Lacie Rugged Drive vs G-Tech G-raid drive?

B

BWyldeck

Well-known member
Guys I'm editng on a Mac Pro with 5gb ram and Dual 2.66ghz. Editing ex-1 native 1080. Starting to get performance issues and I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the LAcie rugged drive (orange one powered by the fw800 cable).

Would my problems be solved if I used a g-raid? When ever I use them I never have a problem. What are the differences so I can explain it to the boss?

Cheers guys.
 
Why go external FW800 with either drive when you can go internal SATA with a solid Seagate or WD?

I just purchased a 1TB Seagate ST31000528AS that shows 123/112 MB/s read/write.

Buy two for a soft raid at double that write read for about $140 USD.
 
The LaCie Rugged drive is only 5400rpm. There's your clog. You need at 7200rpm drive.

That said, I agree with David: since you're on a Mac Pro there's no reason why you shouldn't install a second, internal drive to use as your working media drive.
 
definitely internal by far for the best performance.

here is a cut & paste from some tests i did last year comparing internal to external using FCP on an 8 core mac pro using EX1 clips. i used multiclips as a way to test the HD's...

PASTE
***ProRez422*** TEST ON 2.5 year old (Clovertown) Mac Pro 8 core 3.0ghz / 12gigs ram / 512mb 1900xt graphics / Leopard / FCP7---RT setting /Unlimited RT-High-Full. when i did the multiclip testing i only used *one* audio stream in all of the tests.



FIRST TESTS for Multiclip performance...using an OWC Neptune firewire 400 external hardrive. this disk contained the video data and was the scratch disk as well.

2---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. very smooth during execution. felt no real stress on the computer, average CPU usage 274%. playback was smooth with full framerate, scrubbing afterward was mildly rough...no real problem.

3---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. ****BAD****! could not execute an edit. a few times it still showed the edit cuts only after stopping the timeline. EXTREMELY WHACKED! whats even more odd is that observing the CPU usage while trying to do a multiclip pass...the CPU usage actually stopped working near completely. could jump from around 300% to...40%...like it just didnt recognize that i was trying to do an edit. so yes to the OP...firewire 400 with more than 2 HD prorez streams does not work.



SECOND TESTS for Multiclip performance. i now switched to an internal 1TB SATA drive. the 720p 60fps ProRez 422 were on this internal drive and it was the *SCRATCH* drive as well.

2---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. smooth execution and playback with smooth scrubbing after the fact and no stress on the computer. CPU average usage 275%.

3---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. smooth execution and playback and felt no stress on the computer. near perfect scrubbing after. CPU average usage 397%.

4---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. smooth execution and playback. felt no stress on the computer but scrubbing after was a little rough but still tolerable. CPU average usage 512%.

5---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. smooth execution and playback. felt no stress on the computer but scrubbing after was getting pretty rough. CPU average usage 565%.

6---streams of 1280x720p 60fps ProRez 422. ***NOPE***. sort of like the "3 streams" on the firewire 400 external. very erratic and non usable.


other info...the internal SATA drive was only 1/3rd full. the firewire 400 was 2/3rds full.



good luck to you,
david
www.davidprobst.com
 
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FYI, Lacie Rugged drives (orange) do come as 5400 and 7200rpm versions. I use a 7200 one, works fine with FW800 for mobile editing.

But I do agree, with a Mac Pro, load in SATA drives for little cost.
 
LaCie Rugged drives edit 2x100Mbps video streams for me just fine, but RAID is so much faster for everything! The rugged drives I save for delivering to clients.
 
Yeah, put it on the internal drive(s) and use the external ones for backup. That's what I do now.
 
I love the Lacie Rugged drives but only for dump drives in the field. I would never depend on a bus powered drive for editing. BTW I have 6 or 7 rugged drives and have never had a failure.
 
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