External Raid enclosure recommendation?

[sejanus]

Hi Guys

Can anyone recommend a external box that can take 4-6 hard drives and do a Raid5 style setup? Preferably connected by firewire or esata to a Macpro.

I have a couple of drobos but need more stirage and even the fw800 drobos are a bit slow.

thanks

[nanofrog]

Take a look at Enhance Technology's eSATA PM (Port Multiplier) enclosures.
E4 PM (http://www.enhance-tech.com/products/desktop/E4_Pm.html)
E8 PM (http://www.enhance-tech.com/products/desktop/E8_pm.html)

Each eSATA port would be limited to 250MB/s max throughput, and the RAID would be handled by the eSATA card in the Mac. As the E8 has two, it can operate up to 2x the speed. ;) Not the least expensive, but they do work quite well.

If you want faster, you'd need to look into MiniSAS or MultiLane models (each connector handles 4 ports @1 per drive), and an appropriate RAID controller. Particularly usefull if this is for the primary array. ;)

[ncc1701d]

Drobo pro with giga ether. :)