[theiliad]

Hello all.

I'm going to be doing quite alot of HD editing in FCP in the next few months. I'll be using a 17" Inch MacBook Pro, with 2Gb RAM and a 7200rpm HD. I want to have a
external eSATA RAID array.I'll be needing at least 2TB. I know there is now a eSATA express card adapter. It would be helpful if the enclosures had USB2/Firewire 400/800 (powered) as a backup. Does anyone know of such enclosures, they will need to be stackable in some sort of way ( depending on the size of the project I'm working on). Also, these drives are gonna be in my bedroom so it would be helpful if they were in someway quiet ( within reason). I will need to move these drives quite a bit so they will need to be relatively portable.


thanks in advance

[mduell]

This enclosure meets all your needs and accepts up to 5 750GB ATA disks. You can plug one of these into each port on the ExpressCard for a total of 7TB for $6800 or 97 cents a gig.

If you're willing to accept an SATA only enclosure and looking for 3.5-6TB (any less and the above is cheaper, any more and you have to go with the above), you can save a bit of money with one of these enclosures; add 8 750GB SATA disks and you're looking at 6TB for $5150 or 86 cents a gig.

If you're willing to go with a maximum of 1.5TB, you can grab a pair of SATA/USB/FW enclosures and 750GB ATA drives for about $940, or 63 cents a gig.

If you can be more specific about the capacity or price you're looking for, I can point you to some recommended drives.

[sieb]

I know alot of media houses use this brand: http://www.wiebetech.com/home.php I particularly like their little dual drive raid enclosure.

Be carefull if your going to get a plain enclosure from a place like Newegg and put your own drives in it, read the reviews carefully, don't just get a cheap case.

I think Lacie just came out with an eSATA enclosure as well.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by sieb

I know alot of media houses use this brand: http://www.wiebetech.com/home.php I particularly like their little dual drive raid enclosure.

Their enclosures look nice, but either require a proprietary card (SilverSATA V) which may not work with or even fit in the MBP or have relatively poor performance (RT manages only 35MBps over FW800 and 85MBps over SATA150). Which models do you recommend?

[sieb]

SeriTek eSATA card: http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/seritek2sm2e.html

You shouldn't need a "proprietary" card for an e-sata enclosure, e-sata is a standard AFAIK.

[thefunkymunky]

Anyone know where to get a eSATA ExpressCard/34 and a eSATA/USB2.0/FireWire enclosure in the UK?