I'm going to be building a new computer next week which will have two SATA WD 640GB 6400AAKS drives. I plan on using it primarily for encoding HD material. I've been reading up on the different levels of RAID but before I go any further, is it really necessary to implement RAID for this application? Thanks in advance.
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Do I need RAID?
- Thread starter Xee
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no, raid is never neccesary.
but for encoding it can help, using RAID 0 arrays can speed up the HD transfer speeds, IF your processor can encode / decode fast enough to keep data going to the HD...
what i do is i put m file onto a raid 0, and i save them to a normal single drive.. so i know my source drive wont be a bottle neck for data.
what are your other specs?
but for encoding it can help, using RAID 0 arrays can speed up the HD transfer speeds, IF your processor can encode / decode fast enough to keep data going to the HD...
what i do is i put m file onto a raid 0, and i save them to a normal single drive.. so i know my source drive wont be a bottle neck for data.
what are your other specs?
Few people NEED raid. In some situations it can provide some performance increase. Or it can be used to make your data more secure. It can also be used to make things more convenient.
In your situation, your drives will be plenty fast enough to do video encoding. You may want to consider a RAID 0 setup to take your 2 drives into 1 drive just for convenience sake. Just remember that if either drive fails, the entire array will be lost. Of course your other option is to keep the 2 drives separate, and read from 1 drive while writing to the other when you are doing your video work.
This is a hot button topic at times, so expect multiple responses ranging from "you can't live without it" to "it's a total waste of time."
Just remember that every level of RAID has advantages and disadvantages.
Don
In your situation, your drives will be plenty fast enough to do video encoding. You may want to consider a RAID 0 setup to take your 2 drives into 1 drive just for convenience sake. Just remember that if either drive fails, the entire array will be lost. Of course your other option is to keep the 2 drives separate, and read from 1 drive while writing to the other when you are doing your video work.
This is a hot button topic at times, so expect multiple responses ranging from "you can't live without it" to "it's a total waste of time."
Just remember that every level of RAID has advantages and disadvantages.
Don
Here's what's going into the new build:
Case: Antec 900
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
Mobo: Asus Rampage Formula
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB
PSU: PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V
Storage: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB x 2
Video Card: Visiontek Radeon HD 4850
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Heatsink Lapped + 120mm Scythe Minebea
DVD: Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bit
I think ultimately that second option sounds the best. This will only be my second time building so I'd like to make it as easy as possible on myself (I'm dreading installing the heatsink as it is). Thanks for the input.
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If you want to keep it simple, then just use the drives as seperate inidividual drives,. those drives are fast enouvgh they should be fine.
Should I make a partition for the OS or does it not really have an effect on performance?
I would not make a separate partition, and also I would only have one hooked up for the install process then add the 2nd one later. Edit: this is to prevent windows from putting some system files on the 2nd drive (it sometimes does this for no apparent reason)
Also since you are running Vista 64 bit and doing encoding, I'd consider maxing your RAM to whatever the MB can support (8GB in your case) since RAM is the cheapest way to increase performance. When dealing with large data sets, more RAM is always better than faster RAM. (of course more of the faster RAM is best)
Also since you are running Vista 64 bit and doing encoding, I'd consider maxing your RAM to whatever the MB can support (8GB in your case) since RAM is the cheapest way to increase performance. When dealing with large data sets, more RAM is always better than faster RAM. (of course more of the faster RAM is best)