BTW, I also have a backup operating system/boot drive that I created with Super Duper. So in case the startup drive goes bad I have a second startup drive already in place.

This second startup drive is also used as a backup whenever updates and upgrades are installed. If the "improvements" create problems, it's easy to go back to where things were.

Surely redundancy on my working drives? RAIDs that large aren't really portable. A 3 disc RAID I can take with me if I need to visit a client, edit in the field etc.

Speed wise, I am currently use single drives and simply backing up onto externals. The speed isn't really an issue as they can handle Prores fine. It's okay but I'd like to have a constant redundancy.

As I say, this is one of those instances where personal preference and workflow comes in. You can certainly create redundancy for your working drives w/o going through the expense and hassle of setting up a RAID and in fact a RAID setup specifically to be used only as a backup has it's own caveats, especially if you're migrating the contents of more than one HDD source into a RAID however, if you've got need for a singular, portable solution that's data requirements are larger than any single-drive can handle then that's something you'll have to ferret out for yourself.

What you seem to be after is an archive/backup solution not necessarily a RAID. In which case keep this in mind: an archive or backup is something that is only powered-on and accessed when it's time to swap data. If it's running and hot all the time along with your working computer then you can't consider it an archive, but another working set of HDD's.

Dean that sounds like a smart drive to have. How does it work?

Hi Robert,

I'm after a redundant working system. My archive depends on the project. Some don't need it, others it is critical and requires separate off site storage. The archive I can handle, I'm just looking for recommendations for a 3 or 4 disc RAID system with FW800 as a must and eSATA ideally. It will be in frequent use and needs to be reasonably portable - ie not rack mounted.

I also know I don't want anything Lacie after previous failings and horror stories.

Check out the offerings from either:

Sonnet: Products & Solutions - Fusion Family

or

FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0, eSATA External Hard Drive Storage for Apple Mac and PCs - Desktop, Rack, and Portable Models

OWC likes to showcase the firewire stuff up-front but they have every connectivity available - excepting fibre which you don't need anyway.

I haven't done any HD edits on my LaCie HD's.
But I have NEVER had any HD crashes with them, so I will gladly spend a bit more.

NAS solution?
 

I'm hunting for a solution at the moment myself and looked at the rugged portable drives and the G-Raid solutions. I'm pretty much set now on buying a G-Raid mini for the capture and poratble solution to go with the Macbook Pro I use for editing, and also intend on picking up a Western Digital sharespace NAS for backups.

This means I'll have a fast, redundent drive for capture and editing (postable when I need it to be), and also a redundent solution for archiving back at the office. The NAS is dirt cheap ($898AU for 4TB) and gives me that peace of mind.

p.s. I've had many disks fail with Lacie and it's usually not the hard drive but the enclosure/circuit board before I binned the lot.

Damian I use the G-Safe as my backup drive but am always looking for better options.

For NAS applications, I like the Thecus N7700 Pro with iSCSI. Portable, affordable and reliable.

http://www.thecus.com/products_over....nguage=english

So here's the website I mentioned, it's finally online:

http://www.go-go-godzilla.com

You can thank Chris Hurd for it's name - he's responsible for my DVinfo nickname!

The stuff about RAID setups and other info wont' get posted until just after the holidays but it's a start.

Don't hesitate to put in requests for either product reviews or "how to" guides.

Happy Holidays to all.

Great timing Robert thank you.

And thank you Chris for DVinfo and now go-go-godzilla.com