ONNTO PAIR Thunderbolt RAID System

[RCAFBrat]

This is something I like the looks of:

http://www.onnto.com/product.asp?sys_sysno=99

I think at this point it is still just vaporware (there is a link on dpreview that 11 months old but this is little to nothing else I can find on the net). Is there anything similar on the market using Thunderbolt but at relatively low cost? I'm not keen on having a bunch of external drives but will have one separate USB3 for use with TM.

I am assuming that with such an enclosure I can install any SSD / 2.5 HDD with SATA interface; is this correct?

 

[g4cube]

Functionally the same as LaCie's Little Big Disk.

Since price is a concern for you, take a look at the refurbs offered at MacMall on a pretty regular basis.

Review the many, many threads here regarding various people's posts regarding the LaCie.

There seem to be a few companies who "pre-announce" products that never make it to the market.

Visit http://www.thunderbolttechnology.net for the products that have completed certification and are available on the market.

 

[RCAFBrat]

Functionally the same as LaCie's Little Big Disk.

Since price is a concern for you, take a look at the refurbs offered at MacMall on a pretty regular basis.

Review the many, many threads here regarding various people's posts regarding the LaCie.

There seem to be a few companies who "pre-announce" products that never make it to the market.

Visit http://www.thunderbolttechnology.net for the products that have completed certification and are available on the market.

Thanks for the advice; will be at least a few months before I do any shopping but I will have to get a cheap USB enclosure in the meantime to recover photos, etc from the WD5000BEVT that was in my son's laptop.

I'm guessing there is no sense in opting for a USB 3.0 interface and trying to use this as a scratch drive when editing video? I'm afraid I am having difficulty grasping the real speed when spec sheet says 3GB/sec buffer (which is only 8MB) to host but host to / from drive is only 97MB/sec. Appreciate any advice on this last bit.

 

[g4cube]

#Gbps is the likely interface speed - the signaling rate possible. No way the actual thruput, which will be the lesser hard drive transfer rate.

Edit with USB 3.0? For most casual editing, fine. With iMovie, I had no issue with FireWire, or even USB 2 for simple cuts editing with single video streams and transitions of AVCHD and HDV with iMac and Macbook Pro.

You'll only need USB 3, or the faster Thunderbolt when editing with higher end tools like FCP and Adobe with multiple HD video streams.

Just remember, faster HDD and SSD make disk I/O faster - backups, editing multiple video streams on the same timeline, copying files, etc. Faster CPU helps you with faster encoding of video and manipulating photos with effects. Disk performance helps here, too, if CPU can process media faster than storage device can deliver it.

 

[RCAFBrat]

You'll only need USB 3, or the faster Thunderbolt when editing with higher end tools like FCP and Adobe with multiple HD video streams.

Just remember, faster HDD and SSD make disk I/O faster - backups, editing multiple video streams on the same timeline, copying files, etc. Faster CPU helps you with faster encoding of video and manipulating photos with effects. Disk performance helps here, too, if CPU can process media faster than storage device can deliver it.

Thank you for the feedback. I ordered a 21.5" iMac with i7 CPU since my son will be using FCP. I think I'll get the USB 3.0 enclosure and save for TB enclosure with SSD (maybe Christmas).

Thanks again.