Need advice on building a RAID

Hello Creative cows,

I'm setting DaVinci Resolve on my MAC and I'm about to build my first RAID.

I want to start out with a simple (cheap) RAID but would like to be able to expand (buy more hard drives when I have the money) later on.

What is a basic external RAID that I could set up? I would like to play 2048x1556 DPX files in real time - ungraded. And be able to play back the same files close to real time once I start grading?

I'm not even sure what I need.

I think I need an interface PCI card. I know there is a Caldigit for $600 dollars, but what would be my other (cheaper) options?

Also I think I need some sort of rack for the hard drives. I've seen some for a PC for around $300 dollars. What would my MAC options be in that area?

Thanks much for any help!

Look at the Highpoint Rocket Raid products. The Rocket Raid 2314 which is a 4-port eSata card which works with port multipliers and will support up to 20 drives and is cheap. There are also newer SAS controllers and HBA's from them which are inexpensive and support allot of high speed sata 6g drives.

I have a 12Tb disk on a Rocket Raid 2314 which supports a single stream of 2K DPX very comfortably.

-Rob-

Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.com

MAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.

Again it is a cheap solution, I have a R680 on the Resolve box now but that ATTO card alone is almost as much as a cheap 8Tb raid with the 2314, two Port Multipliers and drives. I have the 2314 on another machine now but it does work in Raid-5 for 2K DPX files. Horses for Courses and You generally get what you pay for.... If you need a "starter" Raid the Highpoint will do.

-Rob-

Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.com

MAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.

When I put together the eSata Rocket Raid a few years ago it went something like this:

RR 2314 $160.00 3X Addonics Port Moutipliers $350.00 12X 1Tb Deskstars Enterprise Drives $2000.00 (a while back) 12Bay Enclosure $650.00

Total $3160.00 for 12Tb

Today with a Rocket Raid:

Rocket Raid 2722 + Sans Digital 8-Bay SAS/Sata enclosure $500.00 8 2Tb enterprise Drives $1400.00

Total $1900.00 for 16Tb

The Atto setup I have on Resolve now:

Atto R680 $950.00 Astek A33606 SAS Multiplier $600.00 20 SAS Disk Server Chassis $700.00 20 1Tb Hitachi Ultrastar Dives $2240.00

Total $4490.00 for 20Tb

The Atto solution is probably the best but a 16Tb Highpoint 8 Disk array with SAS connectivity for less than $2k is pretty damn good.

Computer junk gets cheaper by the minute.

-Rob-

Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.com

MAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.

No miltipler needed with that new Highpoint SAS and that enclosure only one PCIe slot in the Mac-Pro for the raid card.

-Rob-

Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.com

MAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.

Hello Robert,

Sorry for hacking this old thread, but I am looking at building a RAID and during the last 48 hrs I have been all over the possibilities of building an external RAID rather than running an ATTO R608 with 6 internal drives.

After posting inquiries about this two days ago, I have only more questions and a tight budget, so I can't go too crazy, but if I can afford it, I will go for a 16 bay enclosure with miniSAS, Enterprise drives SATA or SAS III (6Gb/s) and the ATTO R680.
So far, I had understood that as an internal RAID in my MacPro, I would only need to mod an optical bay to house two drives there, mod the four existing backplanes and add the R608 plus two fan out cables. But I am considering the cost of a bigger set up instead...

I want to get the parts myself and put them together, even if it is my first RAID. I need to get an enclosure, plus a RAID card for it (is that the one I linked below?) and a ......... RAID pcie card for the 12 core Mac. And then connect the two cards with...? Is it possible for money similar to an internal RAID as I was originally planning?

I know we are all very busy, but you came up with three very reasonable set ups and if you are aware of any similar set ups today, that I can look into, I would be a very happy man.
By the way:
http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_expanders/A33606-PCI.asp

If this is too much to get into, no worries! I understand busy!

Thank you for reading,

Alex :)

Alex Vargas
filmmaker/composer
Macpro 5,1 12 core 48GB RAM - Macbookpro 15" - FCP 7+/Logic 9