if one drive writes at 10,000rpm (uw scsi)
than two drives writing the same info simultaneously work at 20,000rpm
3 at 30,000 rpm etc...
A raid controller operates multiple drives simultaneously as one drive... only downside is that if one fails they all go boom. Also firewire raids aren't supposed to work this way... anyone back that statement up?

You might want to set it up like Paul's, Christopher. Buy another SATA drive and mount it internally so that you can RAID the two internal drives. Use your existing FW drive for all your applications and system software etc. The external FW drive will become your startup disk. This will be easier, faster and less money than what you're proposing. The only thing is you'll have to clone your current startup disk or reinstall all your software. Cloning will take a little time.

"Disk striping improves sustained disk transfers, not access times. So,
application launches, games, etc. won't really benefit. However, video
editing and other applications that make sustained reads and writes to the
hard disk will benefit from an almost 100% improvement in data transfer
rate, if it's at all like the RAID software built into Windows 2000/XP (I
don't see why it should be any different)."

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=b
bfc143a.0110040710.3de2bfa3%40posting.google.com&rnum=16&pre
v=/groups%3Fq%3D%252B%2522firewire%2Braid%2522%26hl%3Den%26l
r%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN

Remember you only really need a RAID array if you're going to be editing in HD native resolutions, and a Firewire RAID array is NOT going to be fast enough for multiple streams, even a firewire 800 RAID array is not that fast in practice. That's why I'm using SATA drives and interfaces, they're a lot faster than Firewired drives.

in case it didn't work

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...%3D10%26sa%3DN

Ok, looks like I'll buy another internal drive. Any preference you have for one? I have about $200 to spend.

I probably want to buy the exact same drive that's in the machine right? I remember reading one of Paul's posts in regards to a controller or some type of extra piece you need to install the drive?

I'm not worried to much about re-installing everything. But, is it safe to run a Mac off a firewire drive? What if the firewire dies? Do you stick in the Apple recovery discs and re-install on one of the internals?

I know I'm paranoid, but I like to know the worst case on everything because my last name is "MURPHY" after all. :)

Oh, speaking of "RAID" stuff...I was looking around and found this and thought I would pass it on. It might be useful? It looks like a new version just came out.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/softraid.html

Murph (aka Murphy's Law expert)

Try to match the internal drive you already have. Same size, brand, etc.

Ok, I'll do that...thanks everyone for the replies. This place rocks and Apple should be PAYING all of us at dvinfo!

Murph

Chris, check my previous post, I detailed the exact drive I use, or get another 160gb one like that which came with the machine if you want a smaller RAID and save some money. There is a very good program that will clone all your apps and system to the new drive, I will try and find the name for you.

Carbon Copy Cloner. It's easy to use and the price is right, $5.

Awesome I will download it and get the new HD asap.

Just a note, tonight I've been capturing clips from the HD10u into the LumiereHD 1.0 app without any problems. I'm demuxing a ton of stuff now....anyone know where I can post some DVCPRO HD clips from the HD10u? I know space is hard to come by, but I could upload a bunch of really cool clips from my surrounding land....horses, donkey's, old barns, outhouses, flowers, the neighbors tractor mailbox! (yes, i have a functional outhouse for guests!)

Murph

How much space do you need?

As I'm also strugling with the HD and Hard-drive questions I found in one of the forums (I don't remember where) this indeed useful url: [http://www.barefeats.com/]. It explains a lot on the different possibilities with RAIDs. The writer found also a very bad bug in the G5 concerning the speed in writing to a firewire drive. It seems much slower then on the G4 CPUs.

Jeff, I think about 200 gigs to start would suffice.

I didn't read anything about the G5 bug? It would have probably been noted or address elsewhere if it were on every system. I'll have to check into it....the G5 can't have it to bad because they're still selling and it's speed is its selling feature!

Murph

Murph, I thought you were looking for space to upload some images?