Advice for initial RAID setup on new MacPro

Storage & Archiving

Advice for initial RAID setup on new MacPro

Posted by Doug Meyer on November 22, 2010 at 4:24 pm

This is my 1st post to this forum.

I have just recently received my 1st MacPro machine (3.33ghz hex-xore, w/16GB ram) and have installed the following drives:

Lower optical bay (for system/apps/boot only):
240GB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD 2.5″ Serial-ATA 9.5mm Solid State Drive

Bays 1-4 (for media/data):
(4X) 2.0TB Hitachi 7K2000 7200RPM SATA I/II HD with 32MB Cache

I am looking for advice on the best RAID configuration for my purposes which will include FCP, after effects, Photoshop and Logic Pro (the usual suspects). Initially, video footage will be from DV sources, though I’d like to plan for the future (higher data-rate HD).

My research (as far as RAIDs go, I AM a newbie) has led me to consider combining a RAID 0 and a RAID 1, but am not sure whether it would be best to go RAID 1+0 or 0+1.

And for the record, I fully understand that the mirror is NOT a backup strategy. I WILL be connecting an external back-up device for that purpose.

I am prepared to halve my 8TB capacity for redundancy’s sake as 4TB seems fully sufficient for my near-term needs.

My questions:

1. RAID 1+0 or RAID 0+1? (Arguments for and against?)

2. My intention is to use Disk Utility to set this up.
a) Any problems with this?
b) Any tips?
c) anyone brave enough to offer a walk-through?

3. Block size? I haven’t seen a great deal of consensus on this topic (nor a great deal of conversation)
a) What block size is recommended?
b) do video and audio beg different block sizes? (do the higher demands of video trump any consideration for audio?)
c) When I configure the RAID, will I be prompted for block sizes when creating both the stripes AND the mirrors? If so, I presume keeping the block size consistent is imperative?

4. What am I not asking? What am I not thinking about?

I am thrilled to have found this forum as a resource. Any and all responses are enormously appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

Doug.

MacPro 3.33 GHz 6-core
16GB ram

Jack Johnson replied 15 years, 3 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
2 Replies

Bob Zelin
November 22, 2010 at 9:01 pm

I have responded to you privately. Forget RAID 1. Save your money, use RAID 0, make a living, buy an external RAID 5 array when you can afford it in the near future.

Bob Zelin
Jack Johnson
February 18, 2011 at 3:05 am

Bob, what was your advice? The question posed seems very relevant to my situation.

Thanks

Jack

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