External Firewire drive question

[heffe2001]

I'm looking at adding more storage to my Sage server, and was wondering if an external Firewire box with support for say 4 drives would work ok with Sage? My system will eventually support 4 clients & the server, comskip & compression. Will firewire be fast enough to supply all that, or should I really go with some sort of box connected directly to the PC (external SATA or something like that)?

I've read on here where folks are using firewire & usb2 for storage, but nobody mentions if they are supplying several clients, while compressing & comskipping shows.

I was also thinking of turning my existing server into a client machine, and dropping server on my Dell Poweredge server, with the storage external and tuners all in that box (drives for that beast are EXPENSIVE, and kind of small, IDE storage would be MUCH cheaper but no internal 3.5 bays, all hostswap SCSI's).

What I'm wanting to do is buy a 4 bay chassis with 2 firewire controllers (2 drives each), and drop either 4 200's or 4 250's in it (or a combination there-of).

[ravenray]

heffe2001, I'm not sure what everybody is doing, but I'll tell you how my set is right now. I'm not using a client, but I'm moving to that route soon I hope. But n-e-wayz, I'm currently using this Firwire Bridge in an empty atx case with 4 removable drives. I rigged the psu to use the switch on the back as an on/off switch. So far, I haven't seen any issues with this setup.

[ckron]

Originally Posted by ravenray

heffe2001, I'm not sure what everybody is doing, but I'll tell you how my set is right now. I'm not using a client, but I'm moving to that route soon I hope. But n-e-wayz, I'm currently using this Firwire Bridge in an empty atx case with 4 removable drives. I rigged the psu to use the switch on the back as an on/off switch. So far, I haven't seen any issues with this setup.

That thing looks great. I have a few old cases lying around that I could stuff hard drives into.

[jominor]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

I've read on here where folks are using firewire & usb2 for storage, but nobody mentions if they are supplying several clients, while compressing & comskipping shows.

I currently have only a single client and it works with no problems.

[ravenray]

Just a word of wisdom if you go that route. You will probably have to do some dremeling on a pci slot cover. That's the only road block you will run into when using the firewire bridge. Simple solution, only takes about 10 mins worth of cutting and drilling.

[mightyt]

FYI ... I understand the external HD factor as it relates to performance and adding clients down the line ... just don't forget the net factor as well ... 10/100 wired vs. 802.11g wireless ... not sure which way your are going, but there is a performance impact differnce there too ...

[heffe2001]

Only wireless boxes currently in the house are my laptop and the kids PC (it'll eventually be wired, just didn't feel like running the cable yet ).

That bridgeboard actually will fit in some cases without modification, as they come with slots on the back for SCSI ports, which it is supposed to fit without any mods.

That's definitely the board I was looking at, but I found a 4 drive cabinet with one already in it for not much more than that by its self (have to find the link again, on my work PC).

[rrussell]

I'm confused. How is this bridge better than just running a PC with the same drives on their IDE controllers on the network somewhere?

[heffe2001]

Less hardware to buy if you don't already have a PC available. Wonder if an old 450mhz PC with say 128mb ram would work for a storage server? Might need more memory maybe?

With that bridge, you just stick 4 drives in the system, that bridge, and plug it into another machine. No windows to load, no OS at all, just plug and play.

[ravenray]

heffe2001 directly hit the nail on this one. If your in a situation like me and using a small form factor as your server, you will notice that there is very limited space. I'm currently using my Shuttle SS50 as my server and it has firewire built in. When the pvr500 comes out, I'm probably going to just go with 2 of those units so I can have 4 tuners in a small form factor. Buying all new equipment would be nice, but it's not much an option for me. Oh I forgot to add, it's very very quiet.

[ravenray]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

Wonder if an old 450mhz PC with say 128mb ram would work for a storage server? Might need more memory maybe?

Well, it depends, are you using it just as a storage or using it as part of sage recording? I believe that if it's just storage, I don't think you'll have a problem, but I'm not sure what the data rate is on the particular board your going to use. I know I use to have an old PII board running as a web/email/storage server with some very old 4gb scsi seagate barracuda drives. I had 5 of those drives all crammed into an old full tower AT case. It ran great, but didn't sound great. Those dayam drives along with some very old 120mm fans all sounded like a jet engine. Can you imagine that in a small studio. LOL!

[rrussell]

Ok, I get it. That does seem like a pretty neat solution!

[heffe2001]

That old machine has some SCSI's in it now (like 4.5g or something like that), but they'd be pulled for BIG ide's...

I also may go Gigabit on my core network for the Sage stuff, and 100mb to my clients. Gig between the Sage server & storage server would cut out any bottlenecks hopefully.

I just wish those darn drives for my Poweredge weren't so expensive (it's a newer 2400 with hot-swap drives, not cheap).

Might bust open that machine and see what's inside .

[ravenray]

heffe2001, I think I know which poweredge your talking about. Took a look at ebay and there some pix you can find to know how it looks like.

[heffe2001]

I know the inside of my Poweredge very well . I was more talking about the little 450 that I have hiding out in my closet...