8 Terabytes of storage, arranged over two disks configured for RAID 0, with Thunderbolt connectivity. What’s not to like?
This device is perfect for photographers, but even more so for video makers. I’ll be using this in tandem with Final Cut Pro X running on an iMac.
First impressions. Out of the box, plugged in and switched on, available on the desktop in less than five minutes. That includes time spent crawling under the desk to get at the spare extension sockets. Speed? I transferred four Sony SxS cards yesterday, as part of the normal video workflow to a standalone G-Raid device over a firewire connection. These cards take about 16 minutes each. This standalone device will be the archive. From that device I transferred the entire set of data to the G Raid in five minutes. Outstanding, considering the slowest part of the chain was the Firewire connection.
Once the data was transferred, I fired up Final Cut Pro X on the desktop and imported the rushes as events, one event per day of shooting, two cards per day. To import the XDCAM data I needed the XAVC/XDCAM Plug-in for Apple (PDZK-LT2), download that here. One of the very desirable features of Final Cut Pro is that once you set up your project, it copies the rushes to a separate directory – you never work on the original set, so there is no chance of deleting, corrupting, destroying your original data. I like this feature a lot!
Inside Final Cut Pro, the access to data is so fast you wouldn’t know it’s not on the local disk. I’m very impressed wit this technology and it will become the mainstay of my editing set up. I’ll review Final Cut Pro in due course – once I’ve had a chance to put it through its paces.