I have done some more research and discovered a number of interesting points with regard to using eSATA in a Pro Tools environment. Assuming one has a Mac Pro there are two ways of getting SATA to the outside of the computer. 
connect extrnal SATA drives to your computer. This method is much cheaper and doesn’t cost a PCI-e slot and doesn’t load the PCI buss but you cannot hot swap drives connected this way. Now if a rack or desktop chassis like the Sonnet R400Q for example, will I be able to access each drive separately all will all four drives just appear on my 
computer desktop as one drive. I know that Pro tools won’t support these system in any of their RAID modes, I am referring to their JOBD (Just One Big Drive) mode. Because if I cannot access each drive separately them I cannot easily swap drives around to work on different projects. The other issue that is niggling me is why Digidesign haven’t approved the use of eSATA? It seems strange although even in my research so far I have read about people not able to get some configurations to work with their Mac let alone work with Pro Tools. So is this high-speed technology still struggling from to many ‘ifs, buts and maybes to be reliable? If anybody has any comments, observations or experience I would value your input.
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Mike is Pro Tools genius and an award winning ‘audiomeister’, defined as ‘a person of great skill and authority in sound’. His vast array of credits include music (from classical to rock), drama and documentaries across all the BBC Radio networks, as well as audio post production for video and TV, ‘new media’, live sound, commercial CDs, DVDs and podcasts, helping clients tell their stories with sound. He has been described as "an oasis of calm in a stormy creative world"; "quick, creative & easy to work with"; "always going the extra mile"; and "invests himself in the success of your project"’.
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Seven radio producers – all based in the north of England – have joined forces to launch a new co-operative venture – ‘Radio Wizards’. It’s equally remarkable that their aim now is to work together on every kind of sound production... except radio!
"It’s taken over a year to get to this point," says ‘wizard’ Mike Thornton, "but now we’ve got a viable business plan, we’ve launched our website and we’re already starting to attract commissions. As a facilities provider we decided to facilitate this partnership and set them up with a web site to help kickstart this excellent partnership."
March 17, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Hey Mike,I can tell you from our experience we have not gone to e-sata yet, but are using triple interface enclosures (800,400,e-sata) from Maxx Digital. We also are loading up most of our intel machines with 1TB drives to accommodate editing.
March 17, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Also we stopped using carrier/receiver enclosures after SCSI and went to shoeboxes for drives. There is also the dock method for getting access to your backup drives.http://www.wiebetech.com/products/satadock.phpHowever a standby enclosure that you can swap backups in and out of may be cheaper. A new carrier/receiver solution may be more pricey than just buying individual boxes to move drives around with.http://www.maxxdigital.com
March 18, 2009 at 9:18 am
Hi Johnny,Thanks for these thoughts. I am going to response to them in a separate post so that especially for those who only subscribe to the main blog feed can follow the story.Folks keep them coming as I hope my dilemma will help others in similar positions.Mike.