HD configuration for photo editing

Hello, I am building my new PC around ans ASUS P5B-V mainboard, with Intel CORE

2 DUO E6320 1.86GHZ processor and 2GB RAM. I am looking for opinions on this

hardware and for advice regarding HD configuration: My initial idea was to buy

an 80 gb SATA disk for the Operating System and software, and a bigger one for

the images and for the temporary files. But someone suggests to buy 2 large HD

and to configure them in RAID for better performance... what do you think?

I will be processing Nikon D200 raw (nef) images with Capture NX and Photoshop,

don't need the best possible performance, just something I can use to browse,

edit and print my images without too-long times. I am currently using a laptop

with pentium 4-M 2.2 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, and find it... well... not very fast. Thank

you! Marco

You do realise that your processor speeds will be slower than your current. The benefit will be if your using 2 applications at one time. I have a T7600 processor (core2duo 2.33/667/4) which is slower that the 2.67 that it replaced, when dealing with single applications.<P>If your not an application/program junkie or a gamer, your idea for HD will be fine. That's what I did for my set-up, an 80 SATA for OS and other software. Now, you just start stacking storage HDs or mini sever for files.

Thank you Dave. I thought that even a single application could benefit from the dual processor achitecture, making the comparison of the Mhz numbers useless. Seem wrong from your experience.

Speeding up your hdd will make a massive difference, much more than processor for example.

 

RAID 0 configuration will speed up your waiting times significantly but also means a higher risk of loosing data. Effectively when one disk goes down you will lose all data on both, so I don't like it for my precious photographs.

One option would be RAID 10 or 01, so 2 disks combined into one to speed up the system (0) and then 2 more as a copy for security(1).

But this is very expensive as you need 4 discs, plus controller and a large tower.

 

Another option would be to buy a raptor for your main hdd containing photoshop and windows. They are still the fastest consumer drives and should increase performance a lot.

Also not cheap but I think well worth it.

Yes Marco, from my experience.<P>Also, Lars is correct but, when we talk about 80GB SATA, I'm referring (as I think you are) to the WD Raptor 74 GB at 10,000 rpm with 8 MB cache. Without that HD for your OS and Programs/applications, I wouldn't be able to offer anything.

I "accidentally" bought the 74GB Raptor for my new system, just recently built. I meant to get one with a 16MB cache, but I got a bit confused as I was picking all the parts and goofed. The system is still plenty fast and, most importantly, robust, so I'm not worried.

 

However, I would get a 16MB cache, 3.0 drive as system, and a 2nd 16MB cache drive as dedicated scratch. I would then put the actual files on yet another drive, though that doesn't have to be a 16MB one. I have 4 250GB, 8MB, 1.5 SATA drives that cover all my various file needs - one for music, one for photos, and a 3rd for general files.

 

The 4th one is my scratch. Eventually I will replace the system and scratch with 100GB or smaller (so single platter) 16MB cache 3.0 drives.

 

allan

Gigabyte Core 2 GA-965P-DQ6

You can configure this motherboard using 2 raid systems

Raid 1 for boot

Raid 0+1 for Digital Data drive

my better setup is

2x250Gb Seagate drives Raid 1 redundant! System drive

4x5000Gb Seagate drives Raid 0+1 (raid5 is possible too)Data

this allows for a very fast data storage that is redundant!

- http://www.dves.co.nz/systems.html

sorry 500Gb drives