Released: R3D Data Manager for Mac v5.2

[Conrad Hunziker]

R3D Data Manager for Mac version 5.2 is released!

Please see the Upgrade Notes section at the bottom of this post for older, yet still relevant, upgrade notes.

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Updates in this release:

• Extended Growl, SMS/Email Notifications: Growl and SMS/Email notifications now include the source path in the copy status. This will help users with more than one system running simultaneously to better determine which source the program is reporting the status of.
  
• Red Media Identifiers: Now you have the ability to setup common identifiers for your Red Media, and select from them in the Project Information area. Now you dont need to type your Red Media names for each mag.
  
• Project Information update reminder: We added a small popup box to remind you to edit the Project Information when an auto-copy starts. The copy still proceeds in the background of the popup box. This can be disabled in the preferences.
  
• Email Logs: You can now automatically append the log file to the email notification of a successful copy. This is not recommended for SMS users, as the logs are verbose.
  
• Mini-result icon: We added a mini-result icon next to each destination. Now you can see visually which destinations failed for each source. It updates as you click on a source in the queue. The result icon is displayed as the destination finishes, so faster destinations will post a result before the slower destinations finish.
  
• Master logs: The program now saves master logs in the users library, and sweep old logs over 30 days old.
  
• Source Check: The program now checks before a copy operation that the sources actually exist, and are mounted properly.
  
• Auto-Clear queue: When auto-start is enabled and a new Red Media is detected, the program will clear the queue of all sources that have successfully copied. Only those sources who have had any failures will remain, and will automatically be recopied along with the new Red Media.
  
• Update Project Info during copy: You can now update the Project Information area while a copy is in progress. As long as you finish editing before the copy finishes, the information will be passed to the ProjectInformation.txt file as the copy finishes.
  
• Bug fixes: We fixed bugs in the recopy footage after an error and in the UI updating code.

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Upgrade Notes

If you are upgrading from version 5.0 or earlier: Due to an error in a 3rd party installer, you must install this upgrade manually. Please download the application from the link includede in the upgrade notice inside R3D Data Manager and run the included installer manually.

This version is for Mac OS 10.5 ONLY. Due to some needed changes in the structure, we can no longer support Mac OS 10.4

If upgrading from 4.x or earlier: You will need a new key before using this version. We have emailed all valid users a key, so check your email before upgrading. You can always obtain your key at https://www.r3ddata.com/order/resend/

[Jeff Brown]

Hi Conrad

Thanks for doing the identifier to the emails/sms's as requested when I met you.

Now I can enjoy my drink longer when I'm by the pool waiting for those multiple copies to finish....;)

Jeff Brown

[Conrad Hunziker]

Yes - the all important drink by the pool.

This brings up a point I forgot to mention: nearly all of the updates are based on user suggestions. So if you have any, let us know. Perhaps the next suggestion will help others enjoy more drinks by the pool - or at least a decent nights sleep!

[Steve Freebairn]

Funny how some of those changes seem a lot like the emails I've been sending you! Thanks a million! I'm excited (I know that's so nerdy) for my next R3D copy with the program!

How soon are you going to do the Line speed change, I'm convinced it's a great idea now.


In case you stumbled on this thread by accident and have no idea what R3D Data Manager does, go to R3Ddata.com and buy it and thank me later :)

[D Fuller]

I've just purchased R3D Data manager for Mac (v 5.2) and in my initial use, it seems very slow. I have no frame of reference except for finder copies. A 170 Gig copy to two sources via FW400 took better than 6 hours last night. Is that normal? (I'm hoping not.) Can you give me some idea what "normal" is for R3D copies? And what to look for that might be slowing the copies down?

[Conrad Hunziker]

I've just purchased R3D Data manager for Mac (v 5.2) and in my initial use, it seems very slow. I have no frame of reference except for finder copies. A 170 Gig copy to two sources via FW400 took better than 6 hours last night. Is that normal? (I'm hoping not.) Can you give me some idea what "normal" is for R3D copies? And what to look for that might be slowing the copies down?

I dont know your exact setup, so its hard to comment from a distance.

However, the biggest thing slowing you down is FW400. If you have all three items attached via FW400, then each one is basically getting 133Mbits/sec, minus overhead. Id recommend going to at least FW800. The best way is if you can put devices on different buses - such as the Red Media as the only device hooked up via firewire, and the others hooked up via eSATA or a second (external) firewire bus. Just by stepping up to FW800 in theory you should see the time cut in about 1/2. If you separate the drives on different buses, even better.

Secondly, a secure copy requires 3 reads of the media. Once to generate checksums, once to copy the files and a third to check each destination. Theres a great field report here of how R3D Data Manager was the first to show that the CF reader (in this case) was faulty:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showpos...67&postcount=1

After getting errors, he investigated further and deducted that the CF reader was at fault. Its not the first time that Ive heard of this, but thats exactly what R3D Data Manager was designed to catch. Finder copies dont catch those, as they only do a single read from the source, and assume that the bits it got were valid.

That said, you should see a much bigger improvement in time if you move your destinations to SATA/eSATA. Right now on firewire each destination during the destination check must fight for space on the same bus. If you moved them to SATA/eSATA you'll have much more room on the bus for each disk to read at the fastest speed possible.

[Conrad Hunziker]

How soon are you going to do the Line speed change, I'm convinced it's a great idea now.

It will come - we need to perfect it in the windows version first, then port it to the Mac. Its one of a few things that will comprise v6.0.

[Stephen Webb]

I've just updated to Snow Leopard and have found that R3D Data Manager v5.0 installs OK, but can't upgrade to 5.1 or 5.2.

[Conrad Hunziker]

FedEx is taking their sweet time delivering Snow Leopard to us. We havent certified R3D Data Manager for Snow Leopard yet, but once we do we will run an update.

[Stephen Webb]

UPS delivered nice and quick :)

I took advantage of the Snow Leopard release to swap out my MBP's hard drive and do a completely clean install of everything. 90 mins to swap the drive, install Snow Leopard and copy all my files back to the new drive - result!

Like I say, R3D Data Manager v5.0 installs no problem (and seems to be working OK, though I haven't tested it extensively yet). It just won't let me install the updates. Not sure what the situation would be if you already had v5.2 installed though.