storage configuration

[golasa]

Hi all,

I use FCP 6 with MacPro/snow leopard/500 GB/2 due - for editing a documentary which footage is taken by Sony EX1-HQ files.

Analyzingthe current rate, I believe I'll end up slightly below 2 TB original media files. That is not including rendering, mov files. Then of course there is the wish to backup my originals media files.
I have only little experience with post production, accordingly, I thought to configure may storage as to the following:

drive C: 500 GB - for the OX and programs, and FC Folders (cache, autosave and)
drive D: 2 TB - for FCP folders - capture video, audio, render.
drive E: 2 TB for original media.

drive F: back up of original media and back up FC project files.

I highly appreciated any input about:
1. my design and how to improve it.
2. with that setting, I opt for several independent external disks rather than Reid configuration - am I right?
3. any other advice.

FYI, I wish to keep it low budget as much as possible, as I auto finance it, and can compromise about the speed.

Thanks!

 

[RyanBellaCine]

Sounds like your design is basically ok from a performance standpoint. I can't really comment on your total drive size requirements. But good to note that as a hard drive starts to fill up, the transfer bandwidth of that drive diminishes considerably. As exampled in this page:

http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-Drive-Hitachi2TB.html


I'd leave your project files, which are small anyway, on your system drive. Then add an additional drive, perhaps just an external FireWire drive, as a Time Machine backup for you system drive. Having your project files stored in say, the documents folder, on your system drive would mean that they would automatically be backed up to Time Machine instead of you needing to manually move newly updated copies over to your media backup drive. This is important in addition to the auto-save feature of FCP because the autosave feature will only backup for lost or corrupt files. But if your system drive fails completely, all those files would be lost. Be sure Time Machine ONLY backs up the system drive. I'd say it may be possible to store smaller graphics

If the budget allows for it, a RAID config for your primary scratch drive would be optimal for drive performance and allow for decreased render & export times. Here is a great RAID option:

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-OWC_QX2.html

Of course to get the most from a RAID such as this you would need a eSATA PCI card.

http://macperformanceguide.com/Recommended-MacPro-SATA.html

The other option would be Apple's own MacPro RAID card which utilizes the internal SATA bays. If your Mac Pro only has 1 CD drive, you could move your system drive to the secondary CD drive spot, and create a 4 drive internal RAID 5 setup using the Apple RAID Card.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA849Z/B


A RAID obviously allows for a larger total media volume as well as higher transfer speeds & a bit of RAID security if one of those drive's fail, you don't loose all your data as you would when kept as separate drives. Of course you plan on having mirrored backups, but then you loose some time creating a new backup. A RAID allows for replacing a failed drive with a spare, and the RAID setup rebuilds the rest automatically with less down time.

 

[djkarn105]

Ok,

first of all, be warned about moving your system drive to the cd drive slot. If you have a bootcamp partition, Windows will no work from one of the optical ports.

In terms of a no cost solution to get the most bang for your buck, here's my setup.

1 -150GB 10,000 RPM WD Velociraptor
>100GB OS X partition
>50GB Windows XP partition

2 - 250GB WD Caviar
> Both drives are partitioned, inner 100GB and outer 150
> 100GB partitions striped into a render partition. I set this as my scratch disk in FCP.
>150GB partitions are concatenated (you could also stripe them) into a backup volume. This is where I have time machine back up my system to. If your OS disk crashes, this is the fastest way to be up and running in no time.

2 - 500GB Samsung Spinpoint
>Both Drives Partitioned 200GB and 300GB
>200GB Partitions in striped set. This is my working drive, all my source media gets captured here.
>300GB Partitions in a MIRRORED set. I keep a backup of all the raw media files of the current project I'm working on here.

The reason for my set up is two reasons. First, when randomly accessing data on your hard drive (which is what is happening when you are editing), the computer is searching the whole partition. By breaking the drive into smaller partitions the computer doesn't have to search as large of an area and so you cut down on your seek time.

The second reason is that drive access is faster on the first sector of the drive than at the last sector. This is because the closer a sector is to the spindle, for any given rotational speed, the head can get to it faster because there is less distance to travel (think of the inner circumference of a CD versus the outer circumference). By partitioning the drive you are ensuring that data you want on a high performance area of the disk ends up there.

Of course any disks hooked up to a dedicated hardware raid controller in raid 0 or 5 are going to outperform your software raid but this is a free way to improve system performance.