HD Raid Array System?

I am in the process of purchasing a Mac Pro 2.8 system on a moderate budget.

I am having a dilemma for a FCP editing setup of deciding between the expensive Mac raid controller card with two internal SATA 1TB drives, or an external 1TB Raid via Firewire 800, and which Raid striping to use: '0', 1, 5, 1+0, etc .

I will be working with 16mm film digitized at 10 bit uncompressed color HD, with sound added separately, final film length about 50 min. I am considering the option of using ProRes422 (HQ) compression if needed with either of the above set-ups.

Any recommendation on which Raid system would provide the most cost effective and adequate through-put for: (1) uncompressed HD or (2) ProRes422 (HQ) HD? Would I need a Raid system if I use ProRes422 for this material, or is big SATA internal media drive sufficient to edit from?

Many thanks.

CalDigit HDPro or HD One.
MaxxDigital EVO HD.


www.shanerosseditor.com

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Shane:
Thanks very much for the quick reply. I researched the systems you recommended, they seem like higher-end pro systems. Is there something less expensive and closer to my original plan that can work comfortably with ProRes for HD?

Thanks.

John

For Uncompressed HD...shane's suggestions are it. For ProRes (HQ) HD:

[www.caldigit.com]


When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

[Is there something less expensive and closer to my original plan that can work comfortably with ProRes for HD? ]

I would go right back to CalDigit and look closely at their new RAID card-- it's less expensive than Apple's, supports RAID 0, 1, 5 or 6 and it's totally expandable, which is very important-- you need the ability to add storage as needed and this allows you to grow carefully.

- Loren
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Uncompressed HD is a pretty tall order, even for Octo. To save a ton of troubles, offline with your current rig and take the finished project somewhere else for onlining.

On the topic of RAIDS, a company im currently working for are looking to create a clip library of their growing archive of footage. The footage would be captured at DVCPro50 and the importance is not on speed(not that it matters but for editing the footage would be pulled on to their fiber channel raid) So they are in the market for a protected RAID between 6 and 8TB - but they really don't need the speed offered by the big caldigit or Gtech raids... any suggestions?

xroloffx, you don't need to buy any new hardware to make a decent Raid. $ 300 will cover the cost for three SATA 1 TB HD's. Once you configure them into stripped array inside your Octo you are ready to go.

1 hour of uncompressed HD video takes around 450Gb (please check my math) and requires a read/write data rate around 240 MB/s for HDTV 1080 12 Bit RGB 4:4:4. (Not sure if you are planning to use this or some other variant). Your Internal Raid should be able to handle that with ease.

Still, I strongly recommend using an offline/online workflow for a job of this magnitude.

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Your Internal Raid should be able to handle that with ease.

Um...no. An internal RAID is a software RAID on the main bus and cannot handle Uncompressed HD 1080 12 Bit 4:4:4 at all. You will need a RAID PCIe card to run a striped array separately. Jon Schilling from CalDigit is the man to talk to about this.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Just give us a call, we'll gladly fill you in on what's what.

nicknasty Wrote:
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> Uncompressed HD is a pretty tall order, even for
> Octo. To save a ton of troubles, offline with your
> current rig and take the finished project
> somewhere else for onlining.

At my last job they I ordered them the Caldigit 6TB HD-One as Raid 5.

It never even lost it's breath playing back 10-bit uncompressed HD media in real time.

All:
Thanks very much for all the feedback. For our budget it looks like a call to CalDigit (even for ProRes-HQ) looks like the ticket, off/on-line is also a good strategy to research. I saw a number of CalDigit machines on the Amazon site at a reasonable price. There are many out there like me who are not pro-editors but use FCP for fine art (such as this project) as one of their tools among many. Again, thanks.

nicknasty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Uncompressed HD is a pretty tall order, even for
> Octo. To save a ton of troubles, offline with your
> current rig and take the finished project
> somewhere else for onlining.


I completely disagree. Uncompressed HD is not a tall order if you have the right drives (fast raid). And the 8 core mac pro tower can handle Uncompressed 1080i HD flawlessly.

CHL

Chi-Ho Lee
Film & Television Editor
Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Instructor

Quote

you don't need to buy any new hardware to make a decent Raid. $ 300 will cover the cost for three SATA 1 TB HD's. Once you configure them into stripped array inside your Octo you are ready to go.

Quote

Uncompressed HD is a pretty tall order, even for Octo. To save a ton of troubles, offline with your current rig and take the finished project somewhere else for onlining.

Which is it? Tall order or ready to go?

Don't know where you are getting your info from but it's whack. Nothing I have run into has been a "tall order" for an OctoCore. You just can't run Uncompressed HD on an internal RAID off the motherboard (in my experience I have never seen an internal software RAID ever run Uncompressed HD). You will NEED a hardware controller and enough fast drives in a striped array (I have used 5 and 8 drive configurations) to sustain the massive throughput.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.