usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

would it matter what one I would use? one better for a raid 0 for video source footage drive? or should I do a raid 5? esata or usb 3?

Re: usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

I think you need to understand the difference. USB 3.0 and eSATA are connection protocol. I assumed your computer has both eSATA port and USB 3.0 port. But do you need to move the drive to connect to laptop? Not all laptop has eSATA.

on paper, eSATA should have a better connection speed because USB 3.0 still involve some sort of CPU handling the data transfer. SATA controller built-in on your motherboard could handle data directly without the help of CPU. I could be wrong on this.

Then RAID is a redundant array. RAID 0 boost performance but any drive in the array fail, the entire RAID fail. So you are risking lost of data. It is still a great option but you must backup your files constantly.

RAID-5 deliver harddrive failure tolerance but don't quite give you any performance increase. It uses the complex XOR calculation between drives. You will need to have at least 3 drives to have RAID 5 to work. Any one drive fail, the entire RAID will still be funcationing in a degrading performance mode. If the RAID controller doesn't have a processor dedicated to handle the XOR calculation, it relies on your CPU which will slow down the entire computer system.

Hope it helps

Re: usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

Depends on the encoder used for the video files. I edit multicam 4 streams of native AVCHD from a single 7200rpm drive with no problems. Unless you are dealing with multiple streams of RAW files or CGI files etc which will be very big at a high data rate I do not think you need a RAID at all.

Ron Evans

Re: usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

I use three of the OWC Elite Pro Qx2 boxes set to RAID5 and like them very much. They run in eSATA at almost 250MB/s, but there is a cheap USB3 to eSATA adapter if you need it. For the price, they are a steal - 12GB RAID5 for under $900. You can also build it out with your own choice of drives, but don't be cheap with them! Only time I had an issue was with super cheap "green" drives. Other two boxes I have are rock solid for 3 years.

OWC Mercury Pro Qx2 4-Bay RAID 0/1/5/10 eSATA, FireWire 400/800, USB2 Desktop Removable Bay Storage Solution - up to 16.0TB

The speed is nice but the data security is even nicer.

Re: usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

Tweakers Page - Disk Setup

Tweakers Page - To Raid or not to Raid

Re: usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

Harm, I just read your article on Disk setup. Great article. I noticed you have changed where you should place the Pagefile, which now should be on the same disk as your OS. I'm a tad confused on how exactly you want it set up when you state "I recommend a sum total of installed memory plus page-file of at least 48 GB, with a minimum static size of 1 or 2 GB, even if you exceed the sum of 48 GB" Also, it was interesting where the Cineform codec ranks as far as disk intensity goes. I thought the purpose of Cineform was to boost editing performance without having a highend computer?

Re: usb 3 or esata for external raid 0 ?
 

Kelly,

The reason for the pagefile on the boot disk, is that Windows is pretty obstinate. If you ever have a system failure, 'Windows needs to shut down...' it will create a (dynamic) pagefile on the boot disk if one has not been defined, for the memory dump.

That is the only reason why I suggest the boot disk for that. The steps to take to create a static pagefile are the following:

1. Go to Control Panel and select Performance Information and Tools.
2. Select Advanced Tools.
3. Select Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.
4. Select the Advanced tab and for Virtual Memory select Change.
5. Select the C: drive and choose Custom size:
6. Make sure that all other drives have the Paging File Size set to None.
7. Set the Initial Size (MB): to a size you need to get RAM + pagefile up to 48 GB, but at least to 1024 or 2048 if you have more than 48 GB RAM installed.
8. Set the Maximum Size (MB): to the same size and then press Set.

That's it.

Example:
If RAM is 16 GB, set the pagefile to 32 GB (16+32=48)
If RAM is 32 GB, set the pagefile to 16 GB (32+16=48)
If RAM is 64 GB, set the pagefile to 2 GB (64+2=66)

Cineform is pretty easy for the CPU, but the file sizes are around three times bigger than what you get off a camera, so the disk I/O loads are clearly heavier. That is why Cineform is positioned more towards the upper left hand corner, not quite as easy as DV with its low resolution, but not more difficult than HDV, apart from the required transfer rates..