Very much appreciate the detail of these replies. This is helping me (and others hopefully) understand this clearly.
So can I ask this... my needs are for capturing uncompressed video at around 30 to 35MB/sec. That's all this system will be used for. Capturing video for anywhere from just a few minutes to perhaps 30 minutes as a time. I will then lay off the file to a simple USB "jump" drive at what ever speed it will accept it after the capture.
The system will not be running 24/7. May be turned on for a hours or so a few times per week.
Knowing that, should I spring for the SAS drives or stick with SATA's? Since my space needs are not that great I would think SAS would be the way to go since I can get smaller ones. You seemed to suggest if using a PERC raid controller I'm locked into them anyway.
At 35MB/s what type of raid is best... running how many drives... at what size?