External RAID Enclosure Suggestions

[guzhogi]

I want to get an external RAID enclosure for my MBP. I'm going to a bunch of wedding coming up and I'll take videos of them. I have a camera that takes video in 1080i so I could use the throughput. Here's some specs I'd like:
-Built-in RAID controller w/ RAID 5 (and preferably RAID 6)
-3+ hard drive bays (4+ if RAID 6)
-Firewire 800 port or eSATA
-SAS would be nice, but probably out of my price range
-Easy access to hard drives (I'm geek enough to replace them & don't want to spend 1/2 hour taking it apart or have to replace the whole thing if 1 drive fails)

Any suggestions on enclosures & where I can get them?

 

[nanofrog]

Get an eSATA card for the MBP, and something like this (you do NOT want to use a software implementation for a parity based array). If you do go with a software solution (eSATA + Port Multiplier enclosure), then stick with level 10 if you need redundancy, as software's only good for 0/1/10.

A UPS would also be necessary, as I doubt the unit linked has an internal battery (and a UPS is better anyway, as the files involved would likely exceed the cache, which the capacity isn't listed either).

I'd recommend calling the vendor, and ask detailed questions about the hardware controller design (they list the controller chip, but not much else).

Hope this helps.

 

[guzhogi]

Get an eSATA card for the MBP, and something like this (you do NOT want to use a software implementation for a parity based array). If you do go with a software solution (eSATA + Port Multiplier enclosure), then stick with level 10 if you need redundancy, as software's only good for 0/1/10.

A UPS would also be necessary, as I doubt the unit linked has an internal battery (and a UPS is better anyway, as the files involved would likely exceed the cache, which the capacity isn't listed either).

I'd recommend calling the vendor, and ask detailed questions about the hardware controller design (they list the controller chip, but not much else).

Hope this helps.

Cool, thanks man.

 

[nanofrog]

Cool, thanks man.

NP.