Best External Sata Setup - HELP

Okay... I know there's already a lot of discussion around external SATA setups... My head is spinning. Just looking for some basic recommendations for people who have done this.
I'm looking for a case that will hold up to 4 drives... I will probably only use 2 at first, but want the ability to scale. What is the best sata case and controller card? Are some Cases/Controllers better than others?
I'm editing HD 720P-30 video on a Powermac G5. (dual 2.5)
I was looking at the Tempo-x 8 card
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempo-x_esata8.html
I'm definately open to any suggestions. I'm trying to stay around $1000 for the initial 1TB setup.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Too many good ones:
Firmtek makes one:
http://barefeats.com/hard58.html
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/
Weiebetech:
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/silversata.php
Even Sonnet Tech:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fusion.html
Shane

Similar Messages

Best external drive setup?

I guess I can't be called 'new' to Macs, I've had the mini since May of 2005, but I would like to know what you would recommend in terms of external drive setup.
As I began to fill the 80 gb internal, I added a FW 250gb external. It's not full (about 90gb free and 20 gb free internal), but I have virtually all my video and photographs on the external...and it makes me nervous.
So, I saw a Lacie 320gb for under $100 and decided to get it. Originally I thought, even though it is USB 2 only, that I could set it up as a bootable drive, like I could w/ the FW drive...but I don't think I can do that.
Now, I wonder if it is best to leave it as MS-DOS, or should I format this as Mac OS extended? what are the benefits?
Should I move everything from the FW to the USB? and then reformat the FW?
thanks
ultimately, my goal is to use one external as the location for my working files, and the other as a backup...is there a better way?

Thanks Gordon,
In terms of speed, I still feel the FW drive will be slightly faster than the USB 2 drive, so I plan to use that drive for the work drive and the 320 to backup to.
My internal is an 80gb...and I have only 19-21 free at any given time. Over 25 gb is in my photos and another 10 in Music. I think now that I have the 2 externals, I can use those for photos only and clear the internal.
The dilemna is my internal drive is silent...both externals are noticeable when spun up...so I let them sleep after when not in use.
I have SilverKeeper from LaCie for backup...so I'll use that for now.
thanks again.

External Monitor Setup Help

I was wondering if anyone knew a way that I could connect my laptop to another monitor, and then connect the laptop to my Macbook Pro, and use both the laptop's monitor, and the monitor it's connected to, as external monitors. I was also thinking I could possibly throw in my 2nd Gen iPod Touch and my iPad as even more visual space. This would be an amazing setup and a huge accomplishment for me, and I could amaze everyone I know when they come over. Just in case it's useful, the Macbook Pro is a (I think it's refurbished) 2007 version. If anyone needs more info about ANYTHING, I will gladly provide it.

Never mind. I posted this on another website and got a little bit of help from there, but I did most of it on my own. I'm using ScreenRecycler trial version (NEVER BUY IT, THERES NO POINT) to connect to my Macbook Pro to my laptop, iPad, or iPod touch, whichever I choose. I can only do one at a time and I didn't have to spend any money at all! I can also connect my laptop to my monitor or TV and add another screen into the play! The only downside is that the TV stays as Windows while the laptop is connected with my Mac, unless I drag the window to the TV and then the laptop stays as windows. It's almost like having 2 Macs and 1 PC! Thanks to anyone who even considered helping me.
arecusrulz

915P Neo2 Platinum (V1.0B) and SATA setup HELP !!

Hi,
Can any one help me with the BIOS settings for my SATA HDD on an 915P Neo2 Platinum motherboard ?
Configuration:
- Antec Sonata II 450 Watt
- Intel Pentium 4 630, Socket 775
- Corsair ValueSelect DDR2 SDRAM, 1 GB, PC4300, 533 MHz
- 915P Neo2 Platinum (V1.0B)
- 2x NEC ND-4550 16 connected to EDI 1
- 1x Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 250 GB, 7.200 rpm, 16 MB, SATA/150 connected to SATA_1
I have tested with the following settings:
1)
   ATA/IDE Configuration [Enhanced]
   Configure SATA as [IDE]
Result:
   Can't format with Windows Setup CD (sp2)
   If it formatted with 3rd party utils, then performance of the system is very poor.
Thanks in advance !

Hi, I suggest you to set the ATA/IDE config as Legacy and check that all your HDDs are detected, if not all, at least your HDD and optical drive. Then continue with the installation. After WinXP installation settled down, then go back to the BIOS and switch to Enhanced again, and then continue boot up to windows and install Intel INF.

Whats the best external drive setup for FCP and accompanying software?

With all the external Hard Drives out there I am hoping that other users could suggest the best options when setting up FCP to work with an external drive. I am working with both SD and HD and am planning to use DVD Studio, Soundtrack Pro along with Motion and AE.
With all the info out there claiming to be the 'best' it gets a little confusing. I bought a 2T WD HD with Firewire 400, 800 and eSATA connections. With the amount of footage I have to capture this wont last long. And the intention is to archive this footage and making it easy to access in a year or two.
Which is best type of connection? Firewire 800 or eSata? Any Suggestions as to a really good external hard drive set up that I can add to as finances allow?

Not quite sure what this question has to do with Qmaster, but what the heck.
The simple response is get the fastest and biggest external you can. If you are getting a drive mechanism without swappable disks, purchase 2 mechanisms - 1 for use when editing and the second for backing up. Purchase a 3rd drive to back up your system drive.
If you go the swapable drive bay route, you'll pay more for the mechanism but you'll recoup the cost as you can purchase additional bare drives for a fraction of the cost of another whole mechanism.
The fastest connection speed is esata then FW800 then FW400. USB is not appropriate to editing video (but can be used for simple backups).
If you have the resources, something like a Caldigit HDOne is a high performer. If that's out of your range, look into their VR line or something from MacBurley. Granite Digitial also makes good basic devices.
Have fun.
x

Can't mount my external SATA drives - help please

I have two SATA II drives taken from my now, knackered, PC and I want to mount them from my Macbook Pro. I have a the Sonnet Tempo eSATA card which has two sockets and I have connected that to Sharkoon SATA Quickport Duo which allows me to physically connect to the two drives. I don't need write access, just read access. However, when MacOS goes to mount the drives it tells me "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and presents me with three options "Initialize...", "Ignore" and "Eject".
When the drives were installed in the PC they were configured for RAID 0. I have a suspicion that this is what's causing the problem. Can someone please help me with getting these mounted? Do I need some special software? Am I missing something?
Thanks all

Seems like I'm on my own with this one then.

Promise Not seeing external sata HD help!

okay i just got a fancy new sata external drive. Hooked it up to the promise sata and enabled it in the bios (Sata, not raid) and reboot, and then i does its checking think, and it take like two minutes, then this message comes up
BIOS is not installed, then boots my raid on the other VIA sata controller.
what am i doing wrong? P.S. USB 2.0 works great with the drive.
thanks.

"Not having the device you are using, I am wondering why you have USB and a PCI card. Any USB devices I have (smartcards, PDAs, etc) all show in My computer as drives. Is your disk shown in Device Manager, you may have to use Hardware Wizard, to install new devi"
nono, i have all of this connect to onboard usb and sata stuff.
My external drive has SATA and USB2. When i connect with the USB2 it works great. When i connect the SATA on boot, the Promise controll take about 30 or 40 seconds to finially tell me "BIOS not installed"
then when windows boots (the screen that says windows home and has the gay progress bar) it frezes when it fades in for about 30-40 seconds, and then finally after i log in to winidows and everthing is loaded up, it freezes again for about 30-40 seconds, and after all of this it still doesnot recognize my drive.
if i have my drive is turned off all of the 30-40 second freezes stop.
Promise controller is said to functioning properly by windows device manager.

External Drumkit setup help

Hi,
I have an Alesis DM5pro drum kit and was thinking about getting Logic Pro (or Express if it works) to use with it. Can someone tell me how to get the the drum kit to work with Logic? I'm a fish-out-of-water with this audio stuff. Thanks for any help you can offer.
-anthony

Never mind. I posted this on another website and got a little bit of help from there, but I did most of it on my own. I'm using ScreenRecycler trial version (NEVER BUY IT, THERES NO POINT) to connect to my Macbook Pro to my laptop, iPad, or iPod touch, whichever I choose. I can only do one at a time and I didn't have to spend any money at all! I can also connect my laptop to my monitor or TV and add another screen into the play! The only downside is that the TV stays as Windows while the laptop is connected with my Mac, unless I drag the window to the TV and then the laptop stays as windows. It's almost like having 2 Macs and 1 PC! Thanks to anyone who even considered helping me.
arecusrulz

Hello! Help please! Best external hard drive preferably 1TB for macbook pro 2011. thank you!!!

Hello! Help please! Best external hard drive preferably 1TB for macbook pro 2011. thank you!!!

You can pickup any 1TB USB powered drive for about $100 at just about any local office supply store.
It comes formatted FAT32 (MSDOS) for reading by OS X and Windows PC's.
However if your files sizes are going to be larger than 4GB in size (like video tends to be) then your going to need to select the drive in OS X's Disk utility (in the Applicaitons > Utilities folder) and format the drive exFAT instead.
exFAT is a drive format that 10.6.5 and later Mac's, Windows Vista and 7 machines can read just fine. XP machines need a free exFAT drive install from Microsoft.
Do backup the 1TB to another 1TB drive using Carbon Copy Cloner or another backkup utility because 1TB is a lot of data to lose on a $100 drive.
I don't advise the "port powered" USB drive as these tend to have power issues and with 1TB of data on it, very risky. Use a powered drive if you can all help it.

Help: External SATA with ZFS raidz2 extremely slow, freezes system

Hello,
I need some help with the following configuration:
Dell 850 with Intel D940 (3.2 ghz dual core), 1 gig RAM, 2 80 gig SATA drives
Norco DS-1220 external SATA enclosure
(http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=12&modelno=ds1220)
Sil3124 4-port SATA card
(http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=8&modelno=norco-4618)
8 seagate 7200.10 500 gb sata2 drives
I'm using Solaris 10 x86 u3. It sees the sata card at c3 and the 8 disks as:
/dev/rdsk/c3t2d0p0 /dev/rdsk/c3t545d0p0 /dev/rdsk/c3t608d0p0
/dev/rdsk/c3t3d0p0 /dev/rdsk/c3t576d0p0 /dev/rdsk/c3t609d0p0
/dev/rdsk/c3t544d0p0 /dev/rdsk/c3t577d0p0
I created a raidz2 pool with all 8 drives. It appeared to work OK:
# zpool status array0
pool: array0
state: ONLINE
scrub: none requested
config:
NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM
array0 ONLINE 0 0 0
raidz2 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t2d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t3d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t544d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t545d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t576d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t577d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t608d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
c3t609d0p0 ONLINE 0 0 0
errors: No known data errors
As a quick and dirty test, I did:
time cp -d -r /usr /export/array0/
The /usr partition is about 2.7 gb. So far, after about 2 hours, 680 mb have been copied.
Looking at iostat, I see the following:
# iostat -x -C
extended device statistics
device r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv svc_t %w %b
c0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
c3 0.5 11.7 23.4 108.3 2.0 0.4 203.6 0 44
sd1 0.1 1.2 3.4 13.6 0.2 0.1 180.3 1 6
sd2 0.1 1.4 3.0 13.6 0.2 0.1 194.4 2 7
sd3 0.1 1.3 3.3 13.6 0.3 0.1 242.3 4 7
sd4 0.1 1.5 2.8 13.4 0.3 0.1 266.9 3 9
sd5 0.1 1.4 2.5 13.5 0.2 0.0 187.1 1 3
sd6 0.1 1.6 2.6 13.3 0.4 0.1 300.7 3 10
sd7 0.1 1.6 3.0 13.7 0.2 0.0 99.5 0 0
sd8 0.1 1.6 2.8 13.5 0.2 0.0 152.7 1 1
cmdk0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4 0 0
cmdk1 12.6 1.4 74.6 16.1 0.1 0.0 5.8 0 2
nfs1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
When I run it with updates, I see a lot of screens like this:
extended device statistics
device r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv svc_t %w %b
c0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
c3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0 100
sd1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0 100
sd4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
cmdk0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
cmdk1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
nfs1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
The drive with 100 moves between sd1 to sd6 (i think sd7 and sd8 too, but not positive). Sometimes both %w and %b report 100. Also, occasionally, two drives will both report 100. These stay at 100 for 30 seconds or longer, followed by a flurry of data, and then another drive reports 100.
Here's another example:
extended device statistics
device r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv svc_t %w %b
c0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
c3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 0.0 0 200
sd1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0 100
sd2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0 100
sd4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
sd8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
cmdk0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
cmdk1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
nfs1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Or if this is a known SATA problem? Or a known problem with the Sil3214 cards or the Sil port multipliers?
Thanks,
Greg

I was told the port multiplier code in the Solaris and OpenSolaris systems is not production ready. It is a known bug and is being worked on, but no ETA. I was given the impression that it was a low priority issue.
After struggling with this for several days I had to give up using Solaris for this project and had to migrate to Linux. In my case, I had to use CentOS or Red Hat ES due to binary drivers from Silicon Image as the open source Sil3124 drivers in Linux also had problems with port multipliers (slightly different symptoms than Solaris). Even with the binary drivers from the vendor, I am still seeing port multipliers drop all 5 drives at seemingly random times.
Moral of the story: Don't use port multipliers in production environments or anywhere that you value your data. At least, not the Silicon Image 3726 port multipliers. They'll just give you more headaches than they are worth.
Had I the chance to do it over, I would not have purchased the NorcoTek (Norco) DS-1220 enclosure; I would have done something with SCSI or with direct channels to all drives and no port multipliers. One day they'll probably be OK.
I had wanted to use raidz2 for my array. When I switched to Linux I used raid6 (double parity, similar to raidz2), but with the port multipliers dropping 5 drives at a time, I had to reconfigure to raid 1+0. Nice performance, but I'm really annoyed at the loss of capacity. My 5 tb array is now 3 tb.

External SATA drive setup

Just ordered a G-Tech external SATA with a PCI card:
G-SATA - 500GB 2-drive external SATA with cooling.
Any warnings, suggestions, formatting issues?
While I am here...any suggestions on scratch disc assignment
for this set up:
- 2 internal SATA (the original plus the Maxtor)
- 2 external firewire 800s
- (and soon) the g-tech external SATA

Verify the new disk is formatted Mac OS Extended. Journalling can be either on or off. It doesn't seem to matter with the faster drives.
Working media and render files should be on either your second internal disk or the new sata disk(s). Everything else should be distributed as your personal whims dictate.
cherrios,
∏

External SATA recommendations

All,
Can anyone recommend an external SATA solution for my Powermac G5? I have a card with external ports, but I need advice on the following:
1. Decent enclosure that will allow spindown of disks
2. Cables
3. Disks
The other option would be for a NAS solution, but I don't believe that would be suitable for photography or video editing, but I guess it would be ok for archival storage ?
I'm preferably looking for gear available in the UK and known to work with the G5... Ever since finding out that a WD400GB disk was going to cost me an additional SATA controller, I've been a lot more cautious about this kind of thing

Wayne,
Your shopping in the same area i have been exploring recently. I'm looking for much more storage, possible with RAID AND backup options. I use Aperture extensively - as extensively as the hopeless and unapgradeable 6600 nVida video card allows. I also have a large itunes collection and do video creation on FC. I need more spindles!
I've settled on the Sonnet E4p PCIe card for my quad offering 4 external SATA ports, and it also support Port Multiplication (PM). PM is a means of clustering bunches of drives physically and connect them to one eSATA port. This particular card £200, supports up to x5 SATA drives per port, thus 20 external drives. However PM is slightly slower than direct connect to each drive. My view is that PM, possibly with RAID within it will be fast enough AND give me a backup option.
After the I/O card there is the choice of enclosure. I have done a lot of reading on what is out there and again i'm falling back to one of two Sonnet products, the 400A and 500P. The former offers x4 SATA drives and supports direct connect to each drive which would make a screaming I/O sub-system. However i also want lots of on-line data capability so speed is not the only priority. This moves me to the 500P enclosure, a x5 SATA PM-only setup. It allows sleep, drive temp monitoring and S.M.A.R.T. What i like about this is i can run a 2-3 drives of 4-500GB SATAII in a fast RAID leaving 3-2 drives for rolling (daily) and (weekly) backup processes as well as one left for x. All within one enclosure. And i still have three eSATA ports to expand on !
AMUG has some good detailed reviews of this and similar equipment:
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/home_frame.html
I've not settled on software to run my backups yet, but the above represents my theoritical approach for on-line storage expansion of my Quad. What i am hesitant about is whether i will stick with my mac setup. No matter how much screaming about the lack of video upgrades from Apple, i've been totally hacked-off at the attitude of Apple towards me and others on this Aperture-critical issue. Its a long and very sad story that Apple should be ashamed of. Its 2 days short of 1 year since Apple launched the G5 quad and still they have done NOTHING grrrrrr...
PS One other useful benefit you get from the seperate SATA controller is you can choose and gain from SATA II drives. I'm looking at the WD RE2 drives, 400 or 500GB.
PPS I've been 'stalking' macheaven in the UK, they had the 500P on a ~12% discount, but missed it. Scan seems to have the best prices on drives.
Hope this helps, and appreciate the thoughts of actual eSATA users.

External backup solution - help

Hi all,
I currently have 2 x 160Gb drives in my G5. One is my boot drive, which holds everything and the other drive i clone using CCC when i feel the need to.
I have just started editing DV movies using iMovie and storage is becoming a problem. i want to purchase some new drives to sort out my system and still a backup when i want to, or use the schedule fuction in CCC.
I believe i am correct in thinking i should have one drive for my system and programs the other for my data (documents, movies folder,iTunes lib etc)?
I am thinking of buying another 2 external firewire drives or an enclosure to hold 2+ drives in. I would use one of these external drives for my raw DV and a scrach disk for PS CS.
Am i on the right lines here? What would be the best way of backing up all these drives so i can still boot if my system drive goes down and i have backups of all my data?
It seems the best solution would be to replace the 2 x internal drives with bigger ones (250Gb) then use the 2 original 160Gb drives in the external FW enclosure.
I am also thinking of upgrading to Tiger before i do this.
Any advise would be great,
Thanks.
Rob

I currently have 2 x 160Gb drives in my G5. One is my boot drive, which holds everything and the other drive i clone using CCC when i feel the need to.
Good your cloning your boot drive. The problem is your cloning to another internal drive, so your tying up a very fast interface with a clone that you hardly access. It would be best to have the clone of your boot drive on a external drive and keep it disconnected. This way if you get hacked or your machine gets fried at least a copy of your boot drive is safe.
I don't agree with partitioning a drive with apps, boot, files seperate, this was for the OS 9 days with no auto-defragmentation. Now it's a performance problem.
I keep nothing in my spare space on my boot, rather having it for expansion of the OS/apps or a temporary holding area. Running up against the limit of a partition is about the worst thing possible.
I have just started editing DV movies using iMovie and storage is becoming a problem. i want to purchase some new drives to sort out my system and still a backup when i want to, or use the schedule function in CCC.
You should check out (search Apple) for DejaVu, it's a System Preference Pane that will auto-clone and auto-backup even when your logged out. Very simple, select the folder/drive, set the time and select the destination.
I believe i am correct in thinking i should have one drive for my system and programs the other for my data (documents, movies folder,iTunes lib etc)?
Yes this is a substantial performance option, you keep a OS/boot/"bare bones" home drive (w/iTunes music) kept below 50% filled and then keep your space hogging files like documents, pictures and (especially) movies in NEW folders on the second internal drive.
This way the boot drive stays optimized, it stays below 50% filled as anything more starts to affect performance. Since iTunes constantly accesses the drive with small files in a random fashion (music shuffle), it's best to keep these files on the boot drive which the OS also accesses the drive the same way. The object is to keep the hard drives arm traveling in a small tight area. Since drives write data from the outside edges of the platters working inwards, for performance a boot drive should be comprised of a lot of little files randomly accessed.
With files drives they tend to read large data, the arm moves and the file is read in one big swoop. So one can fill these up, but still performance will start to suffer after 50%. Hard drive caches only help with writes under 16MB. Anything more than that or reads, depends upon the mechanical performance of the arm moving the heads across the platters. Which is the performance bottleneck.
Now faster spinning platters and faster moving arms do help considerably with performance. If you install a 150GB 10,000 Western Digital Raptor as a boot drive you'll see the performance difference right away.
Large 7,200 RPM drives more than 50% filled as boot drives are a performance nightmare. So many people complain their "Quad" is slow and the biggest cause is people buy these huge drives for boot, taking large storage space over performance. Apple should provide a Raptor as a boot drive as a BTO option, but of course a slower machine will make you want to upgrade sooner.
When you have your files on the file drive it can be read at the same time as the OS drive. Which adds another performance benefit.
I am thinking of buying another 2 external firewire drives or an enclosure to hold 2+ drives in. I would use one of these external drives for my raw DV and a scratch disk for PS CS.
Ok if you upgrade to CS2 the 2GB memory limit for Photoshop is overridden, so you most likely won't need a "scratch disk", work in RAM is 40% faster than a drive.
Am i on the right lines here? What would be the best way of backing up all these drives so i can still boot if my system drive goes down and i have backups of all my data?
It seems the best solution would be to replace the 2 x internal drives with bigger ones (250Gb) then use the 2 original 160Gb drives in the external FW enclosure.
Your on the right track, but a larger boot drive will slow your computers performance.
My suggestion is to do this:
1: Buy Tiger and iLife '06 (it's not included)
2: Buy a Firmteck 4 ports in/4 ports out SATA PCI card.
3: Buy a 150 GB 10,000 RPM Raptor
4: Buy a Lacie 250 GB Firewire 800/400 external drive.
5: Buy a four drive external SATA enclosure.
6: Buy 2-4 internal SATA drives for the enclosure.
C boot from the Tiger install disk and select Disk Utility>Erase w/Zero the Lacie and format HFS+ (journaled) and install Tiger on that, setup using the same name as your Panther drive. Do not use Migration Assistant!
Option boot from your Lacie/Tiger and visit all your drive makers sites and download any driver updates so Tiger will work with your other drives. Run them when you connect a drive.
Install the FirmTech card in your PCI slot. Supposedly slot 2 and 3 are shared, so perhaps you should use slot 4. This card is going to get a lot of work.
Remove your internal hard drives and install the Raptor connecting the SATA to the Firmteck internal port. This is important because WD drives have improved SATA specs and the G5's don't. Reboot from the LaCie and run Disk Utility Erase w/Zero on the Raptor. Run any Firmtec software if you need too.
Use Carbon Copy Cloner (Tiger version!) to clone your LaCie to the Raptor. Disconnect the LaCie and reboot from the Raptor and repair permissions.
Ok now your up on the Raptor, install your apps from original disks/sources, cherry pick certain apps from the Panther drive. Take this time to clean house. If you screw up, simply reverse clone from the LaCie and start over.
Replace your iTunes folder in the same exact spot (pathname) on the Tiger/Raptor drive as it was on the Panther drive. Rename the Panther drive and set the name of the Tiger/Raptor drive to the original name of the Panther drive. This way your iTunes playlists should be preserved as the playlists contain the pathnames to the songs. If not you'll have to edit your iTunes XML file with "find/replace".
Grab your Library/Mail your Library/Safari bookmarks from the Panther drive.
Once you cleaned out the Panther drive, clone the Tiger/Raptor to the LaCie for safekeeping and Erase w/Zero the Panther drive. It will now become your file drive, keep your drive hogging stuff here that you use over time.
Now onto your external enclosure, you can place the extra SATA internal drive in here, or keep it as a third clone f your boot drive.
Place what SATA drives you want into the 4 bay enclosure, connecting one drive to one port on the outside of the FirmTec card. Erase w/Zero as usual each drive.
Now you can set two identical drives in the enclosure as a RAID O set in Apple's Disk Utility, this would make a excellent "scratch disk" or "working disk" as your speed is greatly improved, especially if you use 10,000 RPM drives.
You can place a huge 7,200 RPM SATA drive in one of the enclosures drive bay for auto-backup of files from the RAID O using the DejaVu software.
RAID O (stripe) can be risky as the data path is split between each drive in the set, lose one drive and all your data on the RAID O is gone.
Don't use "mirror" (RAID 1) for backup because any corruption or accidents get immediatly written to the second drive in the mirror. Use Auto-cloning (for boot drives) or Auto-backup software instead.
So you have a lot of options, with all the drives being used and the LaCie for a clone of your boot drive for emergencies. You'll have a performance working disk if you need it, as well as all around performance of your machine for many years to come.
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/1eve4/
You can also test your drives performance (roughly) using X-Bench

Best External HDD Option

I am looking for some advice on the best external setup, speed, and capacity wise, its also important to keep in mind this is for a portable setup so I do need to be able to carry it around with me.
As far as I know the best option would be for me to buy a large capacity 10,000 RPM SATA HDD, and then purchase an Express32 Card that supports eSATA.
Is this a viable option?
I have heard that eSATA is the fastest option for data transfer, because I could always get an external enclosure that supports FireWire 800...
But as far as I know, FireWire and SATA arn't compatable, so I would have to buy a IDE hard drive, and then I'm not sure that you can even get 10,000 RPM IDE drives.
oh, the drama!
I really have my heart set on a 10,000RPM Drive.
Any advice would be most appreciated!!
-Chris

I would go for a 750GB ATA HD @ 7,200 rpm with a
firewire 800 enclosure.
As far as I know the is a compatability issue between
the SATA and Firewire Technologies.. Which basically
means you cannot get an enclosure that is firewire,
and supports SATA drives.
Mac Sales have them. I have a 2.5" 100GB SATA 7200RPM drive I've been thinking of putting in a FireWire external enclosure of theirs.
http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search.cfm?Criteria=OWCMERCURY+SATA+ENCLOSUREKITS&x=0&y=0&Manufacturer=
-Bmer
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External SATA Chassis

I've been looking around at these... they all more or less seem the same, as far as price point is concerned... does anyone have of these and how are they?
My computer is just for my personal use... I looking for a drive setup to backup my data... I'm trying to decide if I want to go SATA external or Firewire 800...
BareFeats seems to indicate that a single 800 vs a single SATA are about the same...
Is a RAID a good idea for personal use? I've got a bunch of stuff that I'd be really unhappy if I lost it... but if I have one backup drive plus the drive it's already on...
People here who use their computers for personal use... what do you use to maintain backups...
Thanks!

Let me try to be a little less rambling and disjointed here...
My G5 is for personal use only and not work... still, losing data due to a crash would be unfortunate anyway...
I'm debating a SATA chassis... they do seem expensive... I was wondering if setting up a RAID would be a worthwhile thing to do... for personal data only... from what BareFeats tests show, this is best with SATA, I believe...
Or is a single drive ok for backing stuff up, at which point the FW800 re-enters the contest... bare in mind that the drive might not just be 100% backup... I might offload data that I'm not actively using so as to maximize the availability of the internal SATA drives... at which point, the data wouldn't be backed up anyway... a RAID would solve that, right?
Message was edited by: Justin Surpless
Does anyone know if they make FW800 enclosures that can support a SATA drive? So that I'm not buying out-dated technology and also, as possibly, a bridge to the SATA chassis?

Best External Sata Setup - HELP

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