1TB+ External Hard Drive Reliability?

[JayKay335i]

You could pick up 2 separate drives and a 2 drive enclosure, and run that in a raid configuration.

[.:bHd:.]

Originally Posted by hl0m4n

^ what is the drive called as i can't seem to find it on newegg...

if the drive does fail, is there anyway to get the data on it back or is it completely gone?

im thinking i should get x2 500gb externals as to just one big 1.5tb drive.

i dont like the external drives with on/off switch cause i think each time you do it it puts a strain on the drive. i like wd as they turn on/off with the computer and when not in use just goes in sleep mode.

How much is your budget? You can get an enclosure that supports raid 1 and put two hard drives in there. One will always be making a copy of the other one.

[solefald]

Originally Posted by hl0m4n

^ what is the drive called as i can't seem to find it on newegg...

if the drive does fail, is there anyway to get the data on it back or is it completely gone?

im thinking i should get x2 500gb externals as to just one big 1.5tb drive.

i dont like the external drives with on/off switch cause i think each time you do it it puts a strain on the drive. i like wd as they turn on/off with the computer and when not in use just goes in sleep mode.

How about a NAS?

http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS211+/index.php

[.:bHd:.]

I guess this would be a good place to ask since I need to get one as well. What is a good enclosure that supports Raid 0 and has 4 HDD bays? I need it to edit videos and has to be very reliable.

[BimmerPod]

Originally Posted by hl0m4n

i have a 250gb wd external hard drive which i have used for 5 years and is finally full. i have had no issues with the drive whatso ever and still runs like a champ.

with these new 1tb+ external hard drives it really seems to be hit or miss and more size = more chances of something failing. im leaning towards wd again and their element 1.5tb hard drive for $70. only thing i don't like about it is there is no activity light.

i looked at fantom but really, the company aint that big and the drive doesn't seem to be reliable.

any recomendations/thoughts?

That 250gb drive you speak of...any pics of chelsea on there that you care to share?

[CollinsE90]

Originally Posted by BimmerPod

That 250gb drive you speak of...any pics of chelsea on there that you care to share?

lol

[rodi]

Originally Posted by .:bHd:.

I guess this would be a good place to ask since I need to get one as well. What is a good enclosure that supports Raid 0 and has 4 HDD bays? I need it to edit videos and has to be very reliable.

i wouldn't recommend editing video from a drive that isn't connected via SATA or eSATA. Though, FireWire800 is doable if you're using a fast codec native to your NLE. I use a G-Tech mobile (FW version) for editing ProRes encoded video with minimal lag.

Storing for retrieval on a per-project-basis is another thing. Just get anything and transfer your dailies overnight.

[.:bHd:.]

Originally Posted by rodi

i wouldn't recommend editing video from a drive that isn't connected via SATA or eSATA. Though, FireWire800 is doable if you're using a fast codec native to your NLE. I use a G-Tech mobile (FW version) for editing ProRes encoded video with minimal lag.

Storing for retrieval on a per-project-basis is another thing. Just get anything and transfer your dailies overnight.

I'm planing on connecting it using eSATA. Firewire800 is fine for 2 streams of HD footage, any more than that and you get lag. Since I'm editing 3-4 streams most of the time I need raid 0 and eSATA. I'm thinking of getting a 6Tb G-Raid but wanted to see if there's a better option.

[wvtlo]

There are two types of hard drives...ones that can fail and ones that will fail.

RAID ftw

[Chewy734]

Originally Posted by .:bHd:.

I guess this would be a good place to ask since I need to get one as well. What is a good enclosure that supports Raid 0 and has 4 HDD bays? I need it to edit videos and has to be very reliable.

ReadyNAS. We've been using the ReadyNAS NV+ at work for mission-critical data, and it hasn't failed us in over 4 years. Not one problem. Recently we purchased a Qnap TS-859 Pro and it's been working great for us as well.

[solefald]

Originally Posted by .:bHd:.

I'm planing on connecting it using eSATA. Firewire800 is fine for 2 streams of HD footage, any more than that and you get lag. Since I'm editing 3-4 streams most of the time I need raid 0 and eSATA. I'm thinking of getting a 6Tb G-Raid but wanted to see if there's a better option.

A photog friend of mine bought one of those LaCie Quadras with 8Tb.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11114

It looks sick and has full-on hardware RAID.

I set it up for him as hardware RAID0+1 and told him that his data is safe, but he only has usable 4Tb. A year goes by, and he forgets what I told him. One day he notices that he only has 4Tb, and goes all cowboy on his fucking DiskUtility. Starts formatting shit and deleting partitions.

After realizing that he has no fucking idea what he is doing, he calls me up and tells me to fix it. Apparently remembering that I told him that his data was safe. I had to explain to him that RAID is only there to protect from hardware failures, not human stupidity. After that I hung up the phone and laughed for about an hour.

Hardware itself it pretty bulletproof, though. Apparently he carries that thing with him all the time, for no apparent reason.


Or maybe its time to get the new MBP with Thunderbolt and some storage to match?

[JayKay335i]

I effing hate NAS. At the VERY LEAST, it should be hardwired.

[solefald]

Originally Posted by JayKay335i

I effing hate NAS. At the VERY LEAST, it should be hardwired.

explain?

[JayKay335i]

Originally Posted by solefald

explain?

Its a great idea. But so far everything I've tried is slow. Even wired it wasn't very fast. I have yet to try a standalone drive that gives any decent speed, in terms of home products. I know NAS is the way of the world, but I think its got come catching up to do in the consumer market.

[solefald]

Originally Posted by JayKay335i

Its a great idea. But so far everything I've tried is slow. Even wired it wasn't very fast. I have yet to try a standalone drive that gives any decent speed, in terms of home products. I know NAS is the way of the world, but I think its got come catching up to do in the consumer market.

Sorry man, but I have to kill this argument. Check out my screenshot.
I am downloading a 8.53 Gb file from my NAS onto my movie box.
See the progress bar? ETA for remaining 5Gb is about a minute.
On the right there is an iStat Menu that shows peak bandwidth of 79.3MB/sec.
This is almost 640Mbit/sec. Not too shabby. There is no way you could get anything like that with attached storage, unless it is FW800 or faster.

My NAS is Synology DS410, with RAID5 connected over gigabit ethernet.

[JayKay335i]

How are you managing that? I've got a 1tb drive connected via USB and I'm lucky if I hit 20mbs. The last NAS drive I picked up was lucky to hit 5mbs.

[solefald]

Originally Posted by JayKay335i

How are you managing that? I've got a 1tb drive connected via USB and I'm lucky if I hit 20mbs. The last NAS drive I picked up was lucky to hit 5mbs.

Quality hardware and gigabit ethernet
But it works pretty damn well over 802.11n. Not as fast though.

Like with everything else, you get what you pay for. Do not for for something cheap. Go for something quality that you can use for a loooong time. I dropped $500 on the box and $300 on the drives. Total of 6Tb of usable capacity. This will last me for 3-4 years or so, and even then I could pop bigger drives in it.

It's 2011. Gigabit or GTFO.

[JayKay335i]

Poor student. I'm on N till I move out of here.

[hl0m4n]

damn the raid enclousure with drives can get costly...

wouldn't it take double the time to copy a file in a raid external drive cause it has to copy it on 2 hard drives?

fuck technology sucks, i remember back in the day i spent $500 on a ati x850 xt pe when it fresh came out

[solefald]

Originally Posted by hl0m4n

damn the raid enclousure with drives can get costly...

wouldn't it take double the time to copy a file in a raid external drive cause it has to copy it on 2 hard drives?

fuck technology sucks, i remember back in the day i spent $500 on a ati x850 xt pe when it fresh came out

no. both drives write at the same time independently from each other.

how much are you looking to spend? anything decent would run at least $300.

[.:bHd:.]

Originally Posted by solefald

A photog friend of mine bought one of those LaCie Quadras with 8Tb.
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11114

It looks sick and has full-on hardware RAID.

Or maybe its time to get the new MBP with Thunderbolt and some storage to match?

I wish they sold the enclosure separately it does look pretty sick.

As for the new MPB with Thunderbolt. It will take some time before they get macpro performance in a macbook lol Also there are only a handful of drives out now that support thunderbolt.

[.:bHd:.]

This seems to be perfect for what I'm looking for but its a bit too expensive. Guess I gotta save up a little more lol

http://www.drobostore.com/store/drob...ctID.221448700