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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 :)

Sidecar vs. CalDigit vs. ???

Roberto Lequeux

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I don't know much about the external RAID options out there and that is basically what I am hoping to learn more about.

So far I found out about the Sidecar and CalDigit... Is there anything else to consider?

Two Sidecars put together should be very nice for Red One. But I worry about the future, and being able to handle RR80 and RR100... perhaps RR225. Of course we have no clue what Red is up to there, but some additional headroom is sure to be necessary.

Is the CalDigit card more powerful? Versatile? For the cost of the CalDigit card I could buy two Sidecars and slap them together, both would come with their cards included. I don't mean to just ask for an interpretation of the numbers on their web pages, but also actual performance hopefully, real world stuff... I don't trust HDD specs that much anymore. Has anyone used both? Hopefully on the same system?

And has anyone used them with 1.5TB drives?

Lots of questions... but all on the same subject. External RAIDs for Red.
 
There are literally dozens. I recommend expandable storage from
Maxxdigital.com. You can find external raid solutions from dulce, sonnet, g-raid, and others. Maxx tends to use the same technologies (possibly even the same manufacturers in some cases) at lower mark-up than some of the other companies.

Also love our Terrablock system if you're looking for a multi- user environment.
 
Ohhh... yea, this looks good: Evo2 HD 2TB Tower $2,900 with 670MB/s in RAID-5 and 9TB with 1.5TB drives, right?

Is the airflow of those 120mm fans funneled only through the HDD bays? Is the Power Supply quiet? How is the build of the whole thing? Is it tough?
 
I have looked at all of those companies and, as you suggested, Maxxdigital offers the best numbers at a discounted rate. Their 8 bay numbers are strikingly similar to the numbers for the Sonnet 8 bay.

I did bump into a very nice graph on the Dulce site that made me like them as a company...

PRO_DQ_8TB_perf_read_R0356-1.jpg


If only everyone posted this sort of thing. It is hard not to trust them when they put all the info out there. It would be ludicrous of them not to give real figures when they are doing this.

And this brings me to an other important question: Will the Maxxdigital have a severe drop off as it fills up? One would tend to think that if it starts out fast it should end up, still, faster than the others... but is that the case?
 
There are literally dozens. I recommend expandable storage from
Maxxdigital.com. You can find external raid solutions from dulce, sonnet, g-raid, and others. Maxx tends to use the same technologies (possibly even the same manufacturers in some cases) at lower mark-up than some of the other companies.

I can also enthusiastically recommend Maxx Digital.
 
The numbers sure are impressive. All of these suggested are solid performers based on their specs. It will be a lotta fun to work with them. Bye bye to waiting for file transfers. (other than uncompressed 4k RAW files) :)
 
All these solutions being suggested are good. Take a look at different options, current pricing, etc.. If you can wait until NAB, then it would be worth the trip to investigate the various solutions and see them in action.

I like CalDigit and Dulce systems myself. If you're looking for a bigger rack-mount unit, Brook Willard has a nice piece of hardware for sale on here right now. I would suggest getting a newer ATTO eSATA RAID controller vs. the Areca one he has included. Not that it's bad, it's just that there are better solutions out there now. :)
 
I am not ready to pull the trigger/s. I am just getting acquainted with what I am going to work with, and making sure I have an idea of the options so I don't have to cram. My hope is that by the end of the year we'll need one of these, and 2TB drives will be common place. But I won't be expecting a big drop in RAID cards and enclosures. They barely moved over the course of the past few years in relation to everything else.
 
Is this still the fast one? Cause it is going for $1,255 at B&H. though it is a bit scary that they don't advertise their speed... or that it is so hidden that I haven't found it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0TB_2TB_editBOX_8MS_Array.html#specifications

I must say though, that anything without two 120mm fans scares me. I've always had 3 drives per 120mm fan which guarantees air flow on both sides of each drive. Two for 4 isn't even enough for me, but the best I've seen so far.

I think I might have to get a little wine chiller rack going. I always wanted one of those anyway. But I won't look at rack style enclosures cause I need this one on set too.
 
Cineraid 8 bay Tower

Cineraid 8 bay Tower

I'm also looking for a good reliable storage solution. I've been leaning towards the Cineraid products. Performance numbers look great and it helps that it wont be an eye sore to look at next to my system. Anyone here have any experience with the Cineraid solution?
 
proavio editbox!!!!

it's quiet. really.
it's amazingly fast ( >650 Mb/sec. sustained in RAID 5 configuration!!!)
its price is red-like.
you can change the disks any time with bigger ones.
takes 5 minutes to set up ( a little more to format the disk, though)
looks cool too ( if you like apples...)

i cannot say about reliability, since it's been sitting on my desktob for just 2 months, but so far i can't say how happy i am with this choice.

mine is 4 Tb, but the 8 Tb was just a little more, in terms of cost.
i decided to go with 4 Tb only because back up is still an open issue which i havent fixed yet, so having 8 Tb would probably lead me to having 8 Tb full of data before i would eventually start thinking of a back up solution....:)
 
where did you get it? I am only finding the boxes without a card, I am interested in finding out more but their website kind of suck, or I can't figure it out cause it is so late
 
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