External RAID

Okay, so we're all geeks here: if you were going to set up an external RAID array using one of those ExpressCards, what equipment would you use?

 

I wouldn't use the Express card, and I'd use something like this

 

The "item" in the link is overkill---costing twice that of buying the expresscard + eSata external HDD's + RAID controller combination---while offering less than 1/6 of the bandwidth capacity for data transfers (USB 2.0 vs eSata). The network drive feature is pretty handy though. As to the original question, search buy.com or newegg for "eSata ExpressCard". I did this awhile back and saw a dual connector eSata ExpressCard with RAID controller included (I think it was the SIIG brand). You are looking at striping two eSata external drives which are connected to the ExpressCard. It'll be...faaast...

 

Well for sure you'd use this ExpressCard:

http://www.buy.com/prod/SIIG_eSATA_...d_54_Up_to_300MBps_2/q/loc/101/202321842.html

(since it's the only one on the market) but what disks and enclosures would you use?

 

Just another to look at http://www.directron.com/scsae612s1.html

 

You'd also need a separate power supply for each drive in your RAID, and it'll be a pain in the rear to transport. That's why I suggested the USB2.0 enclosure... you'll still get up to 480Mbps, or 60MBps. Any single drive won't transfer that fast, so you'll want to be running RAID-0, which is horrible for data integrity. It's your call, but I'd really suggest that the USB2.0 enclosure for a full, easy to use solution that is also usable on a network.

 

If you are going with external RAID, get one with two or three USB plugs, so you can take full advantage of the speed. also, RAID 0 is a bad idea, you could look at RAID 1, which is still faster than one hard drive. Better yet, look at RAID 0+1, or RAID 4 if supported.

 

Yes, the eSata setup is definitely not mobile, and in all honesty USB 2.0 is fine for everything but high quality video encoding and some newer games that require lots of loading. However just be aware that if you go the USB route, the maximum practical bandwidth you will have is ~40 MBps, not the advertised 60MBps. This is due to technical inefficiencies in the implementation of the USB in software (as it is not native and has to talk to PCI).

eSata on the other hand offers something like 300 MB/s for maximum transfer speeds (practical may be ~10MB/s or so slower when done thru eSata connector via ExpressCard). It is "full speed", meaning it will be as fast and probably faster than your internal notebook hard drive (because the external eSata drives are 3.5" desktop variants that run faster). Stripe two of these---RAID 0 is a risk, at twice the failure rate of any single HDD in the array---and it puts any other connection type or setup to shame. This I believe to be a reasonable investment given that external enclosures with eSata connectors are around $30, WD Caviar 250GB SATA HDD's are $80 on buy.com right now, and SIIG ExpressCard with the eSata connectors/RAID is ~$80 (don't get it from buy.com, try a google search). Really I would just get a cheaper, non-RAID eSata ExpressCard (~$40) and one HDD while still enjoying the benefits of a full speed desktop SATA drive.

 

The only problem with that is that no drive gets 300MB/s. The max you'll see for a single drive is around 50MB/s sustained read speed (and that's only with a desktop-stype 7200RPM hard drive). You will get better speeds with RAID-0, but again, that's not terribly good for data integrity. If you are doing a lot of video encoding/decoding and you are running into your drive being too slow as the bottleneck, then I could see using an external setup with an ExpressCard. But you may as well get a desktop by the time you get that involved, which will be faster, cooler and possibly cheaper than getting that all set up for your notebook, not to mention much more upgradeable.

 

Depends if you want the RAID done in the controller or in the drive bay.

Something like this would let you use any eSATA card, since the hardware RAID is done by the enclosure:
http://www.shop.com/op/~MobileSTOR_..._interfaces-prod-36368180-48736665?sourceid=3

 

All debates aside, what "mission critical need” would anyone want an external RAID set up? For heavy commercial video work I would be using a desktop not any dinky laptops with a wad of cables other than final presentation.

 

Nice find. That's even better than what I proposed. I was mostly against it being multiple drives done in software. But I agree with the above post (and what I said). Just get a desktop for serious video editing. Use the laptop for small jobs, and for travel and showing off the results.

 

Personally I am hoping for laptops to start including an eSATA port stock. A lot of new desktop motherboards are starting to do so. There is no reason we can't standardize on full-speed external drives instead of just USB.