eric_larsen1 Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 Hello, I have been following a number of recent threads on this forum that have provided great discussion on different approaches to hard drive configuration on PCs for PS work. These include (for reference): http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00Q5Ds http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00QBfp http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00Q5Au However, I have been struck at the level of disagreement on what constitutes the best approach to hard drive configuration in terms of scratch, RAID arrays, and the like. My inquiry revolves around two arenas -- comments on the build choices I propose here, and more specifically, the hard drive configuration. I do have a budget of about $1200 or so but for a compelling reason, I could stretch that a bit higher. This machine will be an all around PC but it needs to be able to handle CS 3 and 4 and will be used to process 5D (or successor) composite raw files. Multi-tasking is a must. I want as much room to grow as possible for the price and want as high of a performing machine as possible for the money. I will run Vista 64 bit and am concerned with stability, ease of maintenance and configuration, performance, and redundancy. This is my first build but I'm not a complete newb -- I've modified but that's about it. This is the build I'm considering: Case: Antec 300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 PSU: Antec TPQ-850W ATX12V / EPS12V (package deal with case) $179.94 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009 MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 $134.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128344 Processor: Intel Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66 ghz 45nm 12mb L2 cache quad core processor 1333 Mhz FSB $349.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115042 Memory: 4x G.SKILL 2GB (8GB TTL) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) F2-6400CL5S-2GBPQ - $163.96 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231121 Video card: I plan to use my current Matrox Millenium P650 64 mb graphics card for now. Monitors: I plan to use my existing two monitor set-up (CRT and LCD) for now. Comments appreciated. So.....for the hard part.... Hard drives: Some say for best performance you should separate your OS from your apps (on different physical drives). Some say that you should put your OS and Apps on a single velociraptor while others say you can get as fast with a striped set of Caviars or Barracudas. Some say you MUST have a dedicated photoshop scratch on a separate physical drive and others say not (Adobe says you should). Still others state that you should have a dedicated scratch, and raid 1 your storage drives....the lack of agreement is maddening! BTW, I plan to mirror backup my OS and apps so I think that they could be on a RAID 0 array if that's really that much more performance. Otherwise, stability, ease, fast, etc.... Some ideas I've had include: 1x 300 gb velociraptor for OS and Apps $299.00 2x 500 gb Seagate 7200.11 Barracudas in RAID 1 array for data $169.98 or 1x 300 gb velociraptor for OS and Apps $299.00 another fast drive for scratch (?) 4x 500 gb Seagate 7200.11 Barracudas in RAID 0+1 array for data $339.94 or 4x 500 gb Seagate 7200.11 Barracudas in RAID 0+1 array for OS, Apps, and data (with partitions??) $339.94 All of this is predicated on the assumptions that RAIDed 0+1 Barracudas are pretty damn fast and are probably as fast as similarly configured raptors or a single velociraptor. How do you configure your apps, OS, scratch, and data? Drive read/write times are the bottleneck here, correct? What to do? I ask that if you chime-in, please substantiate your recommendations and provide some sort of rationale for your preferences. You've been kind to read this far -- thank you! Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_gale Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 I would add some sort of cooling system. Can you put the power on the outside? Also, consider 1000watts, 850 should be fine, i guess. Heat is going to be your biggest problem. It could ruin the whole thing the first time you power up. Be careful and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_martines Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 www.drobo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mendel_leisk Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 I have 4 internal drives in my system: c:, d: e: and f:. I have a fairly robust Antec case, good ventillation and an adequate power supply, design thus by a local clone builder. I put my system on c:, and finished files (jpegs etc) as well. I back up selected folders (basically any data files I care about) to d:, using XXcopy. I put my raw files, both from dslrs and various scan projects, on e:. I back up that entire drive periodically, again with XXCopy, to f:. All my drives are run-of-the-mill SATA, of size around the current "sweet spot", ie: as big a capacity as possible *without*the price per gigabyte jumping. I don't use RAID of any description. I do nothing to finetune Photoshop's "scratch disk". Basically I pay it no mind when installing Photoshop. I also do a double back-up to quality DVD periodically, and keep one copy at the office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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