MBP 2.53 and Drive or Raid setup

(Starting a new thread as the similar, original question was answered)
[www.lafcpug.org]

Here's what I've got:
MBP 2.53 (MacBookPro5,1) with 4 gigs of Ram
FCP 5 moving up to FCP 7 (I hope within a week or two)
eSata Expresscard to NewerTech eSata hard drive dock (with Samsung 500 GB 7200rpm drive)
Canon Vixia HF S100 (shooting in MXP mode, 1920x1080 60i AVCHD)
Planning to encode into Apple ProRes 422

I will primarily be editing instructional video, first for my website (HarmonicaLessons.com), and then later to go to DVD and/or Blu-Ray for offline sales.

Questions:

1. Can I get away without a RAID initially and just use the eSata Expresscard to NewerTech eSata 500 GB 7200rpm hard drive dock for the Capture/Scratch disk? (After buying the new camera and upgrading the lighting, I'll be cash-poor for awhile) I believe I read somewhere that Apple ProRes 422 requires 145 MBPS. If it's just a matter of occasionally dropping frames without affecting the final outcome, I can live with it for a while.

2. Any thoughts on the future-purchase RAID 0 setups here for the Capture/Scratch disk?

$309- G-RAID (2 drives) features a high-speed interface - eSATA, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports. 200MB/sec via eSATA. Every TB Holds 10 hours of Pro Res 422
[www.g-technology.com]

$270- Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual RAID Solutions (2 drives) provide data transfer rates of over 200 Megabytes per second via eSATA
[eshop.macsales.com]

$400- The CalDigit VR (2 drives) can reach speeds up to 250MB/s in RAID 0, and over 110MB/s with RAID 1 protection.
[www.caldigit.com]

Thanks for your help,
Dave

Don't do a RAID 0, as you don't have any sort of protection. Go RAID 1 instead. I'll go for the Caldigit.



www.strypesinpost.com

Do you care very much about losing everything you've ever shot?

Ah. Good point there. Yea, RAID 1. Unless you love reshoots. Some people love to shoot.



www.strypesinpost.com

I apologize if I didn't give enough details. I already have backup drives that I can manually backup the RAID setup to after each session, which is the plan, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Back to my question, would a single drive or a RAID 1 setup (via eSata) be fast enough to work off of for Apple ProRes 422? (I'll back it up myself, I promise. I also have enough 16 GB CF cards that I don't have to erase one until I'm sure the captured media is safe.)

Thanks,
Dave

dgage,
1. CalDigit has certainly earned a great reputation for themselves. I have two of their products
myself.

Great products. Expensive for the individual on a budget.

2. Mercury Elite-AL Pro.
I have 9 of these drives. The first generations of these were excellent performers at a great price.

However, the quality has fallen. They put cheap fans in them that can rattle.
On my systems they can be finicky to mount. Sometimes they take a very long time to mount. I have had to use Disk Warrior on them occasionally.

The newest one I purchased has a poorly constructed esata socket in which the cable fits rather loosely. I have had the drive go offline while working because of this. Also, the drives inside the unit are loose and rattle around if you tip the unit.

Still, I have not had a single data loss incident or hard drive crash from these products.

But in their current form I would not recommend them.
Maybe they will turn the product around if they get enough complaints. Like...

3. G-Technologies
I have two of their original generation drives and they keep on going. They both have noisy fans.

The quality really fell when they were bought out by another company, Fabrik. But now they have been purchased by Hitachi and seem to have turned the corner.

Lots of good reviews on these drives now. I would certainly recommend these drives.

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I already have backup drives that I can manually backup the RAID setup to after each session, which is the plan, so that shouldn't be an issue.

You will not do this.

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I'll back it up myself, I promise.

You really won't. Seriously. I'm not griping you out personally. I'm just saying that we've all been there, and none of us is perfect. The one time you forget to drag that folder across will be the one time it comes back to bite you in the ass. I promise you.

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Back to my question, would a single drive or a RAID 1 setup (via eSata) be fast enough to work off of for Apple ProRes 422?

I don't think you're going to find anybody here or elsewhere who's willing to promise you that it would be. But I've done ProRes work off the built-in drive on my laptop, in a pinch, and it can work ? for strictly limited definitions of "work."

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But I've done ProRes work off the built-in drive on my laptop, in a pinch, and it can work ? for strictly limited definitions of "work."

That's all I need to know to get started.

Thanks,
Dave

Why do I get the distinct impression that you wanted not advice, but validation?

>You really won't.

I second that. You won't have it in you to do a 3 hour file transfer for back up when your timeline is biting you up the tuchus.



www.strypesinpost.com

Sprocketz, Thanks for the info. I have heard similar issues with the OWC hardware on other forums.

Quote

3. G-Technologies
I have two of their original generation drives and they keep on going. They both have noisy fans.

Good to know. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for noisy fans and drives. The CalDigit stuff is more than I'd like to spend, but I don't like buying stuff and then regretting it when I could put out an extra $100 or $200.

I had to take my laptop into the Apple Store yesterday to check out a bad port and I noticed they carry the G-Raid line. Not really a big selling point for me, I just thought I'd mention it.

Thanks,
Dave

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Why do I get the distinct impression that you wanted not advice, but validation?

You got it Jeff. Validation on the eSata external drive to get started, but advice on the RAID setup to buy down the line. 2 separate questions/problems. The next time I'll post twice to avoid confusion.

Then next time I'll choose my words more carefully. Cause what I really meant to type there was "You really, for the love of all that's good and holy in this life, do not want to do this."

Maybe I'm old and cynical. But I've lost so many hard drives to mechanical or electronic failure in my career that the idea of betting my business on one ? or hell, even my hobby ? leaves me shivering in the corner until some kind soul brings me a juice box and my binkie.

Jeff,

I appreciate the concern, I also am old and cynical (just not here so far). What is it you recommend for a simple external setup that won't break the bank. Possibly, a 2 or 4 drive setup.

Thanks,
Dave