Question about RAID

kedakeda
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have two FW HDs and would like to use them as a RAID in an attempt tp get better performance w/FCP. It is my first time messing around with this. I'm using Apple's Disk Utillity and it offers two scemes: Stripe and Mirror.



Which of these schemes will give me the best performance for video?



I can see that the Striped drive gives a larger RAID size, how much does this slow things down?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    altivec_2.0altivec_2.0 Posts: 995member
    Raid 0 (Stripe). This mode makes two disk look like one. Decreasing read and write times. But the only bad thing is that it's software raid which isn't as good as hardware. I was looking through macmall the other day and say a external raid setup with 2 firewire drives, which when put in their "Dock" can act as a raid setup. When you pull them from the dock you can use them as regular FW Drives. Pretty niffty.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    kedakeda Posts: 722member
    Do you happen to know the name of the product? It sounds pretty cool.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    altivec_2.0altivec_2.0 Posts: 995member
    Yep.



    It's called the FireFly FireWire Array. It's by Medea. Heres what it says in the catelog



    FireFly is an innovative FireWire storage solution that consists of a docking station and two FireWire disk drive modules.



    FireFly offers up to 500GB & can be set up in 3 configurations:

    ?Striped (RAID 0) for performance ----->This is what you would want

    ?Synchronization software included --.I would think this is Mirroring

    ?Formatted as independent drive.



    FireFly modules also function as stand alone FireWire drivs, enabling you to create content while on the fly.



    Mac Mall Item No.

    #253411 FireFly 240GB 2 Disk FireWire Array $699---> Pricey

    #253415 FireFly 500GB 2 Disk FireWire Array $1299--> Even more.



    There's that one



    __________________________________________________ _______________

    Also saw this which you might be interested in





    I'ts called the SANcube X-stream. You can get a 480GB RAID level 0 (Stripe) for $1,845, and a 720GB RAID 0 for $2535



    This one is housed in a cube shape which looks pretty cool.



    #972415 480GB

    #972417 720GB





    Both these products can be found at Macmall. www.macmall.com



    Enjoy
  • Reply 4 of 6
    altivec_2.0altivec_2.0 Posts: 995member
    480GB SANcube

    http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/...sp?dpno=972415



    720GB

    http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/...sp?dpno=972417





    ____________



    FireFly 240GB

    http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/...3411&options=T



    FireFly 500GB

    http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/...sp?dpno=253415





    If you would like a pic for the FireFly email me at [email protected] I can scan it and send it to you.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    kedakeda Posts: 722member
    Thanks!



    Im going to give this a shot w/the 2 FW drives we have(striped). But, I think that we will need a real RAID soon. I like the look of the SANCube.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Well, I don't want to break up the FireWire party here, but...



    My advice to anyone working in serious video would be to get a SCSI card (Atto) and a 5-10 drive RAID from Medea or the like. I'm sorry, but in my experience a FW RAID setup just doesn't cut the mustard.



    If you're going to RAID 2 FW drives, you might as well throw 2 IDE drives into your box and stripe them first. You'll get a faster throughput.
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