Need Video editing and Raid advice

[pnrenton]

Building new PC. Asus board with P4 2.8 GHz, 1 G DDR Ram. Doing some AV editing. I'm using a Canopus DVRaptorRT. I am thinking of using a Promise TX2000 in either RAID 0, 1 or 0+1. The hard drives I'm thinking of getting are the WD 120GB.

QUESTION 1: Should I use RAID 0 and some other type of backup? Should I use RAID 1 and if so will the performance be satisfactory for video editing? Is RAID 0+1 the answer to speed AND data backup (I just hate the idea of buying 4 drives though).

QUESTION 2: I know that the WD 120GB is an ATA-100 drive but the performance specs look better than some 133ATA's. Does the ATA 100 suffer in a RAID 0 as opposed to ATA 133 in this case?

Any advice on how to set this up would be welcomed!

 

[glister]

RAID 0 provides striping for performance, but does not offer any fault tolerance. The failure of a single drive will result in the loss of all data on the array.

RAID 0 is ideal for high bandwidth applications, such as video production, editing pre-press applications or any environment where read/write performance is paramount, but data protection is less of a concern.

RAID 1 is one of the most expensive methods of using RAID because twice the amount of storage is required for each piece of data that is written.

While RAID 0/1 provides all of the performance benefits of RAID 0 and the redundancy of RAID 1, it is very costly to implement because a minimum of 4 disks are needed.

I don't think you will notice the performance difference between ATA 100 & 133.

If you go RAID 0, you need to consider how you will backup your data.

It all comes down to "how much money you want to spend". Seems like everything is a trade-off. Performance vs. redundancy.

Good Luck. A+,N+,S+,L+,I+,CFOT,CCNT,ACSP,ISA CCST3

 

[pnrenton]

Thanks for the info. If I go with RAID 0 does anyone have a rec on the best way to backup data?

I saw some article that says that using a ATA100 HDD with the Promise TX2000 (an ATA133 optimized device) would cause possible performance problems. Something about an ATA133 HDD would be able to use the 66 pci bus and the ATA100 would cause it to drop to 33. Any ideas or is this myth?

 

[pnrenton]

Also, what's the "real world" doing out there. Are most PC video editors using RAID 0, 1, 1+0 or something else? Anyone got a setup to recommend?

 

[glister]

Again, the RAID 0 will give you the best read/write performance but no fault tolerance.

RAID 0/1 will give you RAID 0 performance with the redundancy provided by true mirroring but it takes twice as many drives.

Tape, today is probably the de facto backup solution but you might look at NAS device for backup(SnapSever).

ATA100 drives on a 133 controller will only give ATA100 speeds. If its a pci66 card in a 66 slot,it should run at 66.

UDMA66 & UDMA100 devices require a special cable to operate at the maximum bus speed. This cable actually has 80 conductors, 40 for signaling and 40 as grounds(the 40-pin connector is unchanged). If you use a non-qualified cable with UDMA66 or UDMA100 devices, the devices will automatically drop back to a transfer rate of 33MB(or less). A+,N+,S+,L+,I+,CFOT,CCNT,ACSP,ISA CCST3

 

[cdogg]

Chances are that you'd be better off going with a Raid 0 array and use a CD/DVD writer or tape backup to image your data regularly. Usually the Raid 0/1 configuration is used in a domain environment to minimize the amount of time it takes to restore from HD failure - application/domain servers. It also helps ensure that data is backed up on the fly. It would be a bit overkill, however, for you to invest in 4 drives just for video editing. Forget about mirroring and backup manually...
~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[pnrenton]

Thanks for your help. Raid 0 with some other type of backup looks like the way to go.
I'm looking for a good tape backup but so far the price for a backup drive and tapes isn't that much different than just buying a 3rd "low performing" hdd and using it for backups. Any recs on a good cost effective tape backup?