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External storage \w Network and eSATA

M

Methemer

n00b
Joined
Aug 29, 2011
Messages
4
Hello Everyone,
I decided that it is time for my 2010 Macbook Pro to get a bit faster (I'm a Photoshop User & I do some photography and video as well), so in order to do so, I'll get me self 8GB ram (instead of 4) and an 128GB SSD Drive.
Now, I did some math, and it appears, that if I want to keep most of the stuff that I really need (and moving all my photos, etc. to an external drive), I'd fill the SSD to about 80-90 GB. That means, that whenever I'll come home from a photo-shoot, I'll have to move the data quickly to the External Storage device.

So here is what I'm thinking:
I need an eSATA to be able to move tons of photos at a good speed, so I'd probably want the external drive to be set in a RAID0 as well (and would be good to plan ahead for RAID0+1 as well, but currently I can only afford RAID0). So that in total I will need 4 External Hard drives.

Also, i'd like to use the external RAID0 as a Photoshop Scratch disk (by the way - would that increase performance, compared to an internal 2.5" SSD ? )

I would also like to be able to access the data wirelessly (locally), because I don't want to be tied with a wire to the external drive.

Now because I'm almost buying all my upgrades at once, It seems like a pretty expensive investment, so I'm looking for ways to make all my wishes affordable. I can consider reasonable cutbacks as well, so please throw all your ideas at me.

Thank you in advance :)
 
Don't run in Raid0 to store your work - unless you don't value your work. Raid0 is fine for working storage, but if you plan to keep things around for a long time then don't use it. You say you don't want to run a protected config (raid 0+1), but can you afford to lose access to the work product of your photo shoots? I don't think so.

Don't think that speed is the number one goal for your off-line storage. Even if it was the goal, you are going to bottleneck on the eSATA and/or Network long before you can really use all that speed you build. Getting copies of the photos off your SSD and onto a large storage system does not really require a ton of speed anyway.

And as long as you are going to do it with an external, make sure you allow yourself a way to keep multiple copies of the important stuff. Remember, even with the most sophisticated Raid6, Raid is not backup...
 
I thought RAID 0+1 Clones & Spreads the data, isn't that somehow secure ? (by the way, I think you misunderstood me. I want Raid 0+1, I just can't afford it right now. I might upgrade to Raid 0+1 in 6 to 12 months)
Anyway, I have a spare Hard drive that I think I could copy the data to one in a while (for secured backups).
Currently I'm on a bleeding edge, I have no backups at all (on my 5400 rpm mac drive). I'm thinking of moving me bleeding edge to an external drive, and then maybe even automating backups to the other drive (that I already have). Anyway - I think I'll figure the backups, I need a working storage...

And what about if I have a 20 GB of video files ?

Currently I've had only an external Lacie USB 2.0 5400 hard drive, and I hate the speed of it. It's painfully slow, so that's why I'm trying to maximize on that right now.
 
Suggestion: if you can afford a two-drive external now, start with the Raid1 and move to Raid0 when you decide you need the extra speed. I wouldn't trust a raid0 setup for more than a few days with anything I truly valued - and I am assuming you value you work...

You'll find an eSATA-based external to be a completely different experience than you had with the USB-based Lacie drive. Most of the USB-based externals - especially the cheap ones like Lacie - are just horrible performers. eSATA, OTOH, should equal or exceed what you see now with the internal SATA drive on your MacBook Pro.
 
Okay, so how do I arrange the external drives for now ? Do I get a NAS Server ? Or is there some chasis (I hope I'm using the right term here) that supports up to 4 Hard Drives, that I can use ?
 
How about $300 for a Windows Home Server build? Minus the HD of course. It has all the connectors you're looking for plus you can't beat the speed.

This was my build for under $300.
 
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