5 Bay Raid5 vs. 4 Bay Raid5

[JesterJJZ]

So I'm looking into a hardware Raid5 tower. I see mainly 4 Bay boxes from most of the big names, and here and there I see a 5 Bay. Are there any pros and cons to either? Assuming 5 Bay would have a slight edge in speed.

 

[G42X500macguy]

many options

There's many vendors on offer for this. The gold standard appears to be QNAP and Synology. That's not to say they're the only options.

I, too am investigating 5 or (gulp) 8 disk options. I just don't understand enough to be comfortable moving forward. I've even considered a 2 disk option as a cheaper way to learn what's important to me in this space.

There's another thread (search "QNAP and Synology") and you'll see some learned comments.

Please share your experience whatever you do!

 

[Panch0]

Not a lot of difference

You might want to describe the intended use of the array and how you intend to connect it (esata, FW800, FW400, USB).


4 Bay:
Cost - the enclosures is probably a bit less, plus you buy one less drive
Heat - one less drive means somewhat less heat is generated, but the larger enclosure may vent better, so this is probably a wash.
Noise - again, one less drive means somewhat less noise, but most of the noise probably comes from the cooling fans in the enclosure anyway, so probably another wash

5 Bay:
more drives = more options:
* use the extra drive as a hot spare for even more protection
* add the extra drive to the array for even more available storage
the math says that 5 drives support more IO than 4, but realistically you probably wouldn't be able to see the difference in general use.
* maybe additional RAID levels supported (RAID 6)

 

[JesterJJZ]

Will be using for HD video editing. I run G-Raids now but need something larger and more secure. I like having the Raid controller on the box instead of a Raid card. Would be connecting to MacPro via eSATA. I also like that I could use it with my MBP if need be with a eSATA card.

I'm currently between OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/

and

G-SPEED Q
http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-speed-q.cfm


I like G-Tech but have had good experiences with OWC as well. Just wondering if there are other place I should be looking.

 

[Ace134blue]

Zero speed differences. Go with 5 if you want a hot spare or more storage, if not dont bother spending the money on it.

 

[swampdaddy]

Will be using for HD video editing. I run G-Raids now but need something larger and more secure. I like having the Raid controller on the box instead of a Raid card. Would be connecting to MacPro via eSATA. I also like that I could use it with my MBP if need be with a eSATA card.

I'm currently between OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/

and

G-SPEED Q
http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-speed-q.cfm


I like G-Tech but have had good experiences with OWC as well. Just wondering if there are other place I should be looking.

So what did you end up doing? And, more importantly, what eSATA card have you chosen and what performance are you getting with that card???

Thanks,

Robert