Best way to install CS4?
 

Hi all,

Due to lots of problems with Adobe Media Encoder, I've been forced to reformat and reinstall everything.

Having just received the CS4 upgrade, it didn't come with any set up information. So I need some advice on where to install it.

The drive set up is as follows:

C: RAID 0 = 2 x 300GB Raptors (Vista 64 OS)
D: RAID 5 = 3 x 1.5TB drives (To be used for data etc)

I was thinking of installing CS4 on the C drive and the projects/video footage on the D drive?

I'm also going to install Neoscene, but according to their website it says it should be installed on a "Single SATA separate from OS"

Does that mean I need to install another hard drive specifically for Neo Scene?

I a bit confused about the whole thing to be honest.

Thanks in advance.

Put your footage on the fastest drive. But dont have the OS on it. I would suggest using the 2 300GB raptors for your raid 0 for editing, partition your 3TB R5 for your OS and then data storage.

Mitchell,

I do not agree. I think it best to remove the raid0 all together. Use one disk for OS & programs, including CS4, use the second disk for pagefile, projects and scratch and use the raid5 for media. Raid0 on a boot disk is a bad idea.

I agreed.. RAID-0 on boot disk is just a bad idea.

Also, is your RAID-5 software based or hardware? It's easy to find. Do you pay a lot for a raid controller card. If not, it's software raid. Software RAID 5 is very slow. RAID-5 with 3 drives provides redundacy but no performance enhanced.

I would suggest use a single drive as boot drive and OS. Then all footage on a RAID-0. Then setup a backup system to back up your RAID-0 daily.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll remove the OS from the RAID 0. I mistakenly assumed RAID 0 for boot disk would make the whole system faster.

Taky, I have a RocketRAID 2320 hardware controller.

HighPoint-RocketRAID 2320

I've ordered another hard drive and I'm thinking of doing the following.

1 - 300GB (10,000rpm) > Vista 64 OS & other programs
2 - 300GB (10,000rpm) > ADOBE CS3 & Cineform Neoscene & Project files
3 - 300GB (10,000rpm) > Scratch disk


RAID 0 these two drives for the Media files
4 - 1.5TBGB (7,200rpm)
5 - 1.5TBGB (7,200rpm)


6 - 1.5TBGB (7,200rpm) > Standalone backup drive


Does that seem okay or is there a better configuration?

Syeed,

I have heard good things about the RocketRaid controller card. But I think it is still using software RAID-5. If you want performance, RAID-0 + backup system is good.

Here's my setup

1 x 750GB for OS, programs, and data
4 x 1TB RAID-0 for all video work

Then I run a automatic backup program (every few hours) to backup all files from the RAID drive except the source .avi files. I backup source avi files to a separate harddrive just one time, then keep the hdd offline. Besides, you always have the original tape that you can recapture. So that's not necessary to backup those source files.

So if I might, I will suggest this setup for you

Boot drive
1 - 300GB (10,000rpm) > Vista 64 OS & all other programs

RAID-0 Video drive
2 - 1.5TBGB (7,200rpm)
3 - 1.5TBGB (7,200rpm)
4 - 1.5TBGB (7,200rpm)

JBOD backup drive
5 - 300GB (10,000rpm)
6 - 300GB (10,000rpm)

backup drive only backup essential files that you created.. those that you can't afford to loose if your RAID-0 failed. I use SecondCopy to do the job. I scheduled it to run every few hours. So if sometimes i screw up and save an edit, or a corrupted project file, I can always go to the backup drive to locate the version is saved few hours ago. It safes life =)

I stongly suggest you get Matrox Axio card with your CS4 ... more benefits than could be listed here.

Thanks Taky. I've changed it a little and set up the following.

Boot drive
1 - 300GB (10,000rpm) > Vista 64 OS & all other programs

2 - 300GB (10,000rpm) > All Adobe CS4 software & cineform (when I get it)

RAID-0 Video drive
3 - 1.5TB (7,200rpm)
4 - 1.5TB (7,200rpm)
5 - 1.5TB (7,200rpm)

BACKUP
2 x 1.5TB external hard drives for media files & projects (Thanks for the backup software info)


That leaves me with 1 x 300GB (10,000rpm) Hard drive.

Should I turn that into a scratch drive for both Video & audio? Perhaps also use it as a back up drive as well?


So far so good, it's all working well. Have tested AME and the PC hasn't crashed. It was a problem i've been having for a while now. Seems i set the whole thing up wrong on my PC.

Once again, thanks to everyone for your help.


Looks like I'll have to save up for that one. Thanks for the info Brian

Hey,

Glad you like my setup and my suggestions. I would still think there is really no need to separate the OS and other applications. Applications are loaded after it is started. So the chance of slowing you down during the video editing process is very unlikely.

You also have to worry about if your motherboard has that many SATA ports, and your power supply is good enough to work with all these many harddrives at the same time.

I would also recommend NOT TO BUY any external enclosure. In time, you will have many different enclosures all with different power adapter. Very messy to carry around. I recommend this kind of tray-less removable system. You don't need to buy enclosure. Only the bare drive (Cheapest). No need for additional power supply. and virtually unlimited storage.

L.A. Color Shop Blog | Trayless Removable Harddrive System

with that, you can use all your current hdd as backup purpose.. or offline storage.