Thunderbolt RAID suggestions, please

Hi, folks

I have a documentary project that is in its fourth year. The material has migrated across different versions of FCP, OSs, and Macs. All the media is now sitting on 4TB of G-RAIDs, various generations. After one 4-year-old drive's failure, I've decided to get a Thunderbolt solution and shuttle the media over from these old guys before they bite it.

Budget is tight, so I'm looking at the G-RAID 8TB or the La Cie 6TB. Whichever I get I plan to stripe as RAID 1, which means I'm still going to need to use one of the present drives for work along with the thunderbolt until we can purchase another.

Two questions, but first: I know a lot of folks are disparaging about both of these products over bad batch failures, like with the G-RAID, but I've been cutting on the G-RAIDs since they came out and have only had this one die. La Cies on the other hand have been given to me by producers, the little firewire ones, and a few of those bit it. Some of what I've been reading suggests La Cie thunderbolt improved over those issues, overheating, ventilation, etc.

Are there any current users of any of these drives who have put them through their paces have anything to say about them?

Thanks a lot,

Ays

late 2011 MBP 2.5 GHz i7, 8GB, FCP7 & FCP X.0.3

Any drive can die. At four years old, there is no guarantee that any drive can weather the storm, especially with a very large project like yours.

If you have a RAID1 configuration as your active storage, you have some protection, but you still need a backup. RAIDs are great for short-term security, but even a RAID1 doesn't guard against things like power spikes, drink spills, physical impact, hardware failure -- any scenario where both your RAIDed drives are whacked at the same time. And since both drives are in active service, the likelihood of that happening is higher than you may think.

Use the RAID1 and make at least one backup copy of all files, and store it on a reliable drive. Make sure the backups are always updated, and check them at least once every three or four weeks. Make sure you are cataloguing your edits (export movie files, XMLs, project-file backups etc.), and run basic diagnostics on these drives every month or so.

I use a bunch of G-RAIDs. I haven't had one die yet, but I have had one close to death (extremely slow response, erratic mount reliability). I've shifted my active drive to an OWC Qx2 with swappable drives, and all active projects have two backup copies on top of that.


www.derekmok.com

G-RAID has gotten better since their second generation mess and LaCie is good or bad depending on who you talk to. Many people hate them, but we've never really had an issue with them.

Now one thing about any RAID, you really want about double the storage space of what you actually need. As the drives fill up, they slow down, they get more flaky, etc..... Also, you have to take into account render space and such. So if you think you need 4TB for a job, get an 8TB RAID to give you plenty of overhead.

I can't remember the last time I ran RAID 1 because while you gain some speed, you set yourself up for complete failure if one of the drives go bad. We only run in RAID 5 because at least if a drive fails in the RAID I can keep right on working because the data is protected. Then we'll let the RAID re-build overnight with a new drive.

I personally like the products from Small Tree Communications but they don't make a direct thunderbolt connected RAID. Theirs are connected via Ethernet. We run a 48TB RAID from them as part of a shared storage solution. They do have a new smaller version called the Titanium 4 that just came out and it looks incredibly solid. Up to four people can share the same RAID by direct connecting to the single box. It's the Computer, RAID and Controller all in one.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
biscardicreative.com

> I can't remember the last time I ran RAID 1 because while you gain some speed, you set yourself up for complete failure if one of the drives go bad.

Nope, not true. RAID 1 has redundancy (mirroring). I think Walter is thinking about RAID 0, which is striped -- lose one drive, you lose everything on both, so it's 200 per cent likelihood of failure.

[www.thegeekstuff.com]

However, I use RAID 0 for its speed. For the projects I do, usually all the media comes in at the beginning, so two copies of backups take care of almost everything, and RAID 1 is unnecessary because I don't need every minute of work backed up, so the extra cost of storage isn't worth it. Project-file backups tend to suffice, and I refresh the backups every week or two.

As for Thunderbolt drives, I've ruled out most of them for the time being because most of the ones I've seen, such as the Promise Pegasus , only have Thunderbolt ports. That's a deal breaker for me, since my drives have to interface all the time with computers that only have FireWire and USB.

And Lacies will never touch any editing project of mine. I use a Rugged portable hub-powered drive for transporting files, that's it.


www.derekmok.com

And :LaCie speaks so highly of you, Derek ;-)

I do agree a drive needs multiple ports to be useful. Drivemakers take note.

- Loren

Today's FCP 7 keytip:
Advance to next/previous keyframes in a clip with Shift/Option-K !

Your Final Cut Studio KeyGuide™ Power Pack
with FCP7 KeyGuide --
now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Thunderbolt is not the answer and "Budget is tight" is no excuse. Find a way to save $$$ another way...not compromising your data (with crap drive units) - which is the most important thing. LaCie & G-RAID units are not recommended by me - ever. I don't care who has had good luck with them...I have lost way too much data on these 2 manufacturer's units via major failures. That only happens to me ONCE.

I use CalDigit VR's via FW800 in RAID 1 (mirrored) and never had an issue since purchase...period. Everything up to ProRes 1080p HQ rocks on VRs.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

This is what I'm running. Expensive but excellent.

[www.kenstone.net]

--ken

"I use CalDigit VR's via FW800 in RAID 1 (mirrored) and never had an issue since purchase"

how long is 'since purchase'? . . another vote for G-raid here, 10yrs and not one failure, always rock-solid in my experience.

Bluey,

That means "since I have owned it". One unit over 3 years, the other 1 year. Good luck with the G-RAIDS.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

3 years then, not bad. like i say 10yrs and not one G-raid failure, which is nice