Portable Rack RAID?

[andrew salkey]

So I'm on the market for a raid, specifically with USB3 and esata. It's mainly for DIT/on set offloading of RED media. I'd only be using esata, but having USB3 as an option is always nice.

I was set on an R4, but after seeing so that so many people have had hardware issues with them, I'm staying away from it for a while. I already have 3 copies of footage while I'm on set, but I'd rather not have my raid completely go down on me.

I was set on an OWC Rack Pro, and thinking about keeping it permanently setup in a Shock Mount Gator Case, or a Pelican 1440 with a foam cutout. With the pelican I'd take it out when in use.

I know people have rack raids on carts, but those are on carts. Those are pretty stable platforms to begin with, and always stay upright.

Personally I'd think that the shock mount would be OK (and it'd have to be upright at all times), but still have my doubts. It wasn't designed to be mobile, so using in this manner is risky.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? The case would be travelling by itself, not on a cart, and only handled by me. It would travelling in a car.

To be honest, as much as I want USB3, I'm probably just going to go with a normal OWC 4 bay raid, or a G-Tech. Seems to be the most reliable choice, with no risks.

 

[joe hedge]

The statements "I'd only be using esata, but having USB3 as an option is always nice" and "I was set on an R4" are incompatible - Promise R4's are TBolt only

And if all you have is eSata or UBB3, you don't need a 4-bay raid. You can max out the bandwidth of either of those ports with a 2-bay, or with G-Raids. All you're gonna get is 220-250 MB/s, with either a 2-bay or a 4-bay, with just eSata or USB3. Faster than that, you need either TBolt, SAS or 10GigE.

You also need to ask yourself, what is the point of having a 4-bay (or bigger) Raid it in the first place. All you really need to keep on set are the transcodes, not the raw files. The raws are leaving the set once the client drives are full, or on daily shuttle drives.

 

[Will Keir]

That's good to know. So if you want eSATA, USB 3, you must accept speeds at 220-250MB/S.

I know the bottleneck is R3D footage can be the hard drive if it's under 100 MB/S. In Premiere Pro playback resolution. My estimate was at 300 MB/S you'd be more than safe, though 220 MB/S just might work as well.

And if all you have is eSata or UBB3, you don't need a 4-bay raid. You can max out the bandwidth of either of those ports with a 2-bay, or with G-Raids. All you're gonna get is 220-250 MB/s, with either a 2-bay or a 4-bay, with just eSata or USB3. Faster than that, you need either TBolt, SAS or 10GigE.

 

[andrew salkey]

The statements "I'd only be using esata, but having USB3 as an option is always nice" and "I was set on an R4" are incompatible - Promise R4's are TBolt only

Yes. I'd go thunderbolt only if there were more options, but the R4/R6 is pretty much the only (3+bay) option at this point. After that esata and USB3 would be the next best option.

But you are right Joe, I'm only looking to max out the potential of a 4 bay Raid, nothing more than that. Raid protection, and something to keep up with my SSDs are the main things I'm looking for.

I will more than likely end up with a normal esata raid at this point.