I'm now running a commercial recording studio and I've been looking into incorporating a RAID into my DAW. I'm leaning towards an external 4-bay enclosure for running RAID-5 with a hot spare; I like the idea of being able to toss the array into a safe at the end of a workday, or to be able to move it from computer to computer without hassle.
I'm not looking to break any speed records; A single 7200 RPM drive is perfectly adequate for my needs. I just want redundancy for peace of mind during a session. At the same time I don't want to buy an overpriced piece of junk. My gear has to be reliable.
I'm finding the research process frustrating because most manufacturers don't distinguish between their product lines, some of which are true, fully-integrated hardware RAID and some of which are port multipliers. Those that do distinguish generally don't mention which RAID chips they use.
I don't know a lot about this market segment and I'm unfamiliar with controller manufacturers and their offerings. I've read about Oxford's 936 chip series, which offers an ARM7 controller but I can't find any useful information about it in terms of reliability, performance and so on. None talk about rebuild speed.
I suspect that there are good products out there that don't cost an arm and a leg. I just need help weeding them out of the chaff.
Anyone?
I'm not looking to break any speed records; A single 7200 RPM drive is perfectly adequate for my needs. I just want redundancy for peace of mind during a session. At the same time I don't want to buy an overpriced piece of junk. My gear has to be reliable.
I'm finding the research process frustrating because most manufacturers don't distinguish between their product lines, some of which are true, fully-integrated hardware RAID and some of which are port multipliers. Those that do distinguish generally don't mention which RAID chips they use.
I don't know a lot about this market segment and I'm unfamiliar with controller manufacturers and their offerings. I've read about Oxford's 936 chip series, which offers an ARM7 controller but I can't find any useful information about it in terms of reliability, performance and so on. None talk about rebuild speed.
I suspect that there are good products out there that don't cost an arm and a leg. I just need help weeding them out of the chaff.
Anyone?