Most efficient use of HD

texvanwinkle

texvanwinkle

Well-known member
I'm not sure where to post this, but there's an external HD sticky here, so it seems relevant.

I've got a number of HD at my disposal, but I'm finding that my initial plan on how to use them all might not be the best. I've just shot my first wedding, and I've got a promo video for my kids' school that I'm starting this week. Work is starting to flow and I want to get my system set up most efficiently now before I get anymore footage in.

Here's what I have:

* 3 - 250Mb Western Digitals striped for a total of ~680Gb (came this way when I bought my old Mac Pro used; not wedded to keeping them RAIDed)
* 1 - 620Gb Western Digital (system drive)
* 1 - 1Tb Buffalo Network Drive (I like the idea of being able to access files from the Net if need be; I plan to use this as my system b/u)
* 2 - 500Mb Western Digital (not currently in use)
* 2 - 120Gb (Maxtor and Seagate) housed in an old XP tower, currently full of old files.

One of the latter 120Gb drives houses all of our personal photographs and videos (currently backed up to DVD and the network drive). I've just lately considered de-RAIDing the three 250's in my Mac Pro (all the data is backed up on an external 320Gb) and using the two 500Gb drives internally on a mirror for video editing. I could then use the last bay for one of the 250s for our personal stuff so I don't have to keep copying stuff over the network from my MP to my XP tower. I could then use the 1Tb network drive to backup the system drive and the personal media drive. That would leave 2-250s, 2-120s, and the external 320 for additional storage down the road.

Does that sound like the best use for video work, or does someone have a better idea?

Thanks,

Clint
 
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Anyone? I'm ready to ditch a RAID, unless someone with more experience at this than me thinks that's a bad idea.
 
Most of the users here will suggest avoiding RAID 0. Personally I use RAID 0 and have an on-site and off-site backup on external drives. I HAVE experienced RAID 0 failure but still feel the cost/performance ratio is worth it, personally (but not for system drives). If your controller supports RAID 5, I would use that for the 3-drive set and make that your system drive.
It might be time to lose the older, smaller drives. You could put them in a JBOD array but you're not going to have much for performance and you'll need a lot of power to keep them spinning.
 
ProfessorU said:
Most of the users here will suggest avoiding RAID 0. Personally I use RAID 0 and have an on-site and off-site backup on external drives. I HAVE experienced RAID 0 failure but still feel the cost/performance ratio is worth it, personally (but not for system drives). If your controller supports RAID 5, I would use that for the 3-drive set and make that your system drive.
It might be time to lose the older, smaller drives. You could put them in a JBOD array but you're not going to have much for performance and you'll need a lot of power to keep them spinning.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I'm just using a software RAID established by the gent from whom I bought my computer. I didn't expect it, but when I switched all three drives to my new Mac Pro, the RAID stayed intact. So I can't do a RAID 5; no card.

And you're right: I'm not expecting much from the older drives. I certainly don't plan to store anything crucial on them, and may use one to back up the other. Or I may just not use them at all, per your advice. They are both 4-5 years old now.

I'm remembering now that Larry Jordan suggests the RAID 0 as well for video editing, so long as you have proper backup. Hm.

Okay, more to think about.
 
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