A new PC for video editing. HDD question.

1. januszian
   Member

   

   Hello! So this is my first post ever, yeay!

   I'm getting a new PC with the following specs:

   Asus P5E3 DELUXE
   Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 (when they arrive)
   4 GB of CORSAIR DDR3 1333MHZ CL9 (4 sticks)
   two SAPPHIRE HD 3850 in Crossfire (might be overkill but maybe I can play a game or two of Crysis now and then...)
   Antec P182 case
   ANTEC TRUEPOWER QUATTRO 850W

   And

   5 x WD1600AAJS 160GB in the following configuration:

   2 x in Raid 0 as the system disc.
   2 x in Raid 0 for the capture and editing disc.
   1 x for output.

   I realise that I'm screwed with RAID 0 if the drives go boom but that is my quest for ultimate speed. I don't mind if the system disc goes boom, I can always reinstall it on new discs. WD1600AAJS aren't expensive at all here in Finland.

   I also have a Lacie D2 Quaddra ESATA 500 GB as a backup disc.

   So the actual question is:

   How many separate drives should there be on a video editing capable system? I'll be editing what ever I can, DivX, Xvid, DV, HD if I come across some material sometime... (want to be ready for the future too)

   One RAID 0 for the Windows Vista.
   Should I have a different disc for installed programs also? Or can my "program files" folder be on the same disc that the windows folder is?
   One separate disc for capture and editing.
   And one for output.
   Or can the Lacie be used as an output disc?

   Thanks a lot in advance!

   Bonus question: How about the memory? Will CL9 slow me down? That's a price thing and the only solution because I have to get all the components from the same store. (part payment/instalment reasons...)

   Posted 4 years ago #

2. videolab
   Member

   

    Depends on what data rate your video streams are, and how many streams you will be simultaneously playing back. With DV and HDV the data rate for one stream is somewhere between 3 and 4 MB per second. Considering that according to AnandTech.com the drive your considering can handle a minimum of 36 MB per second and a max of 76MB per second IO with one drive you could handle at least 10 streams at once. For me I would not take the chance of data loss to get a few more streams than that. I would do a RAID on the system drive however. Another thing to consider is that your probably using a software BIOS RAID (if your using your MOBO RAID that is) which means that your not going to get double the performance of one drive. In the real world you will see considerably less than that. IF you were to use a true hardware RAID you might see a doubling of throughput. True hardware RAIDS are usually expensive though. If your doing some kind of high data rate HD or something then I would go for the RAID on everything if your going to use DV or HDV then I would not take the chance of data loss for a few extra MB per second that you will probably never notice anyway. I would go for it on the system drive because you will probably notice it when you start programs and other day to day tasks. Also just put your programs on the system drive Windows does not like it when you put programs outside of the Programs folder. I would also just go for a couple of big 500 Gig drives instead of a ton of 160s it is a waste of power and again your increasing your chances for data loss. Whatever you decide back up often my friend, and have fun with your new system!

   Posted 4 years ago #

3. januszian
   Member

   

   Thank you for the reply! Maybe I'll go with some WD Raptors instead.

   But I would like to know a few things:

   - On a system disc, which is more important: Access time or throughput? or both?

   - On the editing disc, which is more important: Access time or throughput? or both?

   - On the output disc,  which is more important: Access time or throughput? or both?

   Also, if I do RAID 0 and make a few partitions, will it be as fast as several physical discs? Or even close to it?

   Posted 4 years ago #

4. Steve
   Member

   

   Here's a good article to help you understand the basics with these high performance drives.
   And to many, why it is all just a scam to get you to pay more for less.

   http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=322

   Happy reading! :)

   Posted 4 years ago #

5. januszian
   Member

   

   Ok. So I read the article and it did make sense.

   But how to "partial stroke" or "quarter stroke" a drive? Make a super fast partition and a storage partition.

   And I still would like to know how the drive performs with multiple partitions? Is the performance same as several physical drives?

   Example if I have two 74GB Raptors or two 300GB drive that have 75GB "super fast" partitions, will the performance be close to the raptors? How will the rest of the 225GB capacity perform?

   How about if I need to access the super fast partition (which I'd imagine I would as a system disc) and the 225GB storage partition. Can the drive handle reading from both partitions?

   Posted 4 years ago #

6. januszian
   Member

   

   So I've been looking around and the WD75000AAKS looks like a cool drive!

   If I partition it into a 100GB system drive and a 650GB storage drive, I should be getting Raptor performance on my system drive? Just have to remember that se storage should not be accessed while I need optimal speeds.

   Or should I get a 74GB Raptor for system drive?

   If so here's my configuration:

   - 74GB raptor as a system drive (and with program files on the same disc. Can they be on the same disc btw.?)
   - 100 - 300 GB partition from one WD75000AAKS for the editing disc (I won't propably need huge amounts...)
   - one WD75000AAKS as the output disc

   and the Lacie QuaddraII and the 650 partition from the WD75000AAKS as a storage.

   Or maybe some other configuration that you would suggest?

   Propably the options are 74GB raptor or a small partition from a WD75000AAKS and 2 x WD75000AAKS drives.

   Posted 4 years ago #

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