I did not specify a RAID-5 system but a RAID-1, that is mirrored drives.
You can buy 250gb drives for about $130 each locally. A RAID-0/1 IDE
controller can be had for $20 (I happen to have one on hand), a RAID-5
capable controller costs a couple hundred bucks and you need at least 3
drives, not in my opinion worth it unless you are a corporation.
Actually since I have two 40gb drives in my desktop computer, all I
would have to do to make it into a small fileserver (it even has
redundant power supplies thanks to them being cheaper on ebay than a
single replacement locally) is install the raid controller. Now that I
have a laptop again, I may just do that and use the laptop as my
workstation. On the other hand I also have a SCSI RAID-5 controller in
my junk box, anyone want to donate 5-6 large ultra-wide scsi drives?
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
http://webpages.charter.net/graywolf
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
Jostein wrote:
Dear all,
Thanks to all who contributed to the thread "OT: how do you store your
precious moments for posterity". Some people defiantly responded with a
well-established way of maintaining film archives. My apologies for not
stating that I was primarily interested in _digital_ archiving. :-)
Many solutions have been suggested, but none have been priced. It would
be very interesting to hear how much people have invested in hardware for
their backup solution.
I made some investigations based on Norwegian prices. Here are the alternatives
I have considered:
DVDs
----
Capacity: 4.7 GB
Cost: 12 USD (the most expensive discs I found)
Cost/GB: 0,5 USD
Expected life: 5-10 years
The cheapest discs would give a cost of 0,1 USD/GB, but I'll stick with
the most expensive, high-quality acclaimed, stuff for this calculation.
Single harddrives, USB/FW:
--------------------------
Capacity: 200-500 GB
Cost: 180-450 USD
Cost/GB: 1,1 USD (average, surprisingly little variance)
Expected life: 5-7 years? Have found little data.
Single harddrives, networked:
-----------------------------
10-15% more expensive than the USB/FW counterparts, but otherwise identical.
RAID-5 file servers:
--------------------
Only two products researched.
Capacity: 900 GB
Cost: 1550 USD
Cost/GB: 1.72 USD
Expected life: presumably as for other harddrives, but with added fault
tolerance.
Interestingly, even for the most expensive DVDs in the market,
the storage per GB is cheaper than for any harddrive setup.
DVDs also requires the least investment in hardware.
A good quality burner and software costs less than a hard drive,
and the media can be bought as you go.
The annual need for storage space depends on type of camera, file format and
production volume. I have an *istD, so I'll make my calculations based
on that.
The *istD produce RAW-files of ca. 13 MB size. I shoot RAW exclusively.
Different volumes and storage space:
1000 exp. = 13 GB
5000 exp. = 65 GB
10000 exp. = 130 GB
At an annual production of 5000 images, the expected lifetime of a RAID-5
is less than the time it takes to fill it up. So shelling out big bucks on a
large storage system seems a waste, moneywise.
What could change the balance of the equation is the convenience of having
the images accessible on harddrives, rather than rummaging around to find
the right DVD. I guess the weight of this factor will be different for
everyone.
Another thing that could change the balance is Graywolf's suggestion of
bying a RAID-5 controller for an older PC and recycle some hardware. This is
indeed an option for the technically literate, but certainly not for everyone.
Personally, I don't have any suitable hardware for the purpose. :-(
I think a RAID-5 solution is out of range for me because of the investment cost,
but the thought of using simple NAS units is very appealing. Then I can buy
units with as much storage space as my production level requires, and add new
ones as needed.
thanks again,
Jostein
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