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OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 - Desktop vs Enterprise drives

JesterJJZ

JesterJJZ

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 21, 2004
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http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/

Just curious if anyone has any insight on real world differences in a unit like this using desktop drives vs. enterprise drives.

I'm considering one of these for video editing, raid 5 most likely. I wouldn't have the unit on 24/7 all the time as they state the enterprise version is for. But I do often keep my projects open for 10+ hours at a time sometimes going up to a few days depending on what I'm doing and if I render things overnight.

The price difference is pretty dramatic.

Interesting to note. G-Tech uses Hitachi Deskstar drives in their 4 bay raid.

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

I use G-Raid drives now and have always liked them. If they use desktop drives in their systems I should be fine with the one from OWC no?

Any input is great, thanks!
 
Beware?

I'm also looking at the Qx2. But according to the comments on a review, the device can't be trusted: http://bit.ly/10bIs5

Hopefully some folks here have tried it and can report on their experiences.
 
I had the Qx2 8tb version for about a month or so. I had to return it due to financial reasons, but the device was really nicely built, solid, and really fast. Drive swapping was quite easy, noise level was moderate, but tolerable. Unless you need this drive for business related usage (I used mine mainly for a data dump), I recommend the Qx2.
 
I have the q2 and I put my own drives in it and I love it.. A friend of mine has one too, he ordered the 8 tb model and loves his too.
 
tschur said:
I'm also looking at the Qx2. But according to the comments on a review, the device can't be trusted: http://bit.ly/10bIs5

Hopefully some folks here have tried it and can report on their experiences.
Click to expand...

I saw 2 complaints and that was the first version of the Qx2. I wouldn't say that means it "can't be trusted" :rolleyes:

I use mine every single day, 100% up-time for the last 5 months. I have had 100% zero problems with it running in RAID5 for broadcast HD television editing. I now only have 1.5TB left.

The difference for the Enterprise are the better drives, longer warranty, advanced drive replacement and level 1 data recovery. The last 2 are the big ones. If a drive fails and you have the enterprise, you call them they ship out a drive expedited and you send your failed drive back later. This is not how it works with the 3-year. Also, if you need data recovery they give you level one, free for 3 years. If this is for a business I would go with the Enterprise (oh wait, I did). :)

3 year warranty terms

Enterprise 5 year warranty terms.
 
chrono1081 said:
I have the q2 and I put my own drives in it and I love it.. A friend of mine has one too, he ordered the 8 tb model and loves his too.
Click to expand...

What drives did you get?

I'm also considering doing that.

I can get 8tb using deskstars for $830 or $1390 using Ultrastars.
 
@JesterJJZ

I am curious to know if you went through with the purchase. I too am considering this setup for my video work. Just like you I have a tendency to leave work up for days at a time. I also tend to not like to power down my equipment but rather put it to sleep and would love some reviews on how the drive worked out for you.

Also noise.. my daughter took over my studio so my "studio" is now located in my living room.. is this thing going to drive my wife batty with noise?
 
Haven't gotten anything yet. In the middle of some big projects now. Once those are wrapped up I'm planning on overhauling my MacPro. Have dual SSDs, Snow Leopard and CS5 Master Suite waiting to be installed. Recently put in the 4870 but that was a quick swap out. I generally do a complete reinstall every 1.5 - 2 years and I'm overdue. Still on 10.5.8 Was hoping the next Final Cut would be out by the time I got around to this. Oh well...There's still some plugins that aren't CS5 ready yet so the wait doesn't bother me. I need to make sure EVERYTHING works before I upgrade stuff. Usually don't upgrade to next OS till about mid-cycle.
 
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