Now with a programmable LCD on the front panel for ease of RAID settings, 0 or 5
Friday, September 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Stardom SOHORAID SR4 by Ned Soltz of DV.com
Stardom SOHORAID SR4
I’ve been using this four-drive enclosure for several months with excellent results. Stardom manufactures a full line of enclosures, from 2.5” to multi-bay RAID to be used with dedicated cards. The SOHORAID SR4 is sold as a bare box that supports FireWire 800, 3G eSATA and USB 2.0. An upcoming revision will add front panel controls and USB 3.0. This makes the enclosure particularly attractive to PC users with USB 3.0 ports or Mac users with a third-party USB 3.0 card. Frankly speaking, however, USB 3.0 cards have not caught on with Mac users, and while USB 3.0 is included in the Thunderbolt spec, I do not expect widespread adoption of USB 3.0 on Macs.
The SR4 can be configured via rear panel controls for RAID 0 or RAID 5. Its onboard controller then configures the RAID virtually instantly. The board is a port-multiplier, meaning that it controls four drives and requires only one cable connection. In the case of eSATA, it is important to use an eSATA card that supports port multiplication. Virtually all current eSATA boards do these days. Note that the eSATA interface, whether a PCIe card, PC card or Express34 card, is just an interface—it has no RAID functions other than passing the data. There are many enclosures on the market. What speaks so strongly in favor of the SR4 is its solid construction, positive locking drive trays and virtually silent fan.
The SR4 is sold unpopulated. I chose to configure my unit with four Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB drives. The unit is connected to my test Mac Pro via a Sonnet E4P 4-port SATA card using a single eSATA connection. I have also tested it via FireWire 800 to both tower and notebook computers as well as via a Sonnet Qio and Sonnet Express34 card to two different MacBook Pros.
The bottom line: it works and works well. There have been no intermittent connections of power or drive interface, and I have to listen very carefully for the fan when, in moments of panic, I fear it isn’t running.
There are pros and cons to configuring your own enclosure. In my case, I like saving a little money by buying my own drives and mounting them in an enclosure. It gives me control over the drives I use, rather than depending on whatever a given vendor has. In this case, I chose not to spend the extra money for enterprise-class drives, a notion I’ll discuss in the next product. But the Caviar Blacks from WD are fast, dependable and quiet. They fit the bill. I have been using this small RAID as a backup for my eight-drive RAID for some time.
The SR4 as well as the full line of Stardom enclosures would serve you well.
SOHORAID SR4
STARDOM Storage Website
MSRP: about $400
I’ve been using this four-drive enclosure for several months with excellent results. Stardom manufactures a full line of enclosures, from 2.5” to multi-bay RAID to be used with dedicated cards. The SOHORAID SR4 is sold as a bare box that supports FireWire 800, 3G eSATA and USB 2.0. An upcoming revision will add front panel controls and USB 3.0. This makes the enclosure particularly attractive to PC users with USB 3.0 ports or Mac users with a third-party USB 3.0 card. Frankly speaking, however, USB 3.0 cards have not caught on with Mac users, and while USB 3.0 is included in the Thunderbolt spec, I do not expect widespread adoption of USB 3.0 on Macs.
The SR4 can be configured via rear panel controls for RAID 0 or RAID 5. Its onboard controller then configures the RAID virtually instantly. The board is a port-multiplier, meaning that it controls four drives and requires only one cable connection. In the case of eSATA, it is important to use an eSATA card that supports port multiplication. Virtually all current eSATA boards do these days. Note that the eSATA interface, whether a PCIe card, PC card or Express34 card, is just an interface—it has no RAID functions other than passing the data. There are many enclosures on the market. What speaks so strongly in favor of the SR4 is its solid construction, positive locking drive trays and virtually silent fan.
The SR4 is sold unpopulated. I chose to configure my unit with four Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB drives. The unit is connected to my test Mac Pro via a Sonnet E4P 4-port SATA card using a single eSATA connection. I have also tested it via FireWire 800 to both tower and notebook computers as well as via a Sonnet Qio and Sonnet Express34 card to two different MacBook Pros.
The bottom line: it works and works well. There have been no intermittent connections of power or drive interface, and I have to listen very carefully for the fan when, in moments of panic, I fear it isn’t running.
There are pros and cons to configuring your own enclosure. In my case, I like saving a little money by buying my own drives and mounting them in an enclosure. It gives me control over the drives I use, rather than depending on whatever a given vendor has. In this case, I chose not to spend the extra money for enterprise-class drives, a notion I’ll discuss in the next product. But the Caviar Blacks from WD are fast, dependable and quiet. They fit the bill. I have been using this small RAID as a backup for my eight-drive RAID for some time.
The SR4 as well as the full line of Stardom enclosures would serve you well.
SOHORAID SR4
STARDOM Storage Website
MSRP: about $400
Monday, June 27, 2011
STARDOM Storage Solutions: Just a few thoughts after bringing our 2 Stardom S...
STARDOM Storage Solutions: Just a few thoughts after bringing our 2 Stardom S...: "Just a few thoughts after bringing our 2 Stardom ST8-2SP's online From: http://www.polarartproductions.com/ No one intends to have a ha..."
Just a few thoughts after bringing our 2 Stardom ST8-2SP's online
Just a few thoughts after bringing our 2 Stardom ST8-2SP's online
From: http://www.polarartproductions.com/
No one intends to have a hard drive nightmare when they start out, but in the old model as it existed, it was destined to happen ... buy a 500gig, fill it up .... buy a one TB, fill that up, again and again. Multiply this by years of work, an ever growing library, and then add RED 4.5K to the mix with the EPIC close at hand, it has become a near disaster in organizational terms, and a complete C... F... when it comes to external power supplies and pigtails for each drive unit. For a small independent, where a server or large raid capacity was beyond the budget, the only realistic choice was to keep buying hard drives/enclosures ... until now.
The Stardom ST8-S2P's bring a revolution to the requirements of media storage, organization and efficiency for a small independent production company such as ours. In terms of flexibility, space, cost, ease of use and execution with our MAC based edit suite, I can confidently speak to the ST8-S2P as being the most important and necessary step forward in embracing a future of independent digital cinema production. First and foremost, the ST8-S2P mounts so quickly and reliably I'm beginning to enjoy starting up the edit bay .... soon the apprehension, the dead empty feeling that comes when .... the drive won't mount ... file not recognized .... (sorry, I can't continue, you get the point), will fade to distant memory.
Of all the drive failures I've experienced, only one was an actual drive failure. Most failures are drive controller related, a corrupted Directory/File Structure resulting in the entire body of data rendered inaccessible. Nothing against Disc Warrior and whatever .... I'd rather not have to know they exist. The ST8-S2P mounts more responsively, more surely than any external drive I've ever used, a credit to your engineering department. In fact, the ST8-S2P is the only external drive system that I've ever seen mount as reliably as my MacPro's internal drives.
Equally important, the ST8-S2P enables me to manage my own hard drive program. If I need to add drives, swap out drives, back-up and archive ... I decide the size and manufacturer, I buy at the best market price and more cost effectively manage our ever increasing storage requirements.
In today's business climate, managing overhead is critical. This is no industry that tolerates, nor should it, an inferior product. In order to adopt to a changing playing field, the real trick for any business is how to maintain and grow product quality and reliability, yet remain financially viable in difficult times. This requires innovation, adaptation to new and emerging technologies and willingness to break old models. RED is such technology. Stardom is such technology.
The ST8-S2P has enabled me to cut in half, the cost of adding harddrives. Moving forward from a 4.5K world into 5K and beyond, this is critically important. It seems so simple, so necessary, so matter of fact and natural upon the implementation of such technology, that one soon wonders how things would work any other way. They very well may not.
Thanks again, Jon, and thanks to Stardom
Best,
Art
PolarArt Productions
From: http://www.polarartproductions.com/
The Stardom ST8-S2P's bring a revolution to the requirements of media storage, organization and efficiency for a small independent production company such as ours. In terms of flexibility, space, cost, ease of use and execution with our MAC based edit suite, I can confidently speak to the ST8-S2P as being the most important and necessary step forward in embracing a future of independent digital cinema production. First and foremost, the ST8-S2P mounts so quickly and reliably I'm beginning to enjoy starting up the edit bay .... soon the apprehension, the dead empty feeling that comes when .... the drive won't mount ... file not recognized .... (sorry, I can't continue, you get the point), will fade to distant memory.
Of all the drive failures I've experienced, only one was an actual drive failure. Most failures are drive controller related, a corrupted Directory/File Structure resulting in the entire body of data rendered inaccessible. Nothing against Disc Warrior and whatever .... I'd rather not have to know they exist. The ST8-S2P mounts more responsively, more surely than any external drive I've ever used, a credit to your engineering department. In fact, the ST8-S2P is the only external drive system that I've ever seen mount as reliably as my MacPro's internal drives.
Equally important, the ST8-S2P enables me to manage my own hard drive program. If I need to add drives, swap out drives, back-up and archive ... I decide the size and manufacturer, I buy at the best market price and more cost effectively manage our ever increasing storage requirements.
In today's business climate, managing overhead is critical. This is no industry that tolerates, nor should it, an inferior product. In order to adopt to a changing playing field, the real trick for any business is how to maintain and grow product quality and reliability, yet remain financially viable in difficult times. This requires innovation, adaptation to new and emerging technologies and willingness to break old models. RED is such technology. Stardom is such technology.
The ST8-S2P has enabled me to cut in half, the cost of adding harddrives. Moving forward from a 4.5K world into 5K and beyond, this is critically important. It seems so simple, so necessary, so matter of fact and natural upon the implementation of such technology, that one soon wonders how things would work any other way. They very well may not.
Thanks again, Jon, and thanks to Stardom
Best,
Art
PolarArt Productions
What’s the best external drive or external RAID enclosure for me?
What’s the best external drive or external RAID enclosure for me?
Some storage companies sell what they call a “complete solution,” that is, one or more hard drive or SSD(s) pre-installed in a storage chassis. “Is this the best unit for me,” you might ask. They’ll respond that theirs is the only solution for you but don’t supply much information to justify their claim.
One of the most important considerations is, “what’s inside the box?”
The True Cost of a Populated External Drive Unit
What is the COST for the small convenience of buying an external hard drive or RAID chassis with the drives pre-installed? Generally, single drives and RAID storage have a high mark-up so you pay significantly for this “convenience.”
Furthermore, marketing isn’t cheap, so if you’ve seen a product advertised in every magazine, website, it probably has a lot of marketing dollars behind it. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, what really matters is the reputation of the product for reliability and its warranty as well as post-sale customer support.
The Hard Drives
External Hard Drive(s), whether in a single-drive product or a RAID, should cost around $50.00 per TB, $100.00 for 2TB, and so on… as a general rule of thumb.
Any unit costing less than $50.00 per TB is likely made with drives that are refurbished / re-certified or worse yet, “pulled,” which is industry jargon for “recycled” from another system. Are the hard drives inside the unit you’re considering used?
The Enclosure
Is the hard drive enclosure assembled with non-standard security screws? Is there a sticker that voids the warranty if you open the case to upgrade or change out the drives? That’s a sign that the manufacturer prefers that you don’t know what’s “under the hood.”
Metal or Plastic? Make Mine Metal, Please!
A typical plastic enclosure with a quad interface is priced at about $40.00. To save on costs, some manufacturers use recycled plastic that may contain toxic chemicals. Here are some of the substances used to manufacture “recycled plastic:”
Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) Di-isononyl phthalate (DINP)
Diethyl phthalate (DEP) Dibutyl phthalate (DBP)
Benzylbutyl phthalate (BzBP) Dicylohexyl phthalate (DCHP)
Di-n-octyl phthalate (DOP)
These substances are toxic enough by themselves, but when the heat generated by hard drives warms the case, what’s “out-gassed” is even worse. Think about where you put your external drive. It’s probably right in front of you, or in close proximity to where you’re working.
Power Supply
Does the hard drive enclosure have a shielded internal power supply or a clumsy power brick? Most people like the ability to plug in a standard computer power cord to their storage unit rather than deal with an extra piece of hardware like a power brick on their desk or under their feet. Power bricks are generally cheap, 3rd party, out-sourced components that have a low MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) rating.
Tray or Tray-less?
Is the chassis tray-less? Tray-less products can be problematic as the inherent nature of hard drives is that they vibrate. When not well-secured to a tray, a drive can fail prematurely.
Is the hard drive tray built for only one type of chassis, or can it be used in a number of different products from the same manufacturer? It’s important that drive trays have some mounting flexibility.
Chassis Housing
Is the housing made of 3mm thick aluminum or other metal, or is it cheap, flimsy material? A well-constructed chassis has some heft to it and is made to dissipate heat as well as take some bumps and bruises and still survive. A well-designed housing also assures a modicum of convection cooling as well as noise reduction from fans and drives. What about the chassis finish? Are there sharp edges that could cut you?
Safety Approvals
Some chassis can or do circumvent getting FCC, UL, safety approvals as they’re only sold as “computer components” without drives inside. If you buy a cheap plastic box, don’t expect it to have the safety approvals it needs to protect YOU from EMF or electrical radiation. Cheap can be very costly!
Packaging
How secure is the physical carton surrounding the product? Is the chassis protected with foam inside a sturdy box, or is it cheap eggshell-type cardboard with a flimsy outer cardboard box? A thick foam shroud that surrounds and protects the chassis and drives inside is a sign of a quality product.
The Technology
The basic technology, interfaces, cabling, etc., are pretty standard across the board for any particular manufacturer. They all use the same technology to connect the host machine to the storage: FireWire, USB, eSATA, or even the upcoming Thunderbolt technology.
So, there they are, some important factors to take into consideration when shopping for back-up storage. Ultimately, like most things in the marketplace, it’s a matter of buyer be educated, buyer beware. We hope that this article has helped you in to make much more informed decision when considering the purchase of your next storage solution.
Some storage companies sell what they call a “complete solution,” that is, one or more hard drive or SSD(s) pre-installed in a storage chassis. “Is this the best unit for me,” you might ask. They’ll respond that theirs is the only solution for you but don’t supply much information to justify their claim.
One of the most important considerations is, “what’s inside the box?”
The True Cost of a Populated External Drive Unit
What is the COST for the small convenience of buying an external hard drive or RAID chassis with the drives pre-installed? Generally, single drives and RAID storage have a high mark-up so you pay significantly for this “convenience.”
Furthermore, marketing isn’t cheap, so if you’ve seen a product advertised in every magazine, website, it probably has a lot of marketing dollars behind it. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, what really matters is the reputation of the product for reliability and its warranty as well as post-sale customer support.
The Hard Drives
External Hard Drive(s), whether in a single-drive product or a RAID, should cost around $50.00 per TB, $100.00 for 2TB, and so on… as a general rule of thumb.
Any unit costing less than $50.00 per TB is likely made with drives that are refurbished / re-certified or worse yet, “pulled,” which is industry jargon for “recycled” from another system. Are the hard drives inside the unit you’re considering used?
The Enclosure
Is the hard drive enclosure assembled with non-standard security screws? Is there a sticker that voids the warranty if you open the case to upgrade or change out the drives? That’s a sign that the manufacturer prefers that you don’t know what’s “under the hood.”
Metal or Plastic? Make Mine Metal, Please!
A typical plastic enclosure with a quad interface is priced at about $40.00. To save on costs, some manufacturers use recycled plastic that may contain toxic chemicals. Here are some of the substances used to manufacture “recycled plastic:”
Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) Di-isononyl phthalate (DINP)
Diethyl phthalate (DEP) Dibutyl phthalate (DBP)
Benzylbutyl phthalate (BzBP) Dicylohexyl phthalate (DCHP)
Di-n-octyl phthalate (DOP)
These substances are toxic enough by themselves, but when the heat generated by hard drives warms the case, what’s “out-gassed” is even worse. Think about where you put your external drive. It’s probably right in front of you, or in close proximity to where you’re working.
Power Supply
Does the hard drive enclosure have a shielded internal power supply or a clumsy power brick? Most people like the ability to plug in a standard computer power cord to their storage unit rather than deal with an extra piece of hardware like a power brick on their desk or under their feet. Power bricks are generally cheap, 3rd party, out-sourced components that have a low MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) rating.
Tray or Tray-less?
Is the chassis tray-less? Tray-less products can be problematic as the inherent nature of hard drives is that they vibrate. When not well-secured to a tray, a drive can fail prematurely.
Is the hard drive tray built for only one type of chassis, or can it be used in a number of different products from the same manufacturer? It’s important that drive trays have some mounting flexibility.
Chassis Housing
Is the housing made of 3mm thick aluminum or other metal, or is it cheap, flimsy material? A well-constructed chassis has some heft to it and is made to dissipate heat as well as take some bumps and bruises and still survive. A well-designed housing also assures a modicum of convection cooling as well as noise reduction from fans and drives. What about the chassis finish? Are there sharp edges that could cut you?
Safety Approvals
Some chassis can or do circumvent getting FCC, UL, safety approvals as they’re only sold as “computer components” without drives inside. If you buy a cheap plastic box, don’t expect it to have the safety approvals it needs to protect YOU from EMF or electrical radiation. Cheap can be very costly!
Packaging
How secure is the physical carton surrounding the product? Is the chassis protected with foam inside a sturdy box, or is it cheap eggshell-type cardboard with a flimsy outer cardboard box? A thick foam shroud that surrounds and protects the chassis and drives inside is a sign of a quality product.
The Technology
The basic technology, interfaces, cabling, etc., are pretty standard across the board for any particular manufacturer. They all use the same technology to connect the host machine to the storage: FireWire, USB, eSATA, or even the upcoming Thunderbolt technology.
So, there they are, some important factors to take into consideration when shopping for back-up storage. Ultimately, like most things in the marketplace, it’s a matter of buyer be educated, buyer beware. We hope that this article has helped you in to make much more informed decision when considering the purchase of your next storage solution.
600 Filmmakers sign complaint about FCP X
Ask that the company either support the previous version or sell it to someone who will
Nobody has sued Apple (AAPL) yet over the changes it made in Final Cut Pro X, the latest version of its popular professional video editing software, but judging from the language in the petition gathering signatures on the Web, it's just a matter of time.
Endorsed by a long list of people who describe themselves as "editors and filmmakers" who rely on Final Cut Pro as a business tool, it says, in part:
"Many have invested hundreds of thousands (some even millions) of dollars in creating Final Cut Pro based companies. These are now threatened by a "prosumer-grade" product upgrade of Final Cut Pro 7 titled "Final Cut Pro X," and will likely put several of these companies out of business. The costly process of migrating studio hardware and software is a major burden, especially on studios that have made recent upgrades to support Final Cut Pro. If many had known of the Final Cut Pro X release prior to investing in expensive hardware and software licenses, most, if not all, would have sought alternative solutions."
By 2:35 p.m. EDT Monday, the petition has gathered 600 signatures and had risen to No. 6 in PetitionOnline's Top 10 most active list, right after Ban Animal Gas Chambers.
For an insider view of what Apple might have done differently, see the long screed posted over the weekend by Josh Melliker, who set up the first Final Cut Pro training program and, as far as he knows, has been editing video with the software longer than anyone in the world.
The petition is titled "Final Cut Pro X is Not a Professional Application," and you can read it here. For the list of signatures.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
How to connect STARDOM Storage to your Mac whether it's a RAID or NON-RAID
How to connect STARDOM Storage to your Mac whether it's a RAID or a single drive or individual volumes. Connecting and mounting a drive is a bit more than just connecting it and having it mount on your desktop. Although it's not a secret that this information should be known, some people aren't aware of the fact that the process of mounting an external hard drive needs to be done before the drive is ready for use.
We'll cut to the chase, since most external hard drives are pre-formatted as NTFS; Mac OS X can only read data from the hard drive; but it can’t write anything to it (without 3rd party software.
You'll need to format your new STARDOM hard drive or SSD solution before it will mount on your Mac
Step 1. Connect your STARDOM Storage (via the interface you want to use, i.e. Fire Wire 800) with the installed hard drive(s) or SSD(s to your Mac.
Step 2. Click on Utilities; or press the Shift + Command + U shortcut key:
Step 3. Find Disk Utility and double click on it:
Step 3. Select your external hard drive on the left hand side of Disk Utility:
Step 4. Choose the Erase tab on the right hand side of the screen, then choose the Volume Format you want. We suggest choosing Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you want PCs to be able to connect to your STARDOM Storage, then the MS-DOS(FAT) is the one you want. (it formats the hard drive to FAT32).
Step 5. Click on the Erase button to format the hard drive. After that, your Storage should mount and you can begin to use it. Pretty simple really, but these steps are necessary to mount your external drive to your Mac.
We hope this information is helpful in mounting any STARDOM Storage product on a Mac or any external hard drive on a Mac for that matter.
For more information on STARDOM Storage products, please visit our website at: STARDOM Storage Solutions
We'll cut to the chase, since most external hard drives are pre-formatted as NTFS; Mac OS X can only read data from the hard drive; but it can’t write anything to it (without 3rd party software.
You'll need to format your new STARDOM hard drive or SSD solution before it will mount on your Mac
Step 1. Connect your STARDOM Storage (via the interface you want to use, i.e. Fire Wire 800) with the installed hard drive(s) or SSD(s to your Mac.
Step 2. Click on Utilities; or press the Shift + Command + U shortcut key:
Step 3. Find Disk Utility and double click on it:
Step 3. Select your external hard drive on the left hand side of Disk Utility:
Step 4. Choose the Erase tab on the right hand side of the screen, then choose the Volume Format you want. We suggest choosing Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you want PCs to be able to connect to your STARDOM Storage, then the MS-DOS(FAT) is the one you want. (it formats the hard drive to FAT32).
Step 5. Click on the Erase button to format the hard drive. After that, your Storage should mount and you can begin to use it. Pretty simple really, but these steps are necessary to mount your external drive to your Mac.
We hope this information is helpful in mounting any STARDOM Storage product on a Mac or any external hard drive on a Mac for that matter.
For more information on STARDOM Storage products, please visit our website at: STARDOM Storage Solutions
“Like” us on Facebook, STARDOM Storage Solutions RAID & NON RAID products.
"Like" us on Facebook, here's our FAN page:
Stardom Storage Solutions
STARDOM, Built For Content Creation. Our products enable video, audio, photography, and graphic design workflows, providing performance, protection & speed. We understand product versatility, any of our products accommodating 3.5" hard drive trays are interchangeable with any other 3.5" STARDOM chassis, eliminating the need to stock many chassis and capacities. You're not "locked out" if you need to trade drives between products. Any STARDOM chassis that supports 3.5" hard drives supports 3TB drives per tray, and all products are covered by a 2 year manufactures warranty. Whenever possible internal, auto switching power supplies (110/240VAC) are used in our products. Cabling, eSATA, USB. FW or mini-SAS are included with each of our products as well are drive hardware (screws) and manuals. For each individual products package contents as well as further product information, please consult our website: www.stardom-usa.com
Monday, June 20, 2011
Why RAID 6 stops working in 2019
Why RAID 6 stops working in 2019
Three years ago I warned that RAID 5 would stop working in 2009. Sure enough, no enterprise storage vendor now recommends RAID 5. They now recommend RAID 6, which protects against two drive failures. But in 2019 even RAID 6 won’t protect your data. Here’s why.
The power of power functions
I said that even RAID 6 would have a limited lifetime.
. . . RAID 6 in a few years will give you no more protection than RAID 5 does today. This isn’t RAID 6’s fault. Instead it is due to the increasing capacity of disks and their steady URE rate.
To read more, click here: Why RAID 6 stops working in 2019
Three years ago I warned that RAID 5 would stop working in 2009. Sure enough, no enterprise storage vendor now recommends RAID 5. They now recommend RAID 6, which protects against two drive failures. But in 2019 even RAID 6 won’t protect your data. Here’s why.
The power of power functions
I said that even RAID 6 would have a limited lifetime.
. . . RAID 6 in a few years will give you no more protection than RAID 5 does today. This isn’t RAID 6’s fault. Instead it is due to the increasing capacity of disks and their steady URE rate.
To read more, click here: Why RAID 6 stops working in 2019
STARDOM Storage NEW DEALER, Videoguys
STARDOM Storage is proud to announce a new dealer, Videoguys Videoguys is known as the “go to” for all things video in the industry. Videoguys will now carry some select RAID & NON-RAID products from our line up including the popular SR2 SOHORAID with RAID 0 and RAID 1
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The STARDOM 2 bay SOHORAID SR2 RAID now has RAID 0
This is great news for those looking for a hearty RAID 0 solution for content creation.
The SOHORAID SR2 features an internal power supply and 2 X FW 800, eSATA and USB 2.0
This product is available & is shipping now.
Click here for more info
The STARDOM ST2 SOHOTANK, a great RAID 0 alternative to other storage
The ST2 SOHOTANK from STARDOM, is a 2 bay RAID 0 or JBOD storage product that's a great alternative to other solutions in the market.
The ST2 allows for easy drive installation or removal and features a smart fan and internal power supply. The drive trays in the SOHOTANK can be removed and replaced easily.
Supports multi-stream HDV, DVCPro HD, XDCAM HD, ProRes 422, Red, workflows This is a great product offering both RAID 0 & JBOD in a small form factor, built with 3MM thick aluminum for maximum heat dissipation.
Connectivity for ST-WABC: 1 X e-SATA port (7pin) 1 X USB 2.0 High Speed port (USB B type4pin) 1 X FireWire 400 (6 pin) 1 X FireWire 800 ports (9pin)
RAID Level 0, JBOD
Click here for more information on the STARDOM ST2
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Why Thunderbolt Storage isn’t a big deal, short term.
Why Thunderbolt Storage isn’t a big deal, short term.
1. The chip-set is in short supply and currently only available for manufacturers to purchase from Apple directly, which will add a high cost to any proposed product.
2. Wide release, most manufacturers that were “let in” on the technology from Apple early on won’t be releasing product until FALL 2011
4. Costs on Thunderbolt storage are still relatively unknown with suggested MSRP being sketchy at best.
5. As per above, this is GEN 1 Thunderbolt is 10Gb/s, GEN 2 (more speed?), how much more seems like a matter of debate.
Now, long term and once the user install base is established, products are readily available and users have fully embraced the technology, that’s when things will get interesting.
What we’d recommend and WHY.
Equal speed benefits to Thunderbolt GEN 1 can be achieved by products already widely available, as in the 8 bay mini-SAS connected using the ATTO R680 card, RAID 6 performance rivaling any “Vaporware” Thunderbolt product, 830MB/s in RAID 6. Basically products that already exist (like the STARDOM ST8-U5) are shipping with a confirmed cost and availability are already available for immediate consumer purchase. The 8 drive STARDOM ST8-U5 mini-SAS connected storage solution, along with the 6Gb/s ATTO R680 card are available now. This is a field proven solution with a couple of glowing reviews available on the internet with just a couple mouse clicks.
Lion + iOS 5 + iCloud = WWDC
June 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
Source: http://touchreviews.net/icloud-details-leaked-wwdc-keynote-event/
According to LA times, iCould annual service fee is $25 dollars.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will kick off at 10:00 am PT and we have already reported on Apple’s plan to showcase Mac OS X Lion, preview iOS 5 and announce iCloud services. A recent report published by LATimes now claims to reveal extra details about Apple’s upcoming cloud based service.
The publication believes that Apple will roll out iCloud as a free service for a limited time period for those customers who already buy music from iTunes which will allow them to upload their purchases to the cloud. Users will be able to later access their music from any web browser or an iOS device.
Eventually, the company will charge a subscription fee of $25/year for the same service. It is believed that the Cupertino based company could also be looking at ways to integrate advertisements into its services. However, it wasn’t clear if the ads will be applicable for paid users too.
We previously reported that Apple has reportedly signed licensing deals with four of the major music labels which include Warner Music Group, EMI Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Additionally, we are also hearing that users might be allowed to upload Movies and TV shows.
Are you excited about this years WWDC? Do you think Steve Jobs will surprise us with iPhone 5 / 4S announcement during his keynote presentation? Let us know what you think.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
STARDOM Storage is now on Blogger!
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STARDOM Storage now on Creative Cow with our own forum!
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