Thunderbolt Storage Solution Designed for Professionals

If you’re working in HD or other applications that quickly generate large files, you need fast and reliable storage with easy expandability and proven file protection. If you're using one of today's ultra-light notebooks, mini, or all-in-one desktop computers, your access to these features has been hard to come by. These computers may pack a lot of processing power, but they lack the ability to connect an equally powerful, complete pro storage solution (much less the capability to install a high-performance RAID controller card). Sonnet is proud to offer a solution that addresses both shortcomings—the Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition.

We've combined the acclaimed Fusion DX800RAID storage system with our Echo Express SE 6Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID Controller to create the first complete 8-drive Thunderbolt storage solution. This powerful combo delivers HD optimized performance and proven data safety to users of iMac®, Mac® mini, MacBook® Air and MacBook Pro computers with Thunderbolt ports. The RAID controller features dual Thunderbolt ports that support daisy chain connection of other Thunderbolt peripherals, including pro audio and pro video devices.

Available in configurations up to 24TB, the 8-drive Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition is a no-compromises solution providing up to many times the formatted capacity of typical desktop Thunderbolt storage system, and offers easy expandability beyond its initial capacity. The hard drives come formatted as a RAID 5 set, but you can choose RAID 4, 5, 6, 0, and JBOD formatting to suit your needs. Use of Enterprise/RAID hard drives increase the system's reliability and reduce the likelihood of a drive failure, and included tools can, in many emergencies, help recover files that would be lost on other systems.

Beyond Thunderbolt connectivity (a Thunderbolt cable is included, too), you can connect the DX800RAID drive enclosure to a Mac Pro with a Sonnet or ATTO 6Gb SAS/SATA RAID controller (sold separately) installed to work with stored files, a feat other Thunderbolt storage systems aren't capable of accomplishing. To top it off, Sonnet backs this Thunderbolt storage solution with its 5-year pro warranty.

Thunderbolt RAID Controller

The heart of the Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition storage system is the Echo Express SE 6Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID controller. This powerhouse adapter is based on the latest-generation Marvell® 88RC9580 RAID-on-Chip (ROC) processor, which handles the throughput from all the drives with plenty of overhead. The RAID controller is configured with 512MB of ECC-protected cache memory, especially important to maintain data stream writes as the disk array nears capacity.

Constructed of aluminum, the adapter's outer shell helps transfer heat away from the RAID controller card and securely protects it inside. The enclosure is ventilated front and back, and its quiet, temperature-controlled, variable-speed fan (with no switches or jumpers to configure) automatically cools the adapter; when not needed, the fan slows down to a whisper so you can work without a lot of noise in the background. Dual Thunderbolt ports support daisy chain connections. The Echo adapter is enviro-friendly, powering on and off with your computer.

HD Optimized Performance

This Thunderbolt storage system is designed for work environments where high performance and fault tolerance are critical, and simple expandability a must. It is fast enough to easily handle uncompressed HD while protecting the data at the same time, yet flexible enough to be configured for any workflow. Under real world use (drives 85% filled and fragmented) with its drives formatted as a RAID 5 group (eight drives striped with parity across all group members), a Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition storage system is capable of single-stream 2K (2048 x 1556) LOG RGB capture and playback. It can achieve up to 725 MB/sec read, 640 MB/sec write (AJA Kona 1080HD test), fast enough to handle a single stream of uncompressed 10-bit 1080 4:4:4 HD, or multiple streams of ProRes 422, uncompressed 8-bit 1080 HD, DV, HDV, and DVCPRO video.

Raw data transfer rates are just one measure of a storage system’s abilities, but they don’t tell the whole story. How many video streams can be transferred at the same time without dropping frames is another measure critical in determining overall performance, and one that can greatly impact your workflow. The Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition storage system achieves high stream counts because of its ability to consistently and efficiently sustain data throughput, a result of incorporating ATTO Technologies’ exclusive Advanced Data Streaming (ADS™) Technology in the included Thunderbolt adapter. ADS provides controlled acceleration of data transfers, compensating for transfer speed peaks and drops to maintain a consistent data flow, allowing more streams without dropped frames for the bandwidth available.

Driving Force

The Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition employs Enterprise/RAID Edition hard drives that have been selected for their superior performance, error handling, and reliability characteristics, especially when used in RAID groups. These drives are subjected to hours of additional, stringent testing to check for soft errors, vibration, and other reliability predictors. Just the sturdiest drives pass these tests and are prepared with special RAID-optimized firmware to become the building blocks of a super-reliable Fusion storage system.

RAID Flexibility

The Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition system supports RAID 4, DVRAID, 5, 6, and 10 formatting for balanced performance and protection, RAID 1 for ultimate redundancy, and RAID 0 for pure, unadulterated speed; JBOD support is available, too. This storage solution even support hot spares—you can set up your RAID group so that one or more designated hot spare drives wait unused in the background to automatically replace a failed drive without you having to lift a finger. All this flexibility is accomplished without switches—a simple to use configuration utility enables you to optimize your setup for specific workflow requirements.

Status Supervisor

The reliability of the Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition is further enhanced through SES (SCSI Enclosure Services) 2.0 compliance, a feature more commonly found on enterprise storage systems, and enhanced S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) data reporting for each hard drive installed in the system. Built into the drive enclosure, SES functionality provides enhanced real-time monitoring and reporting of drive, power supply, and temperature status, with real time results displayed in utility application screens and the illumination of conveniently placed LEDs on the enclosure. S.M.A.R.T. data criteria can be used to notify you of an impending drive failure and enable you to minimize downtime as a result.

Excellent Expandability

8TB, 16TB, 24TB, or 32TB to start—it's your choice. When you need to grow your storage capacity, wouldn't you like a system that's expandable without hassle? Sonnet's got you covered. When your job calls for access to more than your system's original capacity, Sonnet offers an economical upgrade path that is simple to deploy—the Fusion DX800RAID Expansion storage system. Each DX800RAID drive enclosure features an internal SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) expander that enables you to connect additional DX800RAID enclosures in a daisy chain, no additional RAID controller needed. This simplifies installation and significantly reduces your cost to expand capacity. Of course, if your needs are simpler, each system includes user-swappable drive modules so you can easily change sets of drives as you go.

Enhanced Data Security

With drives formatted as a RAID 4, 5, 6, or DVRAID™ protected group, the Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition storage system provides data protection in the event of a drive failure (two drives when formatted as a RAID 6 group). You can configure your system to provide visual and audible alerts, including e-mail notification in the event of a drive failure. A drive can be swapped out and the RAID group rebuilt in hours, or you can tune the rebuild priority to deliver full read performance during the process to keep you working while the RAID group rebuilds in the background.

The Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition storage system provides additional protection beyond basic data security. Its Thunderbolt adapter employs ATTO Technologies’ exclusive DriveAssure™ Technology, which monitors drives’ I/O performance and performs periodic drive scans to map out and repair bad sectors and slow spots without failing the drive. This proactive maintenance enables the controller to compensate for instances when a RAID group does not respond to a command within a specified time, which could lead to degraded performance (e.g., dropped frames), or worse, the RAID group being failed.

What happens if a drive does fail? In most instances, a protected RAID group rebuilds using data on the remaining drives. Protected RAID groups using high capacity drives face a greater risk of a second or third drive failure during a RAID group rebuild. When this occurs, most storage systems fail the RAID group and take it offline, making the data inaccessible. DriveAssure can recover data when other methods have failed. Its data recovery modes enable access to data in offline RAID groups so you can copy it to a new RAID group or continue working with it in the case of a soft drive failure. This ability can potentially mean the difference between losing a single file versus all of your assets.

Versatile Performance

This system is ideal for use in mixed environments—various editing applications and output demands requiring the flexibility and interoperability that the Fusion DX800RAID Thunderbolt Edition storage system provides. This product supports OS X® version 10.6.8 and later. It is compatible with capture cards from AJA, Blackmagic Design, Matrox, and Bluefish444, and work with all mainstream video editing applications including Apple® Final Cut Pro® X, and Adobe® Premiere® Pro.