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Hard Drive Suggestions for a new build. Caviar Blacks in RAID & Video Editing

N

no cigar

Junior Member
Hey guys, I'm building a new system and I've finally arrived @ the crossroads of HD selection.

There are a few 'definitely(s)':
1. SSD 120GB OS/Boot Drive
2. The need for a massive >=2TB general storage drive.(Video Editing/Mediawhore Storage/Transcoding b/w PC and PS3 for Media server ops)
3. When I de-commission my current build, I'll have a bare 500gb Hitachi Deskstar 7200RPM SATA with 16mb cache.

The options I'm considering all pertain to satisfying #2.They are:
a. Single Caviar Black 2TB
b. DUal Caviar Black 2TB(save up and then purchase a 2nd for a RAID1 storage array) But is this bad for media streaming/transcoding to PS3??
c. Dual 1GB Caviar Black in Raid0 with an external backup -- Better for streaming media/transcoding to PS3????

And as for my Hitachi, would I be better served for ripping HD video from my camcorder and using it as a project drive if I found a mate and put them in a RAID0 array? Or just use the SSD?

Thanks for the help.
 
video editing is best use of raid-0 or raid-10 for the speed you will need. ssd will wear out with real load of writing that goes on and ssd isn't the fastest in writing encoded video.

a nice defragged pair for fast 7200 drives raid-0 can easily outrun many ssd's (keep in mind sandforce drives are benched with compression and zero byte - they are far slower when using pre-compressed data)
 
Thanks.

Looks like I'll take a mate to the 500gig I've got and put it on a RAID-0 array for the editing. Also, would it be good to use some of that for running apps as well, or keep them on the SSD?

For an SSD, I was thinking the Crucial 300.
 
i'd do boot/swap for adobe/swap for apps on ssd, heavy linear read/write on raid-set.

very similar to a small sql server setup. they use journal logs (linear write) on a separate drive set traditionally and then sql will write the database when it has some spare time.

As long as that crucial 300 is not sandforce - go for it.
 
I just purchased two 1TB FAEX drives, I'm happy with them
I'm not using raid, but do a manual backup between the two with rsync and it's pretty fast.

BTW they are silent as can be, I don't understand the whole green drive fad
 
Emulex said:
i'd do boot/swap for adobe/swap for apps on ssd, heavy linear read/write on raid-set.

very similar to a small sql server setup. they use journal logs (linear write) on a separate drive set traditionally and then sql will write the database when it has some spare time.

As long as that crucial 300 is not sandforce - go for it.
Click to expand...

Pardon my ignorance but could you explain the Boot/Swap for Adobe/Swap... Are you referring to hot swap?
 
Just a warning...I would not use newer WD drives in RAID arrays unless you buy their Raid Series drives (more expensive). The reason for this is because they don't enable you to change the TLER setting and can cause problems with your RAID controller dropping drives from the array.
 
adobe apps like photoshop have their own swap files so you can place them separately from the pagefile. so if you had a 32gb ssd you could use it exclusively for swap - this was more important when ram wasn't so cheap (and ssd's weren't so cheap).

the only WD drives i use in raid are their enterprise drives (ie RE4 or enterprise velociraptor). enterprise velociraptor are 2.5" meant to plug into well ventilated hot swap setting - no heatsink - tler set appropriately and binned for higher reliability.

keep in mind most nearline enterprise drives (not all) are not designed for constant spindown/up - some iirc were rated at 1000 which is far less than a consumer drive. i suspect this has/will change as things get more green
 
I'm not convinced you'll gain much real-world benefit from RAID-0 of modern drives. If you were video-editing big uncompressed and/or HD video streams then maybe yes, but for just format conversion to PS3 I'm pretty sure you're going to be CPU limited long before your hard disks slow you down.

Put it this way - select one of the sort of video files you'd be converting. Time how long it takes to copy the whole file from one hard disk to another. If your CPU could convert the whole video file in less time than it took to copy, you need faster hard disks. Otherwise I don't think you do.
 
no cigar said:
The options I'm considering all pertain to satisfying #2.They are:
a. Single Caviar Black 2TB
b. DUal Caviar Black 2TB(save up and then purchase a 2nd for a RAID1 storage array) But is this bad for media streaming/transcoding to PS3??
c. Dual 1GB Caviar Black in Raid0 with an external backup -- Better for streaming media/transcoding to PS3????
Click to expand...

You'll still want the external backup regardless of whether you do a single drive, RAID0 or RAID1. See, RAID1 protects against data loss when one drive dies, but it does not protect against data loss due to accidental deletion, data corruption or malware infection.

MrScott81 said:
Just a warning...I would not use newer WD drives in RAID arrays unless you buy their Raid Series drives (more expensive). The reason for this is because they don't enable you to change the TLER setting and can cause problems with your RAID controller dropping drives from the array.
Click to expand...

This is very true. You need drives made for RAID these days, because normal drives will drop out of the array. I've seen this happen numerous times.
 
MrScott81 said:
Just a warning...I would not use newer WD drives in RAID arrays unless you buy their Raid Series drives (more expensive). The reason for this is because they don't enable you to change the TLER setting and can cause problems with your RAID controller dropping drives from the array.
Click to expand...

Heard a number of WD balcks fail on the new Intel Matrix Raid controller.....so would recommend Blue instead!
 
Hey guys I picked up an older 3200AAKS drive last night but it does not have the Caviar Blue Branding/Designation. I'm assuming it's virtually the same drive although it has a mfg date of 2008. Would it still be the same single platter design in a 320g Blue?
 
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