Best buss set-up for on set copies?

[Rich Schaefer]

I am wondering what is the best/fastest configuration to make copies on set with R3D mgr. (or finder in a big pinch) on a MacBook Pro?

My thought is to connect the Red drive (source) via FW800 and 2 external drives (targets) to a eSata adapter? I think this will use 2 busses (one in and one out) and the writing to 2 drives and checking them, will demand more than reading the original media.

But maybe, all 3 drives on eSata is faster? Somehow, I don't think so.

What eSata cards are better?

Thanks Much!
Rich

[Steve Sherrick]

I have found that using an Express34 esata adapter such as this one.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/temposataproexpress34.html

With the RED Drive hooked up using one of these
http://coolcameragear.com/r2e-lemo-to-esata-cable-p-1.html

And a good esata destination drive to be a very nice solution. But you can also have your Red Drive on FW800 and a couple of esata destination drives on the express34 buss and that works nicely too.

The bottleneck with R3D Data Manager is that when you use checksum verification it extends the transfer time. But of course, you have more secure data that way. Conrad has mentioned that he might be able to speed up the process for going to multiple drives by changing the way R3D Data Manager reads the source files.

[Rich Schaefer]

Wouldn't it be best to use more busses? Like the FW800 and eSata instead of everything on eSata?

[Dave Weber]

Hey Rich,

I use to use the sata and FW800 and it chokes on the 800 side. I now have been using the set up Steve is talking about and transfers fly through. The speed is crazy for a laptop.

[Morning Glory]

When I use a laptop based station I opt for the 800 to 2 x eSATA drives through R3DManager, with the sonnet pro card, you get about 10-15% more speed with the pro card for 8x the price. I usually get a 1.4 minutes to 1 Gig ratio in this configuration. What are other people experiencing? I would love to hear more details concerning your all eSATA set up. Can you describe your configuration? Are you copying to multiple drives simultaneously?

[Rich Schaefer]

Great thoughts! Thank You everyone!

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Rich

[Rich Schaefer]

Ahh!!!!!

I just realizes via Wiki that eSata is 4X faster! eSata is 3000Mbit/sec and FW800 is 786Mbit/sec. (Some how I thought eSata was only 1000Mbit/sec

Just ordered my Sonnet Pro card, eSata cabling and RedDrive/eSata cable!

[Harry Clark]

My experience mirrors Morning Glory's.
FW 800 in (Red Drive or Lexar 800 card reader), Expresscard to 2 eSATA drives. r3D Manager MDA-5 checksum. Just over a minute per gig. Finder drag-and-drop obviously MUCH faster but not secure.
I have duplicate Lexar readers and Expresscard adapters. Using the Sonnet Pro. Seems pretty rock-solid in almost two years.
But yes, if there was a way for Conrad to make the checksum process faster, it would be great. I fear that it's just simple math and we all have to wait for faster hardware.
Cheers,
Harry

[Nate Clapp]

so Morning glory- that is 1 GB of shot footage copied to two SATA drives per minute. does that include the checksum generation time? are the SATA drives anything special (RAID, etc) I ask because I had a bad experience with esata card while back (Bought in mac store- corrupted backup drive due to sleep issues) and I have gone FW800 card route, as it seems safer and more client drives seem to have fw800 than esata...

[Steve Sherrick]

so Morning glory- that is 1 GB of shot footage copied to two SATA drives per minute. does that include the checksum generation time? are the SATA drives anything special (RAID, etc) I ask because I had a bad experience with esata card while back (Bought in mac store- corrupted backup drive due to sleep issues) and I have gone FW800 card route, as it seems safer and more client drives seem to have fw800 than esata...

As far as I can tell, not all esata express34 cards are equal. Obviously some have faster transfer times, but even the compatibility of some has been iffy. I have had very few problems with the Sonnet. I also have a SIIG but that one did have some issues with stability. Whatever you do, go with a brand that has a good reputation and track record.

[Nathan Warren]

When I use a laptop based station I opt for the 800 to 2 x eSATA drives through R3DManager, with the sonnet pro card, you get about 10-15% more speed with the pro card for 8x the price. I usually get a 1.4 minutes to 1 Gig ratio in this configuration. What are other people experiencing? I would love to hear more details concerning your all eSATA set up. Can you describe your configuration? Are you copying to multiple drives simultaneously?

I use Shotput Pro for transferring data to multiple drives at the same time. So far it works like a champ. I've only used it on my last two shoots and one was P2 data, so it hasn't been extensively tested.

[Morning Glory]

so Morning glory- that is 1 GB of shot footage copied to two SATA drives per minute. does that include the checksum generation time? are the SATA drives anything special (RAID, etc) I ask because I had a bad experience with esata card while back (Bought in mac store- corrupted backup drive due to sleep issues) and I have gone FW800 card route, as it seems safer and more client drives seem to have fw800 than esata...

Hi Nate.
Actually it's 1GB per 1.4 minutes. It includes checksum generation time. The Drives I use are the Lacie 1TB quadra d2 (which is two 500GB drives in a RAID 0) and the Lacie 6TB 4 big Quadra in a RAID 5 which makes it 4.05TB. That's too bad about the corrupting files. Definitely all eSATA cards are not created equal, whether they are 34 express or PCIe. I find sonnet great for laptop, still looking for a good eSATA card for PCIe http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34137