Best RAID config?

Andrew J Morin · February 7th, 2008, 10:23 AM

I think you're on track with having all of your project file catagories tied to unique physical drive systems.

With fault tolerance a non-issue for you, then you'll want three 2-drive RAID-0 (stripes) for maximum speed, with the 7th drive added to the array used for your scratch disks.

You might even take the extra step of getting 3 separate SATA controller cards for these arrays, and run your system off of the on-board controller. Most on board cards only control 4 drive as it is, so you're already looking at one extra controller board, I suppose.

Adam Gold · February 7th, 2008, 12:27 PM

That's pretty much what I've got planned. The system drive will run off the onboard controller, with the 7 x 1TB drives running off the Areca 1231 with 2GB cache RAM and the Battery Backup module... that added a quick $1200 to the system.

The problem with three roughly equal array sizes is that the video drive will fill up relatively quickly, while leaving the other drives virtually empty. So I guess I'll have to sacrifice some speed on the non-video drives to balance out the capacity. If I had more slots or was planning to utilize external drive arrays I could split the 1TB drives into 2 x 500GB and gain some speed, I suppose. Oh, well, everything's a compromise...

Thanks for the input.

Mike McCarthy · February 7th, 2008, 01:18 PM

For AspectHD, you are looking at 10-15MB/s per stream With a 7 disk array on a good controller, you should 300-400MB/s. Should be no contest for the Raid. You will find other factors limiting your throughput when using compressed HD on a fast array.

Adam Gold · February 7th, 2008, 02:10 PM

Mike, thanks for that perspective. Looks like much of what I'm asking about here is academic, then.

Appreciate the input as always.

February 7th, 2008, 01:18 PM	#18
Mike McCarthy Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 517	For AspectHD, you are looking at 10-15MB/s per stream With a 7 disk array on a good controller, you should 300-400MB/s. Should be no contest for the Raid. You will find other factors limiting your throughput when using compressed HD on a fast array. __________________ For more information on these topics, check out my tech website at www.hd4pc.com

February 7th, 2008, 10:23 AM	#16
Andrew J Morin Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 140	I think you're on track with having all of your project file catagories tied to unique physical drive systems. With fault tolerance a non-issue for you, then you'll want three 2-drive RAID-0 (stripes) for maximum speed, with the 7th drive added to the array used for your scratch disks. You might even take the extra step of getting 3 separate SATA controller cards for these arrays, and run your system off of the on-board controller. Most on board cards only control 4 drive as it is, so you're already looking at one extra controller board, I suppose.

February 7th, 2008, 12:27 PM	#17
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	That's pretty much what I've got planned. The system drive will run off the onboard controller, with the 7 x 1TB drives running off the Areca 1231 with 2GB cache RAM and the Battery Backup module... that added a quick $1200 to the system. The problem with three roughly equal array sizes is that the video drive will fill up relatively quickly, while leaving the other drives virtually empty. So I guess I'll have to sacrifice some speed on the non-video drives to balance out the capacity. If I had more slots or was planning to utilize external drive arrays I could split the 1TB drives into 2 x 500GB and gain some speed, I suppose. Oh, well, everything's a compromise... Thanks for the input.

February 7th, 2008, 02:10 PM	#19
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	Mike, thanks for that perspective. Looks like much of what I'm asking about here is academic, then. Appreciate the input as always.