I've been reading the posts for a long time now and always appreciate
learning something new from you guys.
I'm about to buy a new system and I wanted to ask your opinions before
I go and spend the money. I tried buying a system before but put it
off because it seemed like a complicated endeavor.
My name is Aylon Ben-Ami. I produce, direct, shoot, and edit video and
I've been carrying along a PowerBook G4 for too many years. I'm ready
to buy a G5, but I can't estimate my needs. I figured that I'd like to
buy the important things now, and maybe add things like memory and
harddrive space later?
But how much RAM should I get today? They have many video cards, how
much ram does visuals card need? What about a Raid system? One part
seems to beg for another, and pretty quickly I can run a really high
price. I think I'm looking to spend about $6,000, possibly $7,000.
What would be essential for me to edit HD and HDV footage at workable
speeds?
If you were using a G4 powerbook, you're several generations behind the latest, and a G5 is not the step-up you need. The powerbook G4 was a laptop, so are you looking at laptops or desktops? The fastest desktop is an 8-core Intel Mac Pro tower. The newest laptops are Macbook Pros with Intel Dual Core processors, with a few options in storage and CPU that vary its price.
I like eSATA external storage. It's cheap, fast, and great for HD work. I also love the AJA IoHD. Sonnet Technologies makes a dual eSATA Express/34 card for Macbook Pros, and an amazing little eSATA portable drive to go with it. The drive is particularly handy because it gets its power from the Macbook's firewire port. This little point is extremely important if you want to use the IOHD, because the IOHD takes over the firewire bus with heavy data. The drive does not interfere with it at all, because its connection to firewire is strictly for power purposes, not data.
Regardless of the computer you get, buy the most RAM you can afford for it, and the max it will accept if you have the money. I do not recommend that you edit in the HDV format. You should try to capture the footage and convert it to Prores422. The IOHD does that in real time, and does it very well. Prores422 an easier format to work with, particularly because of the drain on the CPU with HDV.
With a desktop you can get a firewire 800 card for external firewire drives, if that's the flavor or storage you like or already own. This FW card would be necessary only if you plan on getting an IOHD, for the reasons mentioned above.
A great portable setup:
15" or 17" Macbook Pro AJA IOHD Sonnet Tempo Sata Expresscard/34 Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive
and of course, your HDV camcorder.
I hope this helps somewhat.
René Borroto Senior Editor Multivision Video & Film 305-662-6011 r...@multivisionvideo.com www.multivisionvideo.com
This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication.
> I've been reading the posts for a long time now and always appreciate > learning something new from you guys.
> I'm about to buy a new system and I wanted to ask your opinions before > I go and spend the money. I tried buying a system before but put it > off because it seemed like a complicated endeavor.
> My name is Aylon Ben-Ami. I produce, direct, shoot, and edit video and > I've been carrying along a PowerBook G4 for too many years. I'm ready > to buy a G5, but I can't estimate my needs. I figured that I'd like to > buy the important things now, and maybe add things like memory and > harddrive space later?
> But how much RAM should I get today? They have many video cards, how > much ram does visuals card need? What about a Raid system? One part > seems to beg for another, and pretty quickly I can run a really high > price. I think I'm looking to spend about $6,000, possibly $7,000.
> What would be essential for me to edit HD and HDV footage at workable > speeds?
René, We should put your post in the ³post hall of fame². It is a beautiful and concise but thorough overview of what we all need to know if we are about to upgrade. I believe the sweet little Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive is a raid; two 320 gig drives connected together as a 640 gig raid. Can you expound a bit on what difference it would make for us to use a raid setup for our external media drives? For instance, I believe that the Sonnet Fusion F2 is two 5400 rpm drives together as a raid (not sure I¹m wording that correctly but I bet you know what I mean). What will be the noticeable difference as I work in that arrangement and using a single 7200 rpm drive via FirewWire? Stan Blair Co-director SoFlaFCPUG 954-614-2996
On 5/3/08 5:07 PM, "René Borroto" <r...@multivisionvideo.com> wrote:
> If you were using a G4 powerbook, you're several generations behind the > latest, and a G5 is not the step-up you need. The powerbook G4 was a laptop, > so are you looking at laptops or desktops? The fastest desktop is an 8-core > Intel Mac Pro tower. The newest laptops are Macbook Pros with Intel Dual Core > processors, with a few options in storage and CPU that vary its price.
> I like eSATA external storage. It's cheap, fast, and great for HD work. I also > love the AJA IoHD. Sonnet Technologies makes a dual eSATA Express/34 card for > Macbook Pros, and an amazing little eSATA portable drive to go with it. The > drive is particularly handy because it gets its power from the Macbook's > firewire port. This little point is extremely important if you want to use the > IOHD, because the IOHD takes over the firewire bus with heavy data. The drive > does not interfere with it at all, because its connection to firewire is > strictly for power purposes, not data.
> Regardless of the computer you get, buy the most RAM you can afford for it, > and the max it will accept if you have the money. I do not recommend that you > edit in the HDV format. You should try to capture the footage and convert it > to Prores422. The IOHD does that in real time, and does it very well. > Prores422 an easier format to work with, particularly because of the drain on > the CPU with HDV.
> With a desktop you can get a firewire 800 card for external firewire drives, > if that's the flavor or storage you like or already own. This FW card would be > necessary only if you plan on getting an IOHD, for the reasons mentioned > above.
> A great portable setup:
> 15" or 17" Macbook Pro > AJA IOHD > Sonnet Tempo Sata Expresscard/34 > Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive
> and of course, your HDV camcorder.
> I hope this helps somewhat.
> René Borroto > Senior Editor > Multivision Video & Film > 305-662-6011 > r...@multivisionvideo.com > www.multivisionvideo.com
> This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the > individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that > is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from > disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If > you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, > dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly > prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us > immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) > delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication.
> Thank you.
> On May 3, 2008, at 3:57 PM, haprojector wrote:
>> Hi guys,
>> I've been reading the posts for a long time now and always appreciate >> learning something new from you guys.
>> I'm about to buy a new system and I wanted to ask your opinions before >> I go and spend the money. I tried buying a system before but put it >> off because it seemed like a complicated endeavor.
>> My name is Aylon Ben-Ami. I produce, direct, shoot, and edit video and >> I've been carrying along a PowerBook G4 for too many years. I'm ready >> to buy a G5, but I can't estimate my needs. I figured that I'd like to >> buy the important things now, and maybe add things like memory and >> harddrive space later?
>> But how much RAM should I get today? They have many video cards, how >> much ram does visuals card need? What about a Raid system? One part >> seems to beg for another, and pretty quickly I can run a really high >> price. I think I'm looking to spend about $6,000, possibly $7,000.
>> What would be essential for me to edit HD and HDV footage at workable >> speeds?
When considering storage, I weigh in several factors, and it usually turns into a balance of performance, data safety, and price. The Sonnet Technologies F2 drive uses, as you wrote, two 320 GB drives. The unit can be formatted Raid 0 (striped RAID) or Raid 1 (redundant/ mirrored RAID). RAID 0 has the two drives working in tandem, with half the data handled by each drive. A "two-horse carriage," so to speak. Two is faster and stronger, but you need both to run, or neither of them does.
Those of us with limited pockets can't have everything, so when considering performance in this type of array, RAID 0 is the way to go. In doing so, we sacrifice data safety. One drive dies, everything is lost.
The other formatting choice for the Sonnet F2 is RAID 1. The unit is formatted so that each drive has the exact same data as the other, or redundant storage. RAID 1 configurations are slower, but if one drive dies, you still have all your data on the other drive and readily accessible. You can get to your files and copy them to another storage system. Then you have options as to repair/replace the bad F2 drive, rather than being SOL. More importantly, you can continue to work on finishing your project. I have actually finished a project shortly after one LaCie FW800 drive died as part of a pair. I just continued the edit session until I was done, knowing that there was no time to move or copy anything: finish or bust. I "drove" for several more miles than recommended on that spare tire. I was lucky though.
These RAID options, by the way, are available to you should you decide to go firewire, by simply using Apple's Disk Utility (Apple calls it "mirrored RAID"). I learned early on that when doing so, you should select 256k for the RAID block size setting under the OPTIONS button. It helps the RAID 1 performance. At our facility we have many LaCie FW800 drives as redundant (RAID 1) drive pairs. It slows them down, but the bulk of our work is SD, so no sweat and tears for speed demons needed. For the most part we prefer data safety. I have noticed, however, that drive life expectancy hovers around 18 months in RAID 1 with LaCie. One member of the drive pair just dies right around that time frame, for some reason. When we consider what they give us and the income we derive from their use, however, it's been worth it. When working in HD (720p) we have been using LaCie FW800 independent drives with no problems, but this will change. Our next system configuration will be eSATA arrays with hot swappable drives. The data throughput is simply better and faster, and will allow us to post 1080i as well as future 1080p capability for mastering on Bluray.
In summary, if you're working in SD, from DV, Prores 422HQ and on up to uncompressed, FW800 reduntant drives (RAID 1) work great. This has been my experience with a G5 tower running two 2.5GHz processors. When working in HD 720p Prores422 HD with our Mac Pro Intel Dual Core 3.0 GHz and an IOHD, a single FW800 drive, or a FW800 RAID 0 drive pair, will work without problems but without a safety net. Again, that will change to eSATA in the near future so we can have better performance and data safety. When using a single drive or striped drive pairs, you're "driving" without a spare tire.
There are, of course, other RAID configurations that give you both, performance AND data safety. Those systems cost more, and require more advanced storage hardware and software. If you need more information on RAID "levels," here's a good entry in Wikipedia:
René Borroto Senior Editor Multivision Video & Film 305-662-6011 r...@multivisionvideo.com www.multivisionvideo.com
This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication.
> René, > We should put your post in the “post hall of fame”. It is a > beautiful and concise but thorough overview of what we all need to > know if we are about to upgrade. I believe the sweet little Sonnet > Fusion F2 eSATA drive is a raid; two 320 gig drives connected > together as a 640 gig raid. Can you expound a bit on what > difference it would make for us to use a raid setup for our > external media drives? For instance, I believe that the Sonnet > Fusion F2 is two 5400 rpm drives together as a raid (not sure I’m > wording that correctly but I bet you know what I mean). What will > be the noticeable difference as I work in that arrangement and > using a single 7200 rpm drive via FirewWire? > Stan Blair > Co-director SoFlaFCPUG > 954-614-2996
> On 5/3/08 5:07 PM, "René Borroto" <r...@multivisionvideo.com> wrote:
>> Aylon:
>> If you were using a G4 powerbook, you're several generations >> behind the latest, and a G5 is not the step-up you need. The >> powerbook G4 was a laptop, so are you looking at laptops or >> desktops? The fastest desktop is an 8-core Intel Mac Pro tower. >> The newest laptops are Macbook Pros with Intel Dual Core >> processors, with a few options in storage and CPU that vary its >> price.
>> I like eSATA external storage. It's cheap, fast, and great for HD >> work. I also love the AJA IoHD. Sonnet Technologies makes a dual >> eSATA Express/34 card for Macbook Pros, and an amazing little >> eSATA portable drive to go with it. The drive is particularly >> handy because it gets its power from the Macbook's firewire port. >> This little point is extremely important if you want to use the >> IOHD, because the IOHD takes over the firewire bus with heavy >> data. The drive does not interfere with it at all, because its >> connection to firewire is strictly for power purposes, not data.
>> Regardless of the computer you get, buy the most RAM you can >> afford for it, and the max it will accept if you have the money. I >> do not recommend that you edit in the HDV format. You should try >> to capture the footage and convert it to Prores422. The IOHD does >> that in real time, and does it very well. Prores422 an easier >> format to work with, particularly because of the drain on the CPU >> with HDV.
>> With a desktop you can get a firewire 800 card for external >> firewire drives, if that's the flavor or storage you like or >> already own. This FW card would be necessary only if you plan on >> getting an IOHD, for the reasons mentioned above.
>> A great portable setup:
>> 15" or 17" Macbook Pro >> AJA IOHD >> Sonnet Tempo Sata Expresscard/34 >> Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive
>> and of course, your HDV camcorder.
>> I hope this helps somewhat.
>> René Borroto >> Senior Editor >> Multivision Video & Film >> 305-662-6011 >> r...@multivisionvideo.com >> www.multivisionvideo.com
>> This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the >> use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may >> contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, >> confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or >> may constitute as attorney work product. If you are not the >> intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, >> dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is >> strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in >> error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this >> message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately if >> this is an electronic communication.
>> Thank you.
>> <image.gif>
>> On May 3, 2008, at 3:57 PM, haprojector wrote:
>>> Hi guys,
>>> I've been reading the posts for a long time now and always >>> appreciate >>> learning something new from you guys.
>>> I'm about to buy a new system and I wanted to ask your opinions >>> before >>> I go and spend the money. I tried buying a system before but put it >>> off because it seemed like a complicated endeavor.
>>> My name is Aylon Ben-Ami. I produce, direct, shoot, and edit >>> video and >>> I've been carrying along a PowerBook G4 for too many years. I'm >>> ready >>> to buy a G5, but I can't estimate my needs. I figured that I'd >>> like to >>> buy the important things now, and maybe add things like memory and >>> harddrive space later?
>>> But how much RAM should I get today? They have many video cards, >>> how >>> much ram does visuals card need? What about a Raid system? One part >>> seems to beg for another, and pretty quickly I can run a really high >>> price. I think I'm looking to spend about $6,000, possibly $7,000.
>>> What would be essential for me to edit HD and HDV footage at >>> workable >>> speeds?
I had not grasped the RAID 1 aspect, which seems to have been the first intention for it, for two drives to work together, one making an instant backup of the other. I had a shallow grasp of RAID 0 which I thought of as two guys throwing snowballs at you instead of just one. Now with learning about RAID 1, I¹m thinking of it as one guy throwing snowballs at you while another guy is backing him up by making more snowballs for him to throw! (Sorry SoFla, I lived in NYC 22 years to learn about snowballs.)
So, when I move to a MacBook Pro and use a Sonnet Fusion F2, (which is what Orlando Luna is doing right now) will I get speed from it being eSATA and safety from it being RAID 1? Do you have the choice with the Fusion F2 of RAID 0 or RAID 1? In RAID 1, does it whistle or buzz or flash if one of the drives croaks? And when that happens, is it simple to swap out a new disk? Orlando, jump in if you can.
Thanks in advance for more great info.
STAN BLAIR
On 5/3/08 10:20 PM, "René Borroto" <r...@multivisionvideo.com> wrote:
> When considering storage, I weigh in several factors, and it usually turns > into a balance of performance, data safety, and price. The Sonnet Technologies > F2 drive uses, as you wrote, two 320 GB drives. The unit can be formatted Raid > 0 (striped RAID) or Raid 1 (redundant/mirrored RAID). RAID 0 has the two > drives working in tandem, with half the data handled by each drive. A > "two-horse carriage," so to speak. Two is faster and stronger, but you need > both to run, or neither of them does.
> Those of us with limited pockets can't have everything, so when considering > performance in this type of array, RAID 0 is the way to go. In doing so, we > sacrifice data safety. One drive dies, everything is lost.
> The other formatting choice for the Sonnet F2 is RAID 1. The unit is formatted > so that each drive has the exact same data as the other, or redundant storage. > RAID 1 configurations are slower, but if one drive dies, you still have all > your data on the other drive and readily accessible. You can get to your files > and copy them to another storage system. Then you have options as to > repair/replace the bad F2 drive, rather than being SOL. More importantly, you > can continue to work on finishing your project. I have actually finished a > project shortly after one LaCie FW800 drive died as part of a pair. I just > continued the edit session until I was done, knowing that there was no time to > move or copy anything: finish or bust. I "drove" for several more miles than > recommended on that spare tire. I was lucky though.
> These RAID options, by the way, are available to you should you decide to go > firewire, by simply using Apple's Disk Utility (Apple calls it "mirrored > RAID"). I learned early on that when doing so, you should select 256k for the > RAID block size setting under the OPTIONS button. It helps the RAID 1 > performance. At our facility we have many LaCie FW800 drives as redundant > (RAID 1) drive pairs. It slows them down, but the bulk of our work is SD, so > no sweat and tears for speed demons needed. For the most part we prefer data > safety. I have noticed, however, that drive life expectancy hovers around 18 > months in RAID 1 with LaCie. One member of the drive pair just dies right > around that time frame, for some reason. When we consider what they give us > and the income we derive from their use, however, it's been worth it. When > working in HD (720p) we have been using LaCie FW800 independent drives with no > problems, but this will change. Our next system configuration will be eSATA > arrays with hot swappable drives. The data throughput is simply better and > faster, and will allow us to post 1080i as well as future 1080p capability for > mastering on Bluray.
> In summary, if you're working in SD, from DV, Prores 422HQ and on up to > uncompressed, FW800 reduntant drives (RAID 1) work great. This has been my > experience with a G5 tower running two 2.5GHz processors. When working in HD > 720p Prores422 HD with our Mac Pro Intel Dual Core 3.0 GHz and an IOHD, a > single FW800 drive, or a FW800 RAID 0 drive pair, will work without problems > but without a safety net. Again, that will change to eSATA in the near future > so we can have better performance and data safety. When using a single drive > or striped drive pairs, you're "driving" without a spare tire.
> There are, of course, other RAID configurations that give you both, > performance AND data safety. Those systems cost more, and require more > advanced storage hardware and software. If you need more information on RAID > "levels," here's a good entry in Wikipedia:
> René Borroto > Senior Editor > Multivision Video & Film > 305-662-6011 > r...@multivisionvideo.com > www.multivisionvideo.com
> This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the > individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that > is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from > disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If > you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, > dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly > prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us > immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) > delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication.
> Thank you.
> On May 3, 2008, at 6:04 PM, Stan Blair wrote:
>> René, >> We should put your post in the ³post hall of fame². It is a beautiful and >> concise but thorough overview of what we all need to know if we are about to >> upgrade. I believe the sweet little Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive is a raid; >> two 320 gig drives connected together as a 640 gig raid. Can you expound a >> bit on what difference it would make for us to use a raid setup for our >> external media drives? For instance, I believe that the Sonnet Fusion F2 is >> two 5400 rpm drives together as a raid (not sure I¹m wording that correctly >> but I bet you know what I mean). What will be the noticeable difference as I >> work in that arrangement and using a single 7200 rpm drive via FirewWire? >> Stan Blair >> Co-director SoFlaFCPUG >> 954-614-2996
>> On 5/3/08 5:07 PM, "René Borroto" <r...@multivisionvideo.com> wrote:
>>> Aylon:
>>> If you were using a G4 powerbook, you're several generations behind the >>> latest, and a G5 is not the step-up you need. The powerbook G4 was a laptop, >>> so are you looking at laptops or desktops? The fastest desktop is an 8-core >>> Intel Mac Pro tower. The newest laptops are Macbook Pros with Intel Dual >>> Core processors, with a few options in storage and CPU that vary its price.
>>> I like eSATA external storage. It's cheap, fast, and great for HD work. I >>> also love the AJA IoHD. Sonnet Technologies makes a dual eSATA Express/34 >>> card for Macbook Pros, and an amazing little eSATA portable drive to go with >>> it. The drive is particularly handy because it gets its power from the >>> Macbook's firewire port. This little point is extremely important if you >>> want to use the IOHD, because the IOHD takes over the firewire bus with >>> heavy data. The drive does not interfere with it at all, because its >>> connection to firewire is strictly for power purposes, not data.
>>> Regardless of the computer you get, buy the most RAM you can afford for it, >>> and the max it will accept if you have the money. I do not recommend that >>> you edit in the HDV format. You should try to capture the footage and >>> convert it to Prores422. The IOHD does that in real time, and does it very >>> well. Prores422 an easier format to work with, particularly because of the >>> drain on the CPU with HDV.
>>> With a desktop you can get a firewire 800 card for external firewire >>> drives, if that's the flavor or storage you like or already own. This FW >>> card would be necessary only if you plan on getting an IOHD, for the reasons >>> mentioned above.
>>> A great portable setup:
>>> 15" or 17" Macbook Pro >>> AJA IOHD >>> Sonnet Tempo Sata Expresscard/34 >>> Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive
>>> This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of >>> the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain >>> information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and >>> exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney >>> work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby >>> notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of >>> this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received >>> this communication in error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) >>> destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately >>> if this is an electronic communication.
>>> Thank you.
>>> <image.gif> >>>
>>> On May 3, 2008, at 3:57 PM, haprojector wrote:
>>>> Hi guys,
>>>> I've been reading the posts for a long time now and always appreciate >>>> learning something new from you guys.
>>>> I'm about to buy a new system and I wanted to ask your opinions before >>>> I go and spend the money. I tried buying a system before but put it >>>> off because it seemed like a
From: r...@multivisionvideo.com Subject: [SoFlaFCPUG] RAID 0 vs RAID 1 for the shallow pocketbook Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 22:20:21 -0400 To: SoFlaFCPUG@googlegroups.com
Thanks for your kind comments, Stan.When considering storage, I weigh in several factors, and it usually turns into a balance of performance, data safety, and price. The Sonnet Technologies F2 drive uses, as you wrote, two 320 GB drives. The unit can be formatted Raid 0 (striped RAID) or Raid 1 (redundant/mirrored RAID). RAID 0 has the two drives working in tandem, with half the data handled by each drive. A "two-horse carriage," so to speak. Two is faster and stronger, but you need both to run, or neither of them does.Those of us with limited pockets can't have everything, so when considering performance in this type of array, RAID 0 is the way to go. In doing so, we sacrifice data safety. One drive dies, everything is lost.The other formatting choice for the Sonnet F2 is RAID 1. The unit is formatted so that each drive has the exact same data as the other, or redundant storage. RAID 1 configurations are slower, but if one drive dies, you still have all your data on the other drive and readily accessible. You can get to your files and copy them to another storage system. Then you have options as to repair/replace the bad F2 drive, rather than being SOL. More importantly, you can continue to work on finishing your project. I have actually finished a project shortly after one LaCie FW800 drive died as part of a pair. I just continued the edit session until I was done, knowing that there was no time to move or copy anything: finish or bust. I "drove" for several more miles than recommended on that spare tire. I was lucky though.These RAID options, by the way, are available to you should you decide to go firewire, by simply using Apple's Disk Utility (Apple calls it "mirrored RAID"). I learned early on that when doing so, you should select 256k for the RAID block size setting under the OPTIONS button. It helps the RAID 1 performance. At our facility we have many LaCie FW800 drives as redundant (RAID 1) drive pairs. It slows them down, but the bulk of our work is SD, so no sweat and tears for speed demons needed. For the most part we prefer data safety. I have noticed, however, that drive life expectancy hovers around 18 months in RAID 1 with LaCie. One member of the drive pair just dies right around that time frame, for some reason. When we consider what they give us and the income we derive from their use, however, it's been worth it. When working in HD (720p) we have been using LaCie FW800 independent drives with no problems, but this will change. Our next system configuration will be eSATA arrays with hot swappable drives. The data throughput is simply better and faster, and will allow us to post 1080i as well as future 1080p capability for mastering on Bluray.In summary, if you're working in SD, from DV, Prores 422HQ and on up to uncompressed, FW800 reduntant drives (RAID 1) work great. This has been my experience with a G5 tower running two 2.5GHz processors. When working in HD 720p Prores422 HD with our Mac Pro Intel Dual Core 3.0 GHz and an IOHD, a single FW800 drive, or a FW800 RAID 0 drive pair, will work without problems but without a safety net. Again, that will change to eSATA in the near future so we can have better performance and data safety. When using a single drive or striped drive pairs, you're "driving" without a spare tire.There are, of course, other RAID configurations that give you both, performance AND data safety. Those systems cost more, and require more advanced storage hardware and software. If you need more information on RAID "levels," here's a good entry in Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID René BorrotoSenior EditorMultivision Video & Film305-662-6011r...@multivisionvideo.comwww.multivisionvideo.com This message (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is non-public, proprietary, privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law or may constitute as attorney work product. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, notify us immediately by telephone and (i) destroy this message if a facsimile or (ii) delete this message immediately if this is an electronic communication. Thank you.
On May 3, 2008, at 6:04 PM, Stan Blair wrote: René, We should put your post in the “post hall of fame”. It is a beautiful and concise but thorough overview of what we all need to know if we are about to upgrade. I believe the sweet little Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive is a raid; two 320 gig drives connected together as a 640 gig raid. Can you expound a bit on what difference it would make for us to use a raid setup for our external media drives? For instance, I believe that the Sonnet Fusion F2 is two 5400 rpm drives together as a raid (not sure I’m wording that correctly but I bet you know what I mean). What will be the noticeable difference as I work in that arrangement and using a single 7200 rpm drive via FirewWire? Stan Blair Co-director SoFlaFCPUG 954-614-2996
On 5/3/08 5:07 PM, "René Borroto" <r...@multivisionvideo.com> wrote:
Aylon:
If you were using a G4 powerbook, you're several generations behind the latest, and a G5 is not the step-up you need. The powerbook G4 was a laptop, so are you looking at laptops or desktops? The fastest desktop is an 8-core Intel Mac Pro tower. The newest laptops are Macbook Pros with Intel Dual Core processors, with a few options in storage and CPU that vary its price.
I like eSATA external storage. It's cheap, fast, and great for HD work. I also love the AJA IoHD. Sonnet Technologies makes a dual eSATA Express/34 card for Macbook Pros, and an amazing little eSATA portable drive to go with it. The drive is particularly handy because it gets its power from the Macbook's firewire port. This little point is extremely important if you want to use the IOHD, because the IOHD takes over the firewire bus with heavy data. The drive does not interfere with it at all, because its connection to firewire is strictly for power purposes, not data.
Regardless of the computer you get, buy the most RAM you can afford for it, and the max it will accept if you have the money. I do not recommend that you edit in the HDV format. You should try to capture the footage and convert it to Prores422. The IOHD does that in real time, and does it very well. Prores422 an easier format to work with, particularly because of the drain on the CPU with HDV.
With a desktop you can get a firewire 800 card for external firewire drives, if that's the flavor or storage you like or already own. This FW card would be necessary only if you plan on getting an IOHD, for the reasons mentioned above.
A great portable setup:
15" or 17" Macbook Pro AJA IOHD Sonnet Tempo Sata Expresscard/34 Sonnet Fusion F2 eSATA drive
and of course, your HDV camcorder.
I hope this helps somewhat.
René Borroto Senior Editor Multivision Video & Film 305-662-6011 r...@multivisionvideo.com www.multivisionvideo.com
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On May 3, 2008, at 3:57 PM, haprojector wrote:
Hi guys,
I've been reading the posts for a long time now and always appreciate learning something new from you guys.
I'm about to buy a new system and I wanted to ask your opinions before I go and spend the money. I tried buying a system before but put it off because it seemed like a complicated endeavor.
My name is Aylon Ben-Ami. I produce, direct, shoot, and edit video and I've been carrying along a PowerBook G4 for too many years. I'm ready to buy a G5, but I can't estimate my needs. I figured that I'd like to buy the important things now, and maybe add things like memory and harddrive space later?
But how much RAM should I get today? They have many video cards, how much ram does visuals card need? What about a Raid system? One part seems to beg for another, and pretty quickly I can run a really high price. I think I'm looking to spend about $6,000, possibly $7,000.
What would be essential for me to edit HD and HDV footage at workable speeds?
