dual disk esata enclosure for 2 2,5" disks - suggestions welcome

[Mischdepp]

I am running ProTools 9 on a MacBook Pro (3.1) with OSX 10.6.8 with a sonnet tempo 34 esata express card. Normally I have a 2 slot 3,5" Raidsonic carrier (ST3620-2S-S2) housing one disk for audio and one for video. This works fine.
The only thing is the size of the Raidsonic Box - I do post production and often take my stuff to my clients places - and the noisy fan.

So I thought of buying a carrier for 2 2,5" disks but I haven't found one with two separate esata connectors (one for each disk). Any suggestions?

Another possibility I thought of was buying a small RAID enclosure for two 2,5" disks
(like for example the ONNTO RS-S2TJ Data pair) and use it in JBOD mode thus having two separate disks on the desktop.
Does this work with PT? The SATA card has a port multiplier so connection should be no problem but what about transfer rates, disk behaviour etc.

Tips, thoughts and advice are gladly accepted (:

Thanks

Matt

[reichman]

I would be really surprised if you could saturate an eSATA connection with just two drives. You don't need separate eSATA connections, one with a controller will do fine. Look at www.macgurus.com They have some great products. And great support.

And the RAID enclosures in JBOD mode work fine.

[Craig F]

icy dock http://www.icydock.com/index.php
has some interesting stuff
don't know if it will work for you

[aka21stCentury]

Was your 'noisy' dual eSATA (no port multiplier) unit rated at 24 dB? Curious as some at OWC's have no decibel rating.

OWC calls it 'span' mode? Their Mercury Elite duals are sold with drives pre-installed:

OWC Mercury elite pro duos: the 500 gig drives are Seagate Barracudas and anything larger are Hitachi Deskstars (not Ultrastars).

Reliability of power connector. That would be my major decision factor other than fan noise and heat (depending on rpm of drive, as in Raptors, fan or radiant transfer of infrared heat -- aluminum never Titanium) and I prefer LEDs on all metal cases as in old school macintosh. OWC has at least one plastic peice of Chinese Junk with a slow RPM quiet fan but no LED and the screws may strip first time you install hard drive... but the fan is slow rpm and quiet. Called an EZ Quest (Oxford 934 chipset) quiet but many hours to disassemble and swap drives unlike some Aluminum enclosures... but the fan is quiet. The aluminum Macally and OWCs are decent (IMO with no fan it will burn out drive bearings). OWC www.macsales.com sells overseas.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firew...W800_FW400_USB
(has span and independent mode besides Raid 1,0) OWC is macsales and they ship overseas. OWC=www.macsales.com

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ (N. America only) has unique selection of duals/quads also but mostly for online video (as in raid).

Here's one 2.5 inch model w/o fans but you'll need a pair: http://www.macally.com/EN/Product/Ar...?ArticleID=208DC off a powered USB hub or USB ports if 7,200s can run off buss power (amperage?) without error msgs. Search some links here regarding this problem (in storage)... user name- Dism.

http://www.kimber.com/products/inter...l/usb/bbus/cu/
The best USB cables made I've found thus far (all USB-2 or faster requires dual ferrite beads according to the Telecom Engineers who sign Big$$$ POs.) Audio interface manufacturers need to heed what the Telecoms required since 2000. ALL TELECOMS buy non-leaking (EMF) custom cables with dual ferrites of proprietary design since 2000. I believe RME is now supplying dual ferrite beaded USB cables. NI told me they were adopting the dual ferrite USB cable as well.

Firewire w/ dual ferrite beads. www.granitedigital.com

Check out this bare drive dual SATA unit. It holds either 2.5 and/or 3.5 inch SATAs.
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...C=1346&ID=1895

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...6&ID=1895#Tab1 (rear view of eSATA, USB (type b) DC in)

Here are the benchmarks for the Black Widow BlacX Duet http://alienbabeltech.com/main/therm...review-2/all/1

However we don't know what chipset (whether built in AHCI w port muliplier) or what. Wonder how it will bench out (duel eSATA seems kind've sluggish in benchmarks ---> would this Sonnet Expresscard speed things up (w Sonnet Mac OS driver)?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonne.../SATAIIIE2E34/

[aka21stCentury]

http://oyendigital.com/hard-drive-enclosures.html

Reading an email from WD TS the other day: Black and Blue Caviars drives are identical mechanically, just a slightly different firmware 'tuning' re motion of the heads. Blues run quieter, seek time a bit longer, but require less current.

Oyendigital very small form factor and oxford chipsets. Worth checking out.

NOTE: BlacX duet requires an eSATA port multiplier (express card or PCIe) re Duet Black Widow, or only a single drive will mount!

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/372...ion/index.html

NewerTechnology's (discontinued) version of the bare drive docking station employs an oxford 934d chipset with Firewire and USB-2, eSATA (but no duets). Meaning no sample drive.

Anyone tested this Thermaltake Black Widow? - BlacX Duet HDD Docking Station?

Digi TS -- why is the Oxford 944 not on the approved list? A new addition yet to be tested???? Or are there problems? 934d ????

What about the 934d on the NewerTech version of bare drive docking station (single not duet)? Oxford 934 is approved. Is the 'd' any different as far as Pro Tools approval.

eSATA port multiplier (any particular chipset or drivers approved?)

Over at Creative Cow FCP users with Sno Leo / Lion using Sonnet Express 34 port multiplier eSATA (Sonnet Drivers) and...iStar (no kernal errors)

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/iStarUSA/xAGE-902/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonne.../TSATAIIE342P/ (reinstall driver if error appears -- Lion install removes driver-- reinstall)

[Mischdepp]

Originally Posted by aka21stCentury

Was your 'noisy' dual eSATA (no port multiplier) unit rated at 24 dB? Curious as some at OWC's have no decibel rating.

OWC calls it 'span' mode? Their Mercury Elite duals are sold with drives pre-installed:

OWC Mercury elite pro duos: the 500 gig drives are Seagate Barracudas and anything larger are Hitachi Deskstars (not Ultrastars).

Reliability of power connector. That would be my major decision factor other than fan noise and heat (depending on rpm of drive, as in Raptors, fan or radiant transfer of infrared heat -- aluminum never Titanium) and I prefer LEDs on all metal cases as in old school macintosh. OWC has at least one plastic peice of Chinese Junk with a slow RPM quiet fan but no LED and the screws may strip first time you install hard drive... but the fan is slow rpm and quiet. Called an EZ Quest (Oxford 934 chipset) quiet but many hours to disassemble and swap drives unlike some Aluminum enclosures... but the fan is quiet. The aluminum Macally and OWCs are decent (IMO with no fan it will burn out drive bearings). OWC www.macsales.com sells overseas.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firew...W800_FW400_USB
(has span and independent mode besides Raid 1,0) OWC is macsales and they ship overseas. OWC=www.macsales.com

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ (N. America only) has unique selection of duals/quads also but mostly for online video (as in raid).

Here's one 2.5 inch model w/o fans but you'll need a pair: http://www.macally.com/EN/Product/Ar...?ArticleID=208DC off a powered USB hub or USB ports if 7,200s can run off buss power (amperage?) without error msgs. Search some links here regarding this problem (in storage)... user name- Dism.

http://www.kimber.com/products/inter...l/usb/bbus/cu/
The best USB cables made I've found thus far (all USB-2 or faster requires dual ferrite beads according to the Telecom Engineers who sign Big$$$ POs.) Audio interface manufacturers need to heed what the Telecoms required since 2000. ALL TELECOMS buy non-leaking (EMF) custom cables with dual ferrites of proprietary design since 2000. I believe RME is now supplying dual ferrite beaded USB cables. NI told me they were adopting the dual ferrite USB cable as well.

Firewire w/ dual ferrite beads. www.granitedigital.com

Check out this bare drive dual SATA unit. It holds either 2.5 and/or 3.5 inch SATAs.
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...C=1346&ID=1895

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...6&ID=1895#Tab1 (rear view of eSATA, USB (type b) DC in)

Here are the benchmarks for the Black Widow BlacX Duet http://alienbabeltech.com/main/therm...review-2/all/1

However we don't know what chipset (whether built in AHCI w port muliplier) or what. Wonder how it will bench out (duel eSATA seems kind've sluggish in benchmarks ---> would this Sonnet Expresscard speed things up (w Sonnet Mac OS driver)?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonne.../SATAIIIE2E34/

WOW! Thanks a lot! This is quite some information (:

Concerning the fan - this is what I found:

Sunon KDE1206PFV2 Size: 60 x 60 x 10mm Connector Type: 3 Pin TX3 for RPM monitoring Rated Voltage: 12V DC Speed: 4400 RPM +/- 400 Airflow: 14.5 CFM Noise: 29.4 dBA Input Power: 1.0 Watts Rated Current: 0.14 Amp Bearing: Vapo Bearing

I had to look this up over the internet because the manual and the text on the box the device is shipped in give no information about the noise level.

But it seems to be not only a noise but also a quality problem with this box -
I have experienced severe disk problems with different disks used.
Everything works fine for some time and then suddenly the disks won't mount and after that my MacBook would not boot when the Stardom was connected.
Funny thing is that the disks still work when I put them in a USB carrier... this saving me from having to re-do 12hrs of mixing.

Meanwhile I bought a Onnto Datatale enclosure - just the one sold at Oyen Digital and I'm quite happy with it as a portable solution.

[aka21stCentury]

I went for the Mercury Elite Al-Pro Dual eSATA at OWC (empty enclosure for 2x 3.5 inch SATA II) actually well built and even though the fan is a small diameter (small profile unit) it is very quiet and spins slowly. No onboard chipset. Comes with a pair of 4 ft flat cables. Half price on drive Genius even on empty enclosure.

Also, speaking of small, check out the mini Macally USB 2 mHub (powered)..

...sad these floods in Thailand damaging expensive equipment and loss of jobs. Ironically, Seagate moved out of Santa Cruz County after our big earthquake do to equipment damage. Strange these news shortages here on disasters but reported on the web or OWC's message machine....

Also...the Pro Moonson at OWC is a nice single unit 934 chipset w/ no fan for a cooler running Caviar Blue (not Black) it is nicely made except their enclosed 6 pin to 6 pin 1394a cable, so warning: the included 1394a cable the connector wiggles w even slightest movement in a MBP (when all my pro cables do not) see www.granitedigital.com) ... using it for SuperDuper cloning, bummer, cause it cost over 4 hours of time. I've got both Diskwarrior 4.2 and Drive Genius- for defragging (edit) driver is required for two esata drives.....sonnettech express 34 esata w/ 2 drives uses the silicon image driver. Downed from sonnettech's support site.