Looking For Affordable External Storage Array

Hi All,
I'm playing around with the idea of adding a ton of storage to our G4 Powermac running 10.4.x Tiger Server and the xServe RAID seems like a really attractive option but the current price seems a little high for our smaller operation.
I'm wondering if there are any sys admins out there that have successfully got an external RAID (from another vendor) running RAID 5 working with their OS X Server systems on the cheap? Let's say $2k - $4500 for 3TB+? Am I crazy?

How much disk storage do you need for your applications? 3TB? That's three or four disk spindles. More, if you want RAID.
How much I/O bandwidth do you need?
Connectivity?
The FC SAN storage provided by Xserve RAID is more expensive than a rack of SCSI disks and an UltraSCSI PCI controller, which is more expensive than a pile of USB disks, etc. Somewhere in there you'll find various network-attached storage (NAS) options. FC SAN is more flexible and expandable, and rather speedy.
If you're just looking to add a few terabytes to a single box, a FireWire or USB solution might work. There are some discussions here from recent times -- search for "Drobo" and you'll find one of my postings in the thread -- or you might look to stuff 2.4 TB into an Xserve, for instance, and retire your G4 as a server. Or configure an Xserve and a rack of SCSI disks, and off you go.
Low-end external storage boxes are running about US$1000 per terabyte, and less.
BTW: RAID-5 is comparatively hazardous due to its window of vulnerability during recovery (and a number of sites have encountered failures due to recovery-level I/O), and comparatively slow due to its massive I/O hit during recovery. Start here for some details on disk failures and pointers to technical papers from CMU and Google:
http://64.223.189.234/node/353
http://64.223.189.234/node/410
But allow us to start the discussion with an idea of how much storage you need for your applications, how fast does your I/O need to go, do you need multiple hosts? (And the old mantra -- cheap, fast or good: pick two -- holds with storage, too.)

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Initially, you asked if you can hardwire your MBA to the TC. The answer is yes, by using the optional USB Ethernet adapter that Apple provides. However, in order for your MBA to access the TC's internal or USB-attached HDD, it would need to establish a network connection to it. This would be true of any NAS device on an Ethernet network. Therein, lies the problem. Your MBA cannot connect to two networks simultaneously.
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Not your quiet storage, but then I would put it in a cool closet or small room off to the side :-)
http://www.macgurus.com/store/Item/ARC8050 ( I was assuming but maybe not, that it would support RAID6 which is always preferable for larger arrays. Seems to have most features you want for 8 drives). MacGurus "Burly" are never quiet but they are rugged and well tested.
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OWC for Thunderbolt products.
Helios enclosure (the new dual-slot Helios PCIe chassis)
… moving various hard drives into Thunderbolt cases
USB3 hard drive enclosure.
For those without eSATA enclosures, a simple eSATA to USB3 adapter might do the trick.
USB3 is plenty fast to house two hard drives.
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual.
Available now starting at about $430.
review of the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual.
Some upcoming new TB2 enclosures:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/thunderbolt/index.html
http://gigaom.com/2013/12/21/the-technology-gap-between-the-old-and-new-mac-pro- could-cost-you-a-mini/

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1) is Mac-friendly
98% of the drives meet this criteria
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If you are using typical DV cameras you don't need striped RAID to capture the video or edit it either. And striped means you lose one drive you lose two drives worth of data.
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Updated the BIOS.
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Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi, Buggy
After doing a bit of research. It seems your not the only one with this issue. WD has had this issue with even Windows 7 since 2012 with other Passport models.
I honestly recommend seeking support with WD about this issue if you have not done so already as the ones who where able to fix this issue did so with updated drivers from WD.
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Unrelated, but I just saw the CEO of Seagate talk about backing up from "an internet or an iTunes". Internet gold found at:
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Thanks in advance for any advice.
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IMHO WD exteral HD's have the highest failure rate, the drives themselves are fine it is the enclosures WD uses. Many experienced users on these forums (including myself) only use OWC Mercury Elite Pro series. Extremely high quality and reasonable pricing. You can find them by clicking Here .

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have tried memorex, staples brand dvd's.
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Looking For Affordable External Storage Array

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