Firmtek vs. CalDigit - what do you get for the money?
by Bob Cole
on
Oct 16, 2009 at 7:08:35 pm
Shopping for a RAID, again. The difference in price between CalDigit and a vendor such as SeriTek is quite large. I'm comparing a five-drive RAID, the SeriTek/5PM-2SE2, with the eight-drive CalDigit HDOne; the price, once drives are bought for the SeriTek, is something like $1100 vs. $5600.
Admittedly, five drives vs. eight is a factor. But even so, the price difference is amazing. What do you get for your additional money with CalDigit? (A number of vendors are in the CalDigit ballpark, so I don't mean to point a finger at CalDigit - in fact, I like the product very much, from what I've read.)
Re: Firmtek vs. CalDigit - what do you get for the money? by Jared Picune on Oct 16, 2009 at 7:37:28 pm
Bob,
Very good question. But to be fair we would not really be comparing apples to apples. The HDOne is a very different product from the SeriTek/5PM-2SE2. A more fair comparison would be the CalDigit HDElement.
To quickly note the major differences between FirmTek and CalDigit. CalDigit is a single vendor support solution, where FirmTek provides a DIY RAID, bring your own drives and build the RAID yourself. They have 2 very different philosophies. CalDigit populates and test all products before they go out the door. CalDigit builds only hardware RAID solutions, where FirmTek uses software RAID supported by their hardware. The big difference being that you processor and ram are being used just to mount the volume. You don't have to worry about that with hardware RAID because it has it's own processor an cache.
The RAID controller used with the HDOne is built inside the unit and connect to the workstation via external PCIe, not eSATA like the SeriTek/5PM-2SE2. Big difference here is the ePCIe is 20Gbs where eSATA is only 3Gbs.
The CalDigit HDOne is an eight drive hardware RAID system featuring an Intel XScale processor and 256MB of fixed cache. All components are modular and easily replaceable. The HDOne supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and JBOD and can reach sustained speeds of 440MB/s with RAID 5 protection. The direct connect external PCIe connection is extremely fast, in fact 5 times faster than fibre solutions. Because the hardware RAID is built in, the HDOne can be used with the eLane-1ex, making a 100% hardware RAID solution for a laptop. The HDOne also uses RAID Shield, an easy to use GUI allows users to easily configure different RAID levels and provides advanced event notification. ASTT technology ensures that sustained data throughput is maintained. The HDOne is ideal for users that desire the ultimate in performance on a budget.
I hope that answers some of your questions, but I think you'll find there is a major difference.
Don't hesitate to ask if you have any additional questions.
HDOne with laptop and ExpressCard by Bob Cole on Oct 16, 2009 at 10:22:55 pm
Thanks Jared. In an earlier post about the difference between the HDOne and the HDElement you wrote that the HDOne "does not offer the expiation that the CalDigit RAID Card and HDElement offer." What's "expiation?"
The HDElement looks terrific, and hits a much better price point for me, than the HDOne. But the inability to use it with a laptop is a problem. That's where the HDOne, with a CalDigit ExpressCard-equipped laptop, is very appealing. My only qualm is with the ExpressCard's physical stability in its slot. Whenever I use an ExpressCard to add a Firewire port to my 2008-era MacBook Pro, I have to take great care not to disconnect the ExpressCard accidentally; it is prone to ejecting itself a bit too easily for my comfort. Does your ExpressCard have any added security measures to keep it from disconnecting from the laptop? If the CalDigit ExpressCard came out while the RAID was being accessed, what would happen to the data and the RAID itself?
Re: HDOne with laptop and ExpressCard by Jared Picune on Oct 16, 2009 at 10:36:28 pm
Looks like you caught a typo. Oops, I meant expansion.
Like many computer formats the express 34 is a standard. While the design is flaky, there is nothing we can do to improve that. That is one of the reasons we use ePCIe, because of the locking cable. Again the eSATA cable has the same issue as the express 34 cards, they can easily be removed by accident.
There is no way to tell what would happen to the RAID if the card were to come out. Most of the time it may not cause any issue, but it is possible to corrupt the data too. It really just depend on what is happening the exact second it happen. Writing being worse than reading of course.
