Laptop Data Dump Setup

[Akin A]

I'm experimenting with a laptop data dumping setup, so I'll share my solution for anybody interested in doing something similar.
Total spent = $563

ASUS X200MA-RCLT08
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232375
- $200 (last week's refurbished price)

Mushkin Enhanced Reactor MKNSSDRE1TB 2.5" 1TB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226596
- $340 (last week's price)

Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKAQ538/
- $23

I partitioned the laptop's internal 500GB HDD with 30GB for OS/Apps and the rest for data. I then cloned the HDD and copied that data to the 1TB SSD. I opened up the laptop (Phillips #0) and replaced the HDD with the SSD.

The SSD has about 30GB for OS/Apps and 900GB free. Keep in mind that the RED Station can be powered by the laptop via the USB 3 cable, without needing the AC adapter out in the field. So I can plug the RED Station into the laptop and either:
1) Dump a 512GB Mini-Mag (447GB avail on the Mini-Mags according to Windows) twice. This gives me 3 Mini-Mags worth of data (2 dumps, plus the current Mini-Mag). A full dump might take about 37 minutes based on the speeds below.
2) Copy over individual RDCs. With a meticulous shot list, including file names, I can just copy the good takes and have a clean SSD full of good RDCs. That alleviates some annoyances with not being able to delete individual clips.

The laptop has shitty specs, but it does have USB 3, fits the 1TB SSD, and is small/light weight, so that's all I was looking for. I left the 7 bottom screws OFF after opening the laptop, so that it's quicker to just peel back the laptop's middle layer and take out the SSD (there are videos of opening this laptop on youtube if you search for the model #). The layers still snap together without the screws. It takes 15 seconds to open it and pull out the SSD once you're used to it.

Speeds:
RED Station (512GB Mini-Mag) to laptop's ORIGINAL 500 GB HDD, via USB 3, transferred 3 RDCs at around 80MB/s (varying from 50MB/s to 100MB/s).
RED Station (512GB Mini-Mag) to laptop's NEW 1 TB SSD, via USB 3, transferred 3 RDCs at around 205MB/s.
Sabrent Docking Station (1TB Mushkin SSD) to my desktop workstation's BIOS RAID-0 (no RAID adapter), via USB 3, got around 240MB/s, which is similar to what the RED Station gets me when copied to my workstation. I tried copying to my workstation's boot SSD (for OS/Apps) and got similar 240MB/s speeds.

 

[Christopher*Seguine]

If you want more storage in the same space you could replace the 2.5" ssd with a 2.5" to 2x msata carrier and 2x 1tb msata ssds
The transfers should not be any slower than your desktop, check your usb3 driver version, and write cache settings in device manager.
If your not, try using Fast Copy, bypasses some of OS buffering issues, but shouldn't be much difference on 8.1/server 2012.

 

[Akin A]

If you want more storage in the same space you could replace the 2.5" ssd with a 2.5" to 2x msata carrier and 2x 1tb msata ssds
The transfers should not be any slower than your desktop, check your usb3 driver version, and write cache settings in device manager.
If your not, try using Fast Copy, bypasses some of OS buffering issues, but shouldn't be much difference on 8.1/server 2012.

Thanks Christopher. When the cost of the 1TB msata SSDs go down, that could be a good option if I find that I need even more space. I'll check out Fast Copy too.

 

[Leland Haushalter]

That laptop is going to be REALLY slow. Look into a used Macbook Pro Retina 13.

 

[Akin A]

That laptop is going to be REALLY slow. Look into a used Macbook Pro Retina 13.

I just need it for storing/transferring R3Ds, so it's fine for that. I don't run any apps on it.
I'm surprised more people haven't done this, considering it only cost $563.