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RAID Setup for Mac Pro and Video Editing

N

Nate Martin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
2
0
Hello everyone!

I'm new to the forum and have a question I could really use some help answering. So here goes...

I recently acquired a Mac Pro from a friend to use as my primary video editing computer (I produce commercials and wedding videos). Now, I'm totally new to the mysterious world of RAID and only have a limited understanding so you'll have to pardon my ignorance at times.

The Mac Pro has 3 1TB SATA drives as well as a 120GB SSD drive.

I also recently purchased a 4TB G-Tech G-RAID drive that I was originally using when I was doing my video editing off of my Macbook Pro.

Now here's what I theoretically would like to do or know if this even makes sense to do.

I want the speed and capacity of a striped RAID array within the Mac Pro, but that's not the most secure if a drive goes bad. So I got to thinking...

What if I had my three 1TB internal hard drives in my Mac Pro setup as a striped RAID and then setup a mirrored RAID array to that striped RAID with my 4TB G-RAID drive?

1. Is that possible? Has anyone done it?
2. Does that even make sense to do?

I appreciate your help and guidance!
 
AidenShaw

AidenShaw

macrumors P6
Feb 8, 2003
18,667
4,676
The Peninsula
Nate Martin said:
Hello everyone!

I'm new to the forum and have a question I could really use some help answering. So here goes...

I recently acquired a Mac Pro from a friend to use as my primary video editing computer (I produce commercials and wedding videos). Now, I'm totally new to the mysterious world of RAID and only have a limited understanding so you'll have to pardon my ignorance at times.

The Mac Pro has 3 1TB SATA drives as well as a 120GB SSD drive.

I also recently purchased a 4TB G-Tech G-RAID drive that I was originally using when I was doing my video editing off of my Macbook Pro.

Now here's what I theoretically would like to do or know if this even makes sense to do.

I want the speed and capacity of a striped RAID array within the Mac Pro, but that's not the most secure if a drive goes bad. So I got to thinking...

What if I had my three 1TB internal hard drives in my Mac Pro setup as a striped RAID and then setup a mirrored RAID array to that striped RAID with my 4TB G-RAID drive?

1. Is that possible? Has anyone done it?
2. Does that even make sense to do?

I appreciate your help and guidance!
Click to expand...

In general, it would be a bad idea to mirror (or RAID-5) between enclosures - one cable slip and you've lost the mirror.

Consider manually cloning the internal RAID to the external - that would be safe, and you could snapshot projects at significant points. This gives added protection against user or system error - with a mirror an error could destroy both copies simultaneously, whereas with a clone the second copy would survive.
 
chfilm

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,303
1,987
Berlin
sell everything, get a promise pegasus. that's what I did :apple: You will not find any solution that will make you more happy for video editing at groundbreaking speeds plus security and good nights of happy sleep :)
 
A

avemestr

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2012
177
23
Always remember: RAID (no matter the config) is NOT a backup solution.

What I'd suggest: Stripe the internal disks (RAID-1). Use SuperDuper or similar to schedule backup onto the external drives.
 
N

Nate Martin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
2
0
AidenShaw said:
In general, it would be a bad idea to mirror (or RAID-5) between enclosures - one cable slip and you've lost the mirror.

Consider manually cloning the internal RAID to the external - that would be safe, and you could snapshot projects at significant points. This gives added protection against user or system error - with a mirror an error could destroy both copies simultaneously, whereas with a clone the second copy would survive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input! So, what if I would setup a striped RAID internally on the Mac Pro and use Super Duper Drive to create a clone of those drives on the G-RAID external drive?

Should I only clone the SATA drives or the SSD (where apps are stored) as well?

----------
avemestr said:
Always remember: RAID (no matter the config) is NOT a backup solution.

What I'd suggest: Stripe the internal disks (RAID-1). Use SuperDuper or similar to schedule backup onto the external drives.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the suggestion. I think I'm leaning towards doing that.

----------
chfilm said:
sell everything, get a promise pegasus. that's what I did :apple: You will not find any solution that will make you more happy for video editing at groundbreaking speeds plus security and good nights of happy sleep :)
Click to expand...

I've always had those and Drobo systems on the back of my mind. But since it's just me and another editor at the moment I can't justify spending the money until I have a studio with multiple editing suites.
 
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