computer specs and RAID 0

L

Lucian

Carbonite Member
I ordered this computer and it's set up with a RAID 0. Is this a configuration that's useful in editing? I'm not even sure what RAID 0 does, other than presumably the two drives work in concert somehow to increase overall speed. Can RAID 0 be de-RAIDED and made to work as two independent drives? I'd like one drive dedicated to programs and the other dedicated to video files.

Here are the specs:
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Home PremiumMemory
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (6 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive
500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 2nd Drive
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)Video
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4350Processor
Processor: Intel Core i7-920 Processor (8MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz)Certified Refurbished
Certified RefurbishedBase
Studio XPS Desktop - 435 Mini TowerMedia Bay
6X Blu-ray (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilitySoftware Upgrade
Windows Live
64BIT Operating System DVD
Microsoft Works 9.0
64BIT Operating System CDHardware Upgrade
Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
USB Multimedia Keyboard
125V Power Cord
Dell USB 6-Button Logitech Mouse
No Modem
 
A RAID 0 configuration will aid in speed and performance when editing, especially when dealing with HD. However, it provides no redundancy. So yes, it is useful when editing, but if one drive fails, your out of luck.
 
DigitalNoir said:
A RAID 0 configuration will aid in speed and performance when editing, especially when dealing with HD. However, it provides no redundancy. So yes, it is useful when editing, but if one drive fails, your out of luck.
Click to expand...

This is true if the raided drives are running the programs? or storing video files?

I don't quite get the redundancy thing, the alternative to raid 0 would be a single drive, and it that drive fails you're still hosed right?
 
I don't quite get the redundancy thing, the alternative to raid 0 would be a single drive
Click to expand...


There are several alternatives to Raid 0, Raid 1 is two drives each a mirror of the other. With Raid 1 you don't get the speed or space advantage of Raid 0, instead you get protection against a single drive failure. Raid 5 is also a choice which gives redundancy and some of the space increase of Raid 0.

This is true if the raided drives are running the programs? or storing video files?
Click to expand...

If the program is on a raid drive you are generally only a reinstall away, if your video files are on it (which is what makes sense performance wise), then you risk losing the data if you don't have it backed up elsewhere.

I have lost important video data from a raid 0 array (it does happen). I have lost a drive from a raid 5 array and didn't lose anything.
 
capt chuck said:
If the program is on a raid drive you are generally only a reinstall away, if your video files are on it (which is what makes sense performance wise), then you risk losing the data if you don't have it backed up elsewhere.
Click to expand...

What I mean is if there's a performance advantage to dedicating the RAID 0 to programs only?
 
The hard drives of today are very efficient for running your OS and programs on.

I have removable hard drives for my OS and software. One designated for my audio
programs and the other for my NLE.

Internally I have 2 drives for audio samples, (2 ) 750 drives stripped / Raid O
and just added 2 SATA 1 TB drives. The SATA drives available now are very fast and
don't need to be in a Raid config. like my 2 750's which are a couple of years old.

For the best performance, have your OS and programs on it's own HD and a
seperate drive(s) for your DATA. HD takes up a lot of space (1 GB a minute) so
plan ahead.

Good luck.

My PC Specs in case your interested:

VisionDAW 4U 8-Core Xeon Workstation
2 Intel QUAD-Core Xeon 5365-3.0GHz, 8MB, 1333MHz Processors
16GB 667MHz Fully Buffered Server Memory Modules (2x2GB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition
Microsoft® Windows® Windows 7 x64
WDC 250GB, Ultra ATA100, 7200 rpm, 8MG Buffer Main OS HD
2 WWDC 750GB, SATA II, 7200 RPM, 16MB Buffer HD (Raid 0)
2 WDC 750GB, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MG Buffer HD (Samples)
2 WDC 1TB Enterprise Class, SATA II, 7200 RPM, 32MB Buffer Hard Drive
MOTU 24 I/O (main) / MOTU 2408mk3 (slave)
Plexor PX-800A 18X Dbl. Layer DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
Front Panel USB Acess
Integrated FireWire (1394a) interface
Thermaltake Toughpower 850W Power Supply
Dual ESATA Bracket
3xUAD1 Universal Audio Cards
NVIDIA QUADRO FX 1800 / Memory 768 MB GDDR3
CUDA Parallel Processor Cores / 64
Maximum Display Resolution Digital @60Hz = 2560x1600
Memory Interface 192Bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) / 38.4 GB/sec
PCI-Express, DUAL-Link DVI 1
Digital Outputs 3 (2 out of 3 active at a time)
Dual 25.5" Samsung 2693HM LCD HD Monitors
 
A tech guy said partitioning my RAID 0 is identical in performance to having a dedicated program drive and a dedicated data drive. That true?
 
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