Dropped frames on Xserve RAID upgraded w/750GB drives.

I'm capturing in 10-bit uncompressed standard definition 720x480. I just upgraded one side of my Apple XRAID, (connected directly via fibre channel) with seven, 750GB hard drives from Apple, drives designed for the XRAID, (came with there own sleds.)
Current Xserve RAID firmware version is at version 1.5.1/1.51c
Before the upgraded drives, no issues with dropped frames, (drives 1-7) the other side of the same RAID has no problems, (currently running 250GB drives, drives 8-14.) All sleds are populated with drives of the same capacity, (respective to each side.)
The drives were formated using the Xserve RAID Admin software and mounted using Apples Disk Utilities, Journaling turned off. The final formated capacity of the RAID on drives 1-7 is 4.1TB.
When I capture to the drives on the upgrade side, I get dropped frames. When capturing to the other side, no issues, works great. I checked the settings for performance and they are the same for both sides, as follows:
Use Controller Write Cashe - ON
Allow Host Cashe Flushing - OFF
Use Drive Write Cashe - ON
Use Steady Streaming Mode - OFF
Read Prefetch: 128 stripes (8 MB/disk)
My capture box is an AJA I/o and has never given me dropped frames till now, but only on the side of the RAID that has the new 750GB drives. I also have another RAID that uses 500GB drives on both sides and it work just fine as well, (no dropped frames) using the same performance settings in XRAID utilities.
Any suggestion on why these new Apple drives modules are dropping frame would be very much appreciate. Again 7 new 750GB drives from Apple w/sleds having dropped frame issues.

I'm capturing in 10-bit to avoid loss of quality from analog sources like BetaCam SP as well as line 21 must be part of the captured file, because it contains line 21 for captioning. Eight bit has a banding issue that I can't have in the final product and 10-bit doesn't have this issue.
Source quality is maintained completely when working in 10-bit uncompressed, as well as the captioning data that I need, which is stripped out of the captured video latter. Captioning software can read line 21 of the raster area, of the captured file.
Source video is from BetaCam SP, DVC Pro and DVCam.
The RAID is an Apple Xserve RAID, connected via Fibre channel directly, (no xsan.)
I also create high quality QuickTime Streaming files from these source files, the higher the quality of the source video the the better the streaming files look when created.
I have never had any problem capturing till I installed these new drives from Apple.
The RAID is as stated above, is an Apple Xserve RAID, connect via a fibre channel card in a Mac Pro 3.0GHz tower, (no xsan is used, due to connecting directly to the XRAID.)

Similar Messages

Does the original Xserve Raid (2003) support 750Gb drives.

Is the latest firmware compatible with the original Xserve Raid, thus supporting 750Gb discs?
Thanks in advance.

Hi
Short answer is yes. Refer to this Article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1219
Tony

Dropped Frames w/Xserve RAID: Solution

We were having problems with capturing DV footage onto our new Xserve RAID and having dropped frames or even image freeze during the capture. Found some threads on the Xserve RAID forum regarding the issue and after following some of the suggestions (summed up in the article below) we can now report the problem has been solved. However, there are some reports the remedy may need to be reimplemented if the Xserve RAID is powered down. But I hope this helps those out there experiencing similar problems between FCP and Xserve RAID.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302780

every night I shut down my xraid unless it's rendering or copy ing. I use raid admin to shut it down. Every morning I start the array from the button on the back, boot the G5, and launch raid admin and uncheck "allow host cache flushing" It's like brushing your teeth and having a shower tho those personal habits don't have to follow the same order

Final cut drop frame at xraid ( raid 5) with cinewave

Hi All , I Have G5 with Mac os 10.4 with cinewave A/D pro Ver 4.7 .. the problem is i get drop frame when capture to Xraid 7 X500GB ( Raid 5 )..i try to capture to another xraid 7X500GB ( Raid 0 ) without any drop frame..
i ask if cinewave 4.7 can work with Macosx 10.4.6 or not
any one can help me to use raid 5 with cinewave 4.7 without drop frame ????
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

We gave up on our cinewave card a couple of years ago. You might like to try this forum - they may be able to help.
http://webboard.pinnaclesys.com/read_forums.asp?WebboardID=14&SectionID=19&lng=1
Good Luck

"Dropped Frames" error when capturing to Drobo external drive

Hi, I am looking to buy another external hard drive for video editing with Final Cut (as my scratch disk). I had purchased a Drobo because of the data redundancy and ease of use, but it's definitely NOT an editing drive - way too slow, I can't even capture video to it without getting "dropped frames" errors (even w/Firewire 800). And after searching these forums, I've read that others have experienced the same problems and that in the end it turns out that the Drobo is not an editing drive. Jeez, that was an expensive learning experience.
Soooooo I'm not very knowledgeable on hard drives, RAID, etc... but I would like to buy something that has redundancy (would that be RAID??) but is absolutely HAS to be something I can capture video and edit on. I know some people have bought 2 drives, one for editing and one for backup, but I know I'd forget to back it up every time and it seems like a bit of a hassle. Just thinking there's got to be an easier way that's hopefully not too expensive.
Are there any editors here who can point me to specific hard drive models or tell me exactly what I need to look for in a drive? I believe OWC (http://eshop.macsales.com/) probably has what I need, I just don't know what it is I need to get since I'm hard drive ********. Any advise would be appreciated!

Thank you Shane. Wow, didn't realize how expensive that would be. Not an option for me at the moment then.
That said, is there another hard drive (non-RAID) that is good for editing? For instance, could I use a Western Digital MyBook (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000VZCEU8/ref=ordcartshr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance) to do my editing and then have another one for backup? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I understand and get this right!
Thanks

Xserve RAID all 14 hard drive lights yellow

Hey guys,
I just bought a used Xserve RAID to go with my Xserve G5 cluster node. All 14 of the hard drive lights are yellow. Any one have any idea what's going on? Previously, most of them were green with a few yellows. After restarting the Xserve RAID they are now all yellow.

Hey zacharyziegler,
The Yellow status light usually means the Lock is engaged. For more information, see the following User Guide (pg 46):
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/XserveRAID_UserGuide.PDF
Thanks,
Matt M.

Xserve Raid Not Showing all Drives Empty - No Green Lights on Xserve Raid Drives

I have an Xserve Raid. I recently set it up with my Xserve server with fiber cables and now when the Xserve Raid system boots and starts all the drives show as empty in the Raid monitor. Not sure if I have something configured wrong and I think I shut it down incorrectly before I got it hooked up right. When I first got it I was able to see the lights on all the drives but now it boots but no drives show up at all. I have fiber cables to the host Xserve machine and the Xserve Raid plugged into the network with only 1x ethernet cables (not 2 if that makes a difference). When I try to manage the Xserve Raid all drives show as empty even though all the 500GB drives are plugged in. Not seeing any green lights when the Xserve raid boots indicates something is up. I reset the controller cards to stock with the paper clip to factory settings. Does anyone have any ideas on what to try. Anyone have this issue? I haven't found any discussions except one that had a single side of drives go down because of a bad controller card. My Xserve Raid shows no drives at all. Any help is appreciated.

Expansion is a 2 step process: First, you expand the array. Second, you merge the slices. The documentation is clear on step #2, but the GUI doesn't FORCE you to do it. However, it is necessary.
If you did both steps, try rebooting your host and see if it picks up the changed size. It does work... the usual issue though is growing the file system to recognize the additional size. On Linux, I can't help you.

Can you combine the two sides of an Xserve RAID into a single drive?

I am looking to combine my Xserve sides into a single drive so that it will be more efficient for storing beyond hi-def video. I have an Xserve RAID with 14x750GB drives which format in RAID5 down to 4.09TB per side. I want to create a singe 8.18TB drive from these.
Is there an easy way to do it?

Thanks for the info William, I did backup a few important files before this happened, but I would like to get to a few more.
It happened when our IT guy was showing me how to create a new RAID set. He created a set while explaining a few things, then selected the new one he made, and deleted it. Right then, both sets disappeared and were deleted, the empty one he made, and the one we needed. I was watching him, and he didn't select both, just the empty one he'd made. So, I was hoping that there would be a work around just so that I could maybe use a data rescue utility to possibly pair the 2 together long enough for me to back up some files.
If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.
thank you.

Dropped frames after upgrade to FCS2

Hi all,
Were getting dropped frames on capture since upgrading a system from 5.1.4 to fcp6 (FCS2)
System is MacPro with all updates installed. Raid is capable of 400MBs.
Prior to upgrade we captured 720P60 10bit uncompressed fine
Also playback of 2 layers in timeline with animated transparency on Trk2 was realtime, no dropped frames.
After upgradeto fcs2 + ATI1900XT + upgrade to Blackmagic driver 6.2
Capture of 720P60 8/10 bit FCP6 reports dropped frames after between 2>3 mins of capture on the fly from a non-contolable device.
Playback of a single stream is fine but if I add a track and lower the transparency FCP6 reports disk speed is to low to playback 2 streams.
The raid is osx extended. We did have it journaled even though we erased using just osx extended :-/ so re-formatted again and this time it stuck on just osx-extended.
I've set privacy on the raid for spotlight though did not do this before when it was working fine.
aja and blackmagic speed tests are reporting same speeds for the raid as prior to upgrade. 450MBs read 390MBs write.
We have a few external disks osx clones with old setup fcp5.1.4 on etc so will statup from one and see if this goes away.
Anyone else having capture playback framerate issues since upgrade?
Cheers
S

This gets harder to understand!..
So I re-boot off the internal with FCS2 and BM6.2 drivers on.
Open the projects. Add a clip to trk1.. add a clip above in trk2, animate transparency.. thinking yep.. will bomb out... nope.. now it plays fine as before!..
So between booting off another OSX drive with FCP 5.1.4 and BM6.1
Reboot off OSX drive with FCP6 and BM6.2 driver something changed :-/

MAC PRO KONA 3 External SATA dropped frames

Recently our company upgraded to KONA3 card with the new MAC PRO. We were not aware our External SATA drives would not be 100% compaditable with the MAC PRO. The drives do mount and seem to work fine in Standard Def and compressed HD, but start to drop frames when dealing with Uncompress capturing. Spoke with AJA and was referred to use Fibre or SCSI based on the LH FAQ portion of their site.
We've installed a temp Fibre Channel Drives and set the card on port 4, with the KONA3 card on Port 3. Do note the drives are RAID 0.
Still having dropped frames when capturing Uncompress HD to the drives.
My questions are:
1) Why does the MAC PRO not support External SATA?
2) Any ideas to contribute to my Fibre issues?
3) What type of other storage solution has been proven to work?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank You All For Your Professional Experience
Marcus
MAC PRO 2.66 Dual Core Intel
2GB of RAM
3.2 TB of EXTERNAL SATA (from Promax)
500GB FIBRE CHANNLE
OS 10.4.8
KONA 3 Drivers vs3.3
FCP 5.1.2
MAC PRO Mac OS X (10.4.8) KONA3; External SATA

My questions are:
1) Why does the MAC PRO not support External SATA?
The only Mac Pro compatible External SATA drive is from CalDigit. This has been proved by people in Barefeats and Creativecow. More and more people are using CalDigit S2VR HD and their FASTA-4e card to do the editing.
3) What type of other storage solution has been proven to work?
S2VR HD has been provedn to work and work very well with great price. Many people are raving about CalDigit's products and its support.
http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/newreadpost.cgi?forumid=98&postid=862284
http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/newreadpost.cgi?forumid=98&postid=862289
http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/newreadpost.cgi?forumid=98&postid=862301
http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/newreadpost.cgi?forumid=8&postid=917131
Power G5 Quad and Intel Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Advice on Xserve Raid

I need advice please. I want to buy the following second hand. is this a worthwhile buy or is it an old model of Xserve RAID? Can 400GB HDs be put in in place of the 250 GB?
Xserve RAID Chassis
14x250GB Hard Drives
2 SFP Controllers w/ 512MB Cache ea
2 Battery Cache Modules
2 Power Supplies
2 Cooling Modules
Rail Kit
2 Apple AC Power Cables
The owner will also throw in the PCI SFP card (pulled from the Xserve that ran this array) and SFP cables.
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

The Xserve RAIDs haven't changed physically since they were upgraded from the 180 GB drives (which used an HSSDC2 connector instead of the SFP connector that the current ones use).
You can use larger modules (up to 500 GB) but if you want full functionality (i.e. notification of drive failures) and optimal performance you need to purchase full Apple Drive Modules. Removing the 250's from the modules and replacing them with your own drives may give up some functionality, and it will certainly void the warranty on those drives. To use drives larger than 250 GB, you need to ensure you're on the latest firmware version -- 1.5 as of this note. You can check the firmware version using the RAID admin application.
As far as the 250's... in general the drives are probably good for about 3 years of 24x7 use. So that's about 26,000 hours. In RAID Admin, with the 1.5 firmware, you can check the power on hours of each drive. So I'd advise checking this, and based on the number, decide whether you want to upgrade, depending on whether you really need more capacity than the 2.8 TB usable that 14x250 will give you in a RAID 50 configuration.

Does Xserve Raid 3.5 TB supports HD uncompress?

Does exist any configuration for Xserve Raid 3.5TB 7 drives, that supports HD Uncompress 720p 10 bit video formats?
Will I get that only with 14 drives?
Can I get that with 8 drives? 4 drives in each controller.
Thanks
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) Final Cut Pro 5.1.1, Aja Kona LH

What's the data rate -- how many frames per second?
A common list is on the Xsan page:
http://www.apple.com/xsan/videoworkflow.html
I'd say if you're at 24 or 30 FPS:
720p 24fps 46MBps
720p 30fps 50MBps
You would be okay with 7 drives in half an Xserve RAID. If you need more than that, you'd need 14 drives.
If you're doing 1080i uncompressed, definitely you need all 14 drives striped in a RAID 50.

Good article from Tom Yager on Xserve RAID drives

Since "Why is an Apple module more expensive than a drive I can buy at CompUSA?" is a very common question here, this is good background:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisemac/archives/2007/02/applesxserver.html

Also are there any issues with upgrading to 750GB drives?
In addition to the drives, you'll also need to upgrade the firmware on the RAID. If you're running the same firmware as when you bought the unit then it'll only support drives up to the then-current maximum - in this case it sounds like 250GB.
Installing the latest firmware will give you support for larger drives.

Troubleshooting dropped frames on playback FCP 5, Tiger G5

for some reason i keep getting dropped frames on playback after upgrading everything to tiger and fcp 5...
i'm working off of a lacie d2 firewire 800 drive on a dual 2.0 G5 with 2.5 GB of RAM..
even when i change the playback settings to dynamic or even medium and half resolution ... i still get dropped frames during effects like variable time.
has anybody else had this problem? perhaps i'm missing some optimization i should have done in tiger??
any suggestions?
thanks.

thought i'd post some of what i found out...
1) turning off my airport card has seemed to help a bit
-perhaps because dashbord is always running in the background (is there a way to disable this?)
2) turning off adobe version cue also seemed to help

Drop frames capture

i have a macpro 2.0 xeon 3 gb ram and the last final cut and quicktime. during the capture i have drop frames (i trying to edit a concert with multicam 4 cameras) importing from a dvcam deck i have drop frames, from a samsung minidv i have drop frames, i am using a internal SATA drive for scratch only for fcp. what's wrong?
(with a old vaio with vista and vegas 8 i have made a cature 4 hours of video entire tape at once to internal hd and edit of multicam with no problems....this is ridiculous....)

Don't know how new you are to FCP so have a look first at one of Shanes Stock Answers
Shane's Stock Answer #12: Dropped frames on capture/playback
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58640
1) Do not capture to your main system drive. Since it is busy reading the operating system and application files, it will intermittently drop frames during capture. Capture to a separate internal drive, or external hard drive (firewire and eSATA for example).
2) Deactivate any anti-virus/filesaver software, including Norton and Virex. For some reason these programs think that the large files created when you capture media are in fact caused by some sort of virus, and they try to prevent this.
3) Check the format of the drive you are capturing to. It should be Mac OS Extended, journaling off. If it isn't, copy your files from it and re-initialize it. If it is any other format, you will encounter problems. If not at first, then eventually.
4) Trash the FCP preference files. Use FCP Rescue available here:
http://www.fcprescue.com
5) Make sure that the hard drives you are capturing to are fast enough to handle the footage being captured to it. A regular firewire 400 drive cannot capture uncompressed HD, or even uncompressed standard definition. A RAID array of drives might be in order for these formats.

Dropped frames on Xserve RAID upgraded w/750GB drives.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for