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Best HDD Configuration ?
I got bit of a problem…
After waiting a few years to upgrade my computer I finally will be able to build what I want, not just what I can live with.
WHen it comes to Hard Drive Configuration, I just do not know which way to go.
Here is what I am thinking….
I know Adobe says the HDD should be in RAID 0, but that does not seem to be the b est way to go. I think I should have one HDD for software, one for video/audio, one for preview/scratch.
So it is like this…
1 – 320G Software
2 – 500G ( 1TB ) RAID
1 – 320G ScratchThis is better than all on a RAID Aray. Right ???
I am a IT specialist for a school district so I know alot about this stuff. That don’t mean I know everything. Getting this perfect the first time is what I have spent most of my time researching. That might be my downfall, too much shopping and researching into the ” perfect ” system.
Thanks for the input!!
Davis
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8 Replies
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What is “Best”? It is not difficult to come up with better HDD configurations, but it is always a matter of balancing cost and benefit. Your suggestion makes perfect sense if the storage capacity is sufficient.
If you want best, consider a 128 GB OCZ Core SSD as a boot disk for OS & programs.
For media, consider 8 x 1 TB WD Caviar Black disks in Raid50.
For project/scratch consider 4 x 1 TB WD Caviar Black disks in Raid3.Make sure that all 12 disks are hot swappable and use an Areca ARC 1680iX-12 controller with BBM and 4 GB DDR2 ECC cache.
Harm Millaard
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I would be more worried about making that 3rd drive a RAID backup, rather than a scratch disk. And ideally, it would be as big as the RAID itself (in your case I would say 750 Gigs would be fine)
Only keep the files that need RAID speed on the RAID drives.
Vince
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Good point Mr. Millaard,
I should rephrase, ” Best for my budget ”
Thanks
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OK, So you are saying I would be better to have two RAID’s ?
And only using one to back up the other?
Thanks for the input.
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Although the Areca ARC-1680ix-12 is the latest and greatest SAS/SATA RAID Controller. The ARC-1231ML SATA RAID Controller is still the best performance choice when using 12 SATA drives. The ARC-1680ix-12 really outshines the ARC-1231ML in SAS drive environments only.
Raid is meant for data redundancy. Always make a back up of your data!
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The main difference is the IOP348 versus the 341 and the supported cache. That makes the 1680 series significantly faster than the 12xx series.
Harm Millaard
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Our test have shown better performance with the ARC-1231ML in SATA environments when compared with the 1680 SAS Controller series.
The IOP341 is just designed and optimized for SATA drives, than the IOP348 chipset.
Raid is meant for data redundancy. Always make a back up of your data!
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Depends on what you plan to edit.
I don’t do uncompressed SD or HD – all DV, DVCProHD, HDV – I think XDCAM will work on SATAII (3GB/s) drives as well. So my solution is now that I use the NexStar Hard Drive Dock and put the video and the scratch on a drive I plug into that. Swapping projects is as easy ejecting one hard drive and inserting another. Back up is as easy as ejecting the drive and putting it on a shelf.
With SATAII drives at $80 for 500GB, it is finally clearing away all the the plugs and drives in my work area. The NexStar Dock is $40 bucks and I am going to have 4 of them shortly. Just get a mother board with enough SATAII slots on it.
I might get a RAID someday for more consistent speed. Also if you don’t keep editing off the same drive, crashed drives are less likely so I don’t need the back up either.
All the software is on the C:\ Drive …
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