Long-term Storage Strategies for Archiving and Big Project Management

When we began our tapeless service in February 2004, our main concern was reliable transport. Our goal was temporary storage of client files on a rugged drive that could withstand shipping back and forth between numerous clients and Bonolabs. We chose reliable external drives that worked for short-term and small project delivery of our ready-to-edit tapeless files.

However, the interest in the tapeless workflow has mushroomed and with it comes an appetite for immense long-term digital storage capacity. The "storage issue," however, has been inhibiting goals and decisions. Investment in multiple external hard drives to achieve high capacity goals is not practical or cost effective.  Concerns over data loss due to the configuration of the closed external drives cooled enthusiasm to "go tapeless."  We needed to develop a different storage solution for enduring preservation and access as well as big project management that would address all of the following requirements for: 

Products that grow along with your archive:

Drawing on our own in-house storage experience with RAIDED and non-RAIDED configurations and the wide acceptance of SATA drives, we identified the components that would best support our clients' big project and long-term needs. When we couldn't find suitable products, we assembled or built our own. Expect to see additional products in the near future.

Start with
a SATA 500 Gigabyte drive loaded with your files

Go trayless with our Bonolabs Enclosure or the SATA docking unit

Store your drives in our expandable shelving.

       

Purchase and Load Starts with your hard drive

Our direct-to-drive clients  purchase the 500 GB SATA drive through Bonolabs.  As a "purchase and load" participant, the per runtime minute tapeless service fee is reduced from $2.40 to $1.60 for each order.  The client may purchase as little as one Serial ATA drive, drop-shipped from Newegg to get started. Your digital library of drives grows along with your needs. The drives can vary in size but for high definition files, the most practical and cost effective size is the 500 GB drive which is capable of holding 10-bit uncompressed 1920 x 1080/24p (23.98sF) files totaling approximately 58 minutes of material, the equivalent of 2088 feet of Super 16mm film or 5200 feet of 35mm transferred direct to drive off the hi def telecine.

Bonolabs Trayless Hot Swappable Enclosures

Made of high quality durable commercial off-the-shelf components assembled and tested here by Bonolabs staff.

 
  • durable, hot swappable, fast access
  • no trays or screws to slow you down
  • FW800 & USB data ports
  • internal power supply

 

This solution may not be as fast as the trayless enclosure above but it sure can make access convenient via an open USB2.0 port.
  • Easy access to drives on your shelf
  • Compact
  • Works for both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch hard disk drives

 

 Bonolabs Storage Unit

We couldn't find a storage unit for our drives so we designed and built one.

Since it's working for us we decided to share our solution with our customers.
  • Modular
  • Basic unit holds 75 3.5-inch HHDs
  • Clean, neat, sturdy
  • Unfinished pine. Hardwood shelving can be special ordered.

 

Why opt for our trayless SATA solutions?

This may come as a surprise to some, but typical large capacity sealed external drives are actually loaded with smaller raided drives. For example, a 1 terrabyte drive is comprised of four 250 GB drives. Although a wonderful solution for transport and other temporary storage, the potential for data loss is real. Since putting your digital archive in jeopardy is not an option, a non-raid configuration is essential for the long haul.

Curious to learn more? E-mail us at tapeless@bonolabs.com
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Revised 7 May 2008