3 SATA Harddisk Config/Setup

[suankee]

Hi

I need advice on how to setup my computer. I use it for capturing DV into my hardisk > simple video editing > convert to DVD. I have

2 X Seagate Sata 120 Gbyte
1 X Seagate Sata 160 GByte

Should I configure
1) both 120 Gbyte as RAID 0 and install Win XP on the 160 GByte. How should I partition both hardisk?
or
2) Leave it as 3 individual SATA Harddisk.

Wonder which will be for efficient especially for rendering from DV avi to DVD MPEG 2.


Thanks

[waheed]

I would suggest exactly your options mentioned in 1)

I would not partition any drive. Use the 160GB for capturing and encode to your RAID 0 drives.

[thevoelk]

I'd recommend getting one more 120GB SATA and going with RAID-5 for fault tolerance, other than that you're right on.

[Prot]

RAID-5, I believe, is only supported on server systems.

[waheed]

RAID-5, I believe, is only supported on server systems.

Not true. My motherbaord supports Raid 5.

[thevoelk]

Mine too. HIgher-end PCI RAID cards usually do too.

[edDV]

I would avoid RAID altogether. It has no benefit for single stream capture and many problems if you use motherboard RAID options with SATA drives (search RAID and SATA).

You can try to help the mobo manufacturers solve their problems or get to work editing.

Assign one drive for OS and programs, use the other two as project drives. Get to work.

[redwudz]

What edDV said. I quit using RAID0 about a year ago. It crashed 3 or 4 times and I lost everything on both drives each time.

That's not why I quit using it. I got a ADVC-100 and it was overkill for speed. DV is not that drive intensive. I found it much more convenient to use the individual HDs.

I have three SATA drives now, One for OS, one for video, one for editing. (And a fourth IDE for programs backup) One partition on each drive. Never saw the need to split up a drive with partitions.

[suankee]

What edDV said. ....I got a ADVC-100 and it was overkill for speed. ........
I have three SATA drives now, One for OS, one for video, one for editing. (And a fourth IDE for programs backup) One partition on each drive. Never saw the need to split up a drive with partitions.

To redwudz

1) What is ADVC-100?

2) Can you be more specific with the 3 SATA drives config. I don't understand what you meant by 1 for video 1 for editing, aren't they the same?


Thanks

[suankee]

Not true. My motherbaord supports Raid 5.

Mine too. HIgher-end PCI RAID cards usually do too.

To Waheed and Thevoelk

What is the brand and model of motherboard that you are using, is it expensive?

Thanks

[budz]

What edDV said. ....I got a ADVC-100 and it was overkill for speed. ........
I have three SATA drives now, One for OS, one for video, one for editing. (And a fourth IDE for programs backup) One partition on each drive. Never saw the need to split up a drive with partitions.

To redwudz

1) What is ADVC-100?

2) Can you be more specific with the 3 SATA drives config. I don't understand what you meant by 1 for video 1 for editing, aren't they the same?


Thanks

It is a CANOPUS ADVC-100 which is a analog to digital converter.
http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ADVC-100/pm_advc-100.asp

For example one drive can be used to install your operating system then use the 2nd drive for capturing video and the other drive for editing what you've captured.

[redwudz]

ADVC-100= External Analog to DV converter box. I generally process VHS tapes to DVD via DV with it.

3 separate SATA hard drives, 80G each. I run the OS and the programs from one. The next is the drive I transfer DV to from the ADVC. Third one I use when I save an edit or for temporary video files. It's the one that gets the most erases as I usually clean it out when the project is done.

The only reason for the 80G drive size is they were cheap at the time.

I have two SATA controllers on my MB, so the drives are on separate channels and controllers. If you just partition a drive and write from one partition to the other you are using only one controller and channel. That has the possibility of slowing down the transfers.

Before I got the ADVC, I captured with a ATI video card. I always kept the 'capture' drive separate from the OS drive for the best speed. The edit drive idea is left over from then when I wanted to keep the capture drive just for capturing. DV is about 13GB an hour, so I can put a little less than six hours on it.

Just my system. There are other ways, but this works well for me.

[suankee]

HI all of you
Thank you for the the contributions and info. It is of much help to me.

I will most likely stick to the the 3 drives config as redwudz have previously suggested. Reason being data integrity.
I have some bad experiences recently when my motherboard crashes and I have to transfer my 2 X seagate 120 Gbyte Raid 0 (Silicon Graphics) to my new motherboard which is Raid 0(Intel Base), It couldn't read anything and I lost all the data in it. So Sad.

My newly purchased motherboard does not support Raid 5. Too Bad, should have done more research here instead of jumping right into it, so this option of using Raid 5 is out for me.

I am just wondering, even though the RAID 0 array might not improve performance on the DV capture as the standard 7200 rpm hardisk can cope with it:
1) will it improve the performance of rendering encoding to Mpeg 2 by a large amount?
2) Has anyone out there tried it before? Any results in % or time improvement to support your views will be better.

Thank you

[edDV]

I am just wondering, even though the RAID 0 array might not improve performance on the DV capture as the standard 7200 rpm hardisk can cope with it:
1) will it improve the performance of rendering encoding to Mpeg 2 by a large amount?
2) Has anyone out there tried it before? Any results in % or time improvement to support your views will be better.

Thank you

Encoding runs the HDD much slower than capturing so it isn't an issue. Encoding speed is limited by CPU speed and running a minimal amount of RAM required by the encoder. Usually 512MB RAM is enough and 1GB is overkill for encoders

For CPU you want the fastest you can afford.

[dfgh11]

I've got 1 SATA amongst an bunch of ATA's and after about a week of use files on it become corrupt, and scan disk has to delete everything on there; this has happened twice. Is this my hard drive(WD 250Gb SATA)would you say? If so, it can go back, 'cause it's only a week or so old.

[edDV]

I've got 1 SATA amongst an bunch of ATA's and after about a week of use files on it become corrupt, and scan disk has to delete everything on there; this has happened twice. Is this my hard drive(WD 250Gb SATA)would you say? If so, it can go back, 'cause it's only a week or so old.

Mobo sata may be suspect.

PCI sata cards like http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?segment=Non-RAID%20HBAs&product_id=139#
may be more reliable.