External Hard Drives

[Rob]

I've been doing lots of research, but I thought I'd ask here too, as this forum seems to be full of people who are completely up to date on what's going on technology-wise these days. Gotta be with the RED, I guess.

I am looking for an external hard drive, 1tb, and was wondering if anyone could make any recommendations, especially in regards to using RED files in FCP. Speed, space, heat, brands, build-your-own, price. Any and all advice is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

[Ben Holmes]

www.g-technology.com

[Solomon Schechman]

Depends on what your looking for and your price range. If you have the budget go with the G-tech drives. If your don't I would suggest looking at Other World Computing www.macsales.com They have a bunch of reliable drive enclosures and name brand hard drives.

-Sol

[Shayne Sandor]

I've recently used a Seagate Freeagent Extreme. It is 1tb with USB, eSATA & Firewire input. This is important if you are transfering footage using a Mac. There were very few drives that I found that were similar. I believe that Western Digital has an equivalent but I was very happy using the Seagate.

[nick allsop]

i would recommend G Tech drives. my second choice would be Lacie Quadra.
basically you want drives with e SATA and/or 2 x FW800. usb or fw400 will slow you down. i have also had problems with WD my books so beware.

[Rob]

G-tech seems to be almost everyone's first choice everywhere I look. But it is also the most expensive choice. Any thoughts on whether there is something out there that offers better value? OWC seems interesting. Any first hand experiences?

[Jim McKinney]

G-tech. And it is your best value.
What's it worth when you lose your footage? Of course, anything mechanical is subject to breaking down, but . . .
Life's too short and we work too hard to d**k around with some hinkey HD.

[KETCH ROSSi]

I also agree that G-Tech is the best way to go, very happy user for many years.

BUt the Questions remains as I have asked in other thread, always used G-Drives, but would the G-Raid better? Still understanding the main difference from Drive to Raid. Anyone??

ciao

[Rob]

Thanks guys, I'll spring for the G-tech. All the advice is very much appreciated. Onto Ketch Rossi's question... it will help me too.

[Rob]

Actually, here's a link that explains it all in straightforward language:
http://support.indichosts.net/helpdesk/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=57

[Tom Lowe]

I've recently used a Seagate Freeagent Extreme. It is 1tb with USB, eSATA & Firewire input. This is important if you are transfering footage using a Mac. There were very few drives that I found that were similar. I believe that Western Digital has an equivalent but I was very happy using the Seagate.

I have a couple of the 1.5TB free agent extremes. They were quite cheap. So far, so good. They are pretty fast.

All my old Maxtor externals are still working fine. Never a problem in all these years.. knock on wood!

The g-tech ones look pretty nice. I'll have to check those out.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

BUt the Questions remains as I have asked in other thread, always used G-Drives, but would the G-Raid better? Still understanding the main difference from Drive to Raid. Anyone??

The single drive models are just that -- a single external drive. The RAID models have multiple drives. The G-RAID mini2 looks great. It's very compact and has two 2.5" HDDs inside instead of one. You can configure as a either a RAID-0, which creates a data stripe set, interleaving data between the two drives. It gives you nearly double the performance for data transfers. Unfortunately, if one drive fails, you lose the data on both because they act as one big drive. The other option is RAID-1, which is a mirrored drive set. Both drives are written to simultaneously and contain the same data. If one drive fails, you still have a mirror image on the other drive.

They have other RAID options too and you can get into some very fast external units as you move up the ladder and get away from something completely portable.

[KETCH ROSSi]

Actually, here's a link that explains it all in straightforward language:
http://support.indichosts.net/helpdesk/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=57

Thanks for the link Rob.



The single drive models are just that -- a single external drive. The RAID models have multiple drives. The G-RAID mini2 looks great. It's very compact and has two 2.5" HDDs inside instead of one. You can configure as a either a RAID-0, which creates a data stripe set, interleaving data between the two drives. It gives you nearly double the performance for data transfers. Unfortunately, if one drive fails, you lose the data on both because they act as one big drive. The other option is RAID-1, which is a mirrored drive set. Both drives are written to simultaneously and contain the same data. If one drive fails, you still have a mirror image on the other drive.

They have other RAID options too and you can get into some very fast external units as you move up the ladder and get away from something completely portable.


Thanks Jeff,

I obviously like every one fear the lost of irreplaceable data, and at home I will have a desktop solution, but on the field I need Portable units, so now looking to make final decision.

I will use the MBP for running all the software, no actual data will be stored in it, everything will be downloaded on to external scratch disk, now have to make the final decision if go with the Drives, several of them, or go with the new RAI Mini2 in 1 configuration as 0 configuration seems a bit too dangerous to play with and loosing the captured data is not an option for me.

As the MBP will be a 7200rpm disk as you suggested, I now have to make also the decision if go with the 5400rpm external G0Techs or the 7200rpm.

ciao

[Tom Lowe]

Until USB 3 comes out (when is that supposed to happen?), I think it's worth considering at the time of purchase whether these drives have eSATA or not. I copied 785GBs from my PC to a 7200rpm external via USB 2 yesterday, and it took half the day to do it.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I won't buy an external drive unless it has eSATA.

In addition to USB-3, we also have Firewire 3200 to look forward too and SATA-III...

KETCH, 7200rpm is the way to go. Every little bit to help speed things up is a good idea when you're talking about hard drives. Also keep in mind that 2.5" mobile HDDs are not as fast as their 3.5" desktop counterparts. As for RAID-0 vs. RAID-1, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. The most important thing is in the field you need a reliable means of backing up your data. My primary offload storage units are the CalDigit S2VR eSATA units. They hold two 3.5" SATA drives and can be configured as RAID-0 or RAID-1. I set them up as RAID-1. I primarily shoot to RED Drive / RED RAM and I offload periodically to the RAID-1 and I don't ever erase a RED Drive / RAM unit until I back-up again at the end of the day to RAID-5 and archive to LTO. So, when I leave a shoot, I have everything shot on RED media, plus duplicate HDD copies inside the CalDigit unit. The only media I erase on site are CF cards, but only when I have to.

[KETCH ROSSi]

Thanks again Jeff,

I will definitely get the 7200rpm units, but with NAB just around the corner I'll get just what I must have to work on a shoot to shoot basis, as I too hope to get some great improvements coming up next month.

ciao