RAID questions...

  • Thread starter Thread starter MT
  • Start date Start date
M

MT

I'm planning on setting up a RAID 0 array in a new system I plan to build
for audio and video work.
My idea is using 1 IDE ATA100 80G drive for the OS (win XP) and most
software 2 x 120G SATA drives in a RAID 0 array for data such as audio,
video, images etc. I've heard it's best to seperate the OS and software from
the data used on different drives. Would this be an appropriate or the best
way to set up my drives? (I'm planning on using the Asus P4C800 E Deluxe).

Also out of curiosity, if you use 2 x 8meg cache drives in a RAID 0 array,
does this mean that your hard drive cache will be now be 16Meg for the Raid
Array?

Thanks in advance...

Matt

ps. Any suggestion on the best 120G SATA 8meg cache HDD?
 
On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 23:41:46 +1100, "MT" <[email protected]>
wrote:
What advantages are you trying to achieve going to a RAID setup?
I do video editing and am currently trying to build a cluster to get
more power/speed for video rendering etc...
Not having much luck getting anyone to part with the info on how to
build such a system based on a windows platform(win2k)
I'm trying to stay away from XP because of all the problem inherent in
that OS inregards to video editing/duplication and I just find win2k
pro to run faster and more stable for my apps.
Harry
 
The ps first:
The Maxtor MX6Y120M0
The Western Digital WD120JD
What environment you put these tings in is very important.

I use Gigaraid for my PATA RAID 0 and Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 8 ( 32k
stripe) and am delighted with 90 or so mB/s

For Serial RAID 0 I use a pair of WD Raptors on the SIL3112controller. These
go as fast as the system will let them go. They run about 100 mB/s.

In both cases the measurements are made on long data files. That is over
256kB.
 
I'm planning on setting up a RAID 0 array in a new system I plan to build
for audio and video work.
My idea is using 1 IDE ATA100 80G drive for the OS (win XP) and most
software 2 x 120G SATA drives in a RAID 0 array for data such as audio,
video, images etc. I've heard it's best to seperate the OS and software
from the data used on different drives. Would this be an appropriate or
the best way to set up my drives? (I'm planning on using the Asus P4C800 E
Deluxe).
Click to expand...

What are you trying to get out of RAID? Why do you want to separate the data
and OS/Software? Personally, I'd set everything up on a RAID and have a 3rd
drive to backup my data to. That's the best solution, IMO. With RAID,
you'll increase you disk performance. If your apps load from a single
drive, you've reduced the effectiveness of the RAID because you haven't
used it for this purpose. Some apps, such as video capture, are pretty big
and you'll get a nice speed boost from the RAID.

Be aware that with RAID, every disk added to the array exponentially
increases the risk of losing the data. If one drive fails, the stripe is
broken and rendered useless with RAID 0. Therefore, backup is high
priority.
Also out of curiosity, if you use 2 x 8meg cache drives in a RAID 0 array,
does this mean that your hard drive cache will be now be 16Meg for the
Raid Array?
Click to expand...

Not really. The data gets split to 2 drives which get written independently.
It's just that each drive contains half the info. I don't think the
positives and the negatives are the same as having a drive with a single 16
MB cache.
ps. Any suggestion on the best 120G SATA 8meg cache HDD?
Click to expand...

I'm a firm believer in Maxtor, but Western Digital is pretty good too.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
5:27pm up 39 days 2:12, 2 users, load average: 0.02, 0.05, 0.01

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...
 
I set up my SATA drives in a RAID 0 with the OS and programs on that drive.
Since you are using it in a RAID 0 config, there really isn't any benefit to
partitioning the array (my opinion). I use an IDE drive for backup/video
capture/cd image/etc. It is partitioned, with the first 5GB being the
Windows virtual memory. Helps keep disk fragmentation down.

I'm using the WD Raptors (2X36 GB, 10000 RPM, 8MB cache) for the SATA
drives, and am quite pleased with them. They also have the 72 GB Raptors
now. The 2X36 is plenty of room for me, with the large IDE drive for storage
and video/audio projects.

Fitz
 
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