Choosing external storage system

[Ben1l]

Hi,

I've recently started working as an FCP editor and i'm fast running out of storage.
The company i work for wants the the video i work on to be secured so I've been looking at RAIDed hard drive arrays.

I have herd from a few people that a DROBO is the best way to go. But the company really wants to keep prices down and has suggested something like a EdgeStore DAS501T 5xBay Enclosure via eSATA.

http://www.storagedepot.co.uk/Hard-Drive-Cases/sc884/p942.aspx#Specificatio...

(along with buying an eSATA PCI adapter)

Basically I have two questions, first will FCP have any issue working with a hard drive connected via eSATA (or any other issues) and secondly what advantages does something like the DROBO actually offer over the above, that i can present to my aboves to convince them to spend the extra money?

Many thanks!

 

[Horst]

Will you need to work with the files located on your external Raid array, or will it be backup only ?

The latter should work just fine with the enclosure you linked to, provided you get a basic PCIe eSATA card that works on the Mac and supports port multiplying.

There have been quite a few postings on that at the Apple Mac Pro forum, might be worth checking.

 

[Ben1l]

Will you need to work with the files located on your external Raid array, or will it be backup only ?

The latter should work just fine with the enclosure you linked to, provided you get a basic PCIe eSATA card that works on the Mac and supports port multiplying.

There have been quite a few postings on that at the Apple Mac Pro forum, might be worth checking.

thanks!

Ideally i want something that may only start of with 2-3 terabytes storage for now, but that can be upgraded with relative ease. I would love something that can just act as a central storage unit for all the projects i'm working on, but that has the safety or RAID should one of the drives go, so i can just replace it.

 

[Libmom]

I have a SwiftStore 400 by Newt Data. I got the 4TB. I think they make a 2TB unit too. You should check them out. http://www.newtdata.com/

 

[Horst]

thanks!

Ideally i want something that may only start of with 2-3 terabytes storage for now, but that can be upgraded with relative ease. I would love something that can just act as a central storage unit for all the projects i'm working on, but that has the safety or RAID should one of the drives go, so i can just replace it.

I'm really not much of an expert, but just remembered that macgurus.com has been mentioned a lot as a place to look for affordable storage solutions, which will work fine on Mac.
Firmtec is another brand being recommended frequently.

Their enclosures are a tad above your budget, I'm afraid, but keep in mind buying cheap often means buying twice.
The cheap offerings won't come with any support, will use cheap parts, will probably be noisy and not very user friendly.

 

[marbles]

I'd take a look at the G-Tech website, some great tackle for your kinda thing.Think they're doing free shipping if your stateside

http://www.g-technology.com/

I've bought some items recently, working away fine , although my use is Audio production many folks rely on G-Tech for your line of work.