, the Sidecar enclosure just provides the mechanical hot swap interface for the drives.

For performance, we are quoting up to 300MB per second in a RAID 0 stripe configuration and up to 250MB per second in RAID 5 writes. It is rather hard to determine the variables such as performance based on used capacity since this is drive dependent and each one behaves differently.

With our current firmware we will recognize array sizes up to the yotta-bytes so as the drive sizes increase you will be able to take advantage of them with our Sidecar. We also offer the drive carriers separately at $60 each if you need replacements or spares.

*** Not sure if this was mentioned previously, but we also offer a BBU option for our Sidecar controller for those situations that demand full data protection. I have included links to our unique features including the StorSave BBU option below for your reference.

http://www.3ware.com/products/pdf/StorSave_TechBrf_0215b.pdf

http://www.3ware.com/products/pdf/StorSwitch_final.pdf

http://www.3ware.com/products/pdf/StreamFus_TechBrf_0215c.pdf

David
 
Sidecar first test

Sidecar first test

Hi,


I get my Sidecar. It has been a little bit hard to make it work. The driver on the CD and on the website seem to have problem with MacOS 10.5. The controller was not recognize and I had to install a beta driver to make it works.

Here are some pictures of result using AJA test drive with the sidecar in raid 5 configuration with 4 Samsung 1 T, and another test with a single samsung 1T (full at 65% when I did the test)

The sidecar is very noisy (much more than the MacPro). The install in slot 3 of the MacPro (last MacPro 3,2 8 core), the 4 drives and the cables was easy. It seems to be pretty fast (but the Raid was empty).
I have to configure the controller for speed and to check the "enable cache" box for having good speed result, but I get message from the controller telling me that in case of power failure I have big risks to loose data. So, when i will be in production environnement, i will use the battery sold as an option or an uninterruptible power supply.

:sad: I still have a problem but I hope to find a solution : i can't anymore boot under boot camp, because before charging Windows XP, I get the message "waiting for the controller to initialize" and I can't exceed this message.

If you need support, ask for David Graas or Joseph Infelise, because the websupport does only stupid automatic answers.:angry03:

Did someone else buy it ?


Olivier
 
With Sidecar no boot under boot camp

With Sidecar no boot under boot camp

I get from Joseph in 3ware this answer about the locking of the boot under windows if you have the controller in the MacPro :

>I think that the problem is emulating a PC POST and boot environment and the BIOS is not programmed for this.
We do know about the issue and are looking into it.
I don't think that there is a way.
We have a method of disabling the BIOS in the PC environment, but getting to the BIOS to turn it off is not possible <

so, at this moment, if you put a sidecar in your MacPro, you can't anymore run it under WinXP with Bootcamp. I don't know if it is the same problem under VMware ou parallel desktop.
It is a pity for me because even if i hate Windows, i need it sometimes.
 
Radamo, we are working on a new Mac driver that will include Bootcamp support that should be released with the next month or two. This will also include the newer Mac OS 10.5 official driver as well.

As for the noise, we built the unit with a high CFM fan as to minimize heat buildup issues when you have soo many drive units closely packed together in an enclosure. This is common for most RAID type enclosures although we did rate our fan at 30db which is on the quieter side for this type of box. ;)

David
 
3wareSales said:
Radamo, we are working on a new Mac driver that will include Bootcamp support that should be released with the next month or two. This will also include the newer Mac OS 10.5 official driver as well.

As for the noise, we built the unit with a high CFM fan as to minimize heat buildup issues when you have soo many drive units closely packed together in an enclosure. This is common for most RAID type enclosures although we did rate our fan at 30db which is on the quieter side for this type of box. ;)

David
Click to expand...

Good news. Anyway, I don't regret this product because it must be difficult to be faster.


Olivier
 
Okay, you can use different drive sizes but it is not recommended. For most hardware RAID controllers like ours if you mix drive sizes in the same array all of the drives will come up as the smallest one in use. If you create different arrays for each drive size this is not an issue.

Also, I wanted to mention that we just reduced the MSRP for the 3ware Sidecar this month to $765 for the whole kit. I will continue to offer this forum an additional discount which is now $150 off which would make your price $615 for the kit. Let me know if you have any questions.

David
 
David -

Do you happen to know if this is compatible with ProTools under the single volume config? If so have you tested it or know anyone using it?

Thanks

JIM
 
Jim, I do not believe we have tested that in-house on our end but in talking with Thor who has been using our Sidecar he believes it should work fine. The performance levels are more than good enough and the fact that our controller uses hardware based RAID minimzes any compatibility conflicts with software applications due to the fact the RAID is not visible to the OS or applications.

David
 
So does the Sidecar show up as a single volume since it is a hardware raid system? I think it has to for Protools - sorry - I don't know much about this yet - trying to learn. Either way it looks like a good RED solution.
 
so given that the old price was 895 and the group buy was 595, does that mean with the current price at 695 that redusers get it for 395?:whistling:
 
Warning..

Warning..

(update: my problem is hardware... I have faulty controllers.. 3ware support has been very helpful)

Hi

I have purchased 2x 3ware sidecars and after over a day of effort am unable to get either working at all. After a quick goggle check it seems I'm not alone.

System

Mac Pro (latest) with leopard

Tried both cards in all slots and can't get 3-ware's software to see the controller... Used both non-beta and beta Leopard drivers.

Thought I should post as I am a typical Red user who bought a Mac specifiaclly for Red and thought Sidecar looked like a OK storage solution.

Will keep this forum updated if support gets back with anything useful..

regards

Michael Lindsay

PS anyone else lucky with a new Mac Pro..?
 
I'm going to give it a shot.
 
Jim, we normally do not test specific software applications as there are soo many on the market. Since our products use a hardware based RAID the software applications never really know there is a RAID array present which minimizes any compatibility concerns. I would expect the ProTools software to work fine. Has anyone here used that software with a RAID system before?
 
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