I love do it yourself projects. And I am a fan of cheap RAID solutions, because not everyone can afford an EVO HD or HD PRO or fibrechannel drives. Heck, in my early posts I showed how I made low cost raids…and people still remember me for them. There was the Popsicle Raid (and part deux)…that got me a LOT of attention. And my do it yourself raid case, the Quiet Tower, or DARK Tower as I now call it.

But enough about my VERY low rent and cheap looking raids. How would you like to roll your own very professional looking, and acting, RAID 5 unit? How does 4TB for under $2000 grab ya?

The blog Life Zero has posted how to do just that. He uses professional raid making supplies (unlike myself, who’s spare parts included popsicle sticks) and he gets great results…look at the AJA speed tests.

The only thing I want to point out is that going cheap comes at a price (pardon the pun). There is a reason the high end RAIDs cost what they cost…engineering to get things working just right, tech support…and warranties. First look at the engineering. Looking at the speed tests he provides, yes, his numbers are slightly higher than the Caldigit HD Pro. But look at how it peaks and dips. Then look at the HD Pro speed test…it has a steady range. That is part of their ASTT…Active Sustained Transfer Technology. Meaning that they engineer things so that your transfer rate remains steady. If you dip too far, then you interrupt your data stream and you get dropped frames. Not good for many people. Then there is tech support. Who do you call if something fails? With this setup, you have four vendors to deal with, and all will point the fingers at the other guy. Warranty…because things might fail. Good raid manufacturers have good warranties.

Not to knock this setup…not at all. I think it is the bees knees, otherwise I wouldn’t have linked to it. I just wanted to explain a little about why this is cheaper and why the other guys are more expensive. I am a do-it-yourselfer…as pointed out earlier in the post. So I get it. And when I was just starting out and couldn’t afford much, if this was an option, I would have been all over it. I am still pretty tempted as it is…