Guidelines for Disk Usage at DVinfo.net

Art White · December 16th, 2012, 09:46 PM

For years, I have never stored or directed Premiere to use discs correctly. Probably why my computer has never ran it's best. I have been reading the threads on storage as much as I can. I've learned a lot from Harm's posts too. Question, I have a total of 5 drives, one being my operator system. How do I split Media, Projects, Cache, Previews and Exports? I'm looking at a chart but I'm a bit confused.

Thanks!
Art

Harm Millaard · December 17th, 2012, 04:04 AM

Art,

The dilemma is, how is your backup organized? With tapeless media backup is more important than ever. If you have a solid backup workflow, I would suggest the following:

C: OS & programs, single disk.
D: Media & projects, two disks in raid0, only if you have a good backup policy.
E: Media cache, previews & exports, two disks in raid0.

If your backup policy is not yet covered adequately, I would break out the D: drive to two separate disks and setup your configuration like this:

C: OS & programs, single disk.
D: Media, single disk.
E: Projects & exports, single disk.
F: Media cache & previews, two disks in raid0.

The reasoning behind it is that the data on the raid0 F: drive are easily recreated after a disk failure. Nothing important is lost. For the rest it is a matter of distributing the load as much as possible.

Hope this helps.

Art White · December 17th, 2012, 10:55 AM

Thanks Harm,
This spells it out simple for me. I do not have a good back up plan other than backing up on one of the 5 discs and plan B is an external firewire HD.

I have never tried a RAID any number set up. Too chicken in my old age I guess.( Unless someone on this list can tell me a simple way to build a RAID 0 from the two drives I have cuz I have had good success following instruction from you guys)

My Operating drive is a fast Velociraptor but it's small at 300 gig with only 50 gig left. The other 4 are 2T WD.

I just re-install Windows so now is the time to set this up correctly. Thanks for the help!

Art

Harm Millaard · December 17th, 2012, 11:29 AM

Art,

I have an old system, about three years old, and you always wonder how much stuff you collect in the course of these years. It is similar to moving into a new house and finding a nice clean garage, but come back several years later and you realize why people invented 'garage-sales'. Same with a computer.

I have a 150 GB Velociraptor as a boot disk in that system and have installed Adobe Master Collection CS5, CS5.5, CS6, numerous plug-ins for all versions, like Minnetonka Surcode, Color Finesse, Magic Bullet Suite, all Pixelan plug-ins, etc. In addition I have the complete PPBM5 and PPBM6 websites installed, Sonic Fire, three internet browsers, accounting software, benchmarking and testing software and I only use around 80 GB on the boot disk, despite all the pollution.

If you use more than 200 GB, it is time for serious spring cleaning.

Art White · December 17th, 2012, 01:17 PM

Harm,
Tell me about it! I only have CS4 Master and CS5 and a bunch of Digital Juice Products but that's it! I didn't think I had room for Sonic Pro...wonder if Digital Juice can be installed on the non operating system drive? Those files are huge.

Art

Harm Millaard · December 17th, 2012, 03:42 PM

Art,

I have around 60 GB of Sonic Fire sound and 70 GB of stock footage all stored on a dedicated disk.
In your case I think you can store all your Digital Juice files on the E: drive if you follow my second suggestion.

December 16th, 2012, 09:46 PM	#1
Art White Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Lansing, Michigan Posts: 185	Guidelines for Disk Usage For years, I have never stored or directed Premiere to use discs correctly. Probably why my computer has never ran it's best. I have been reading the threads on storage as much as I can. I've learned a lot from Harm's posts too. Question, I have a total of 5 drives, one being my operator system. How do I split Media, Projects, Cache, Previews and Exports? I'm looking at a chart but I'm a bit confused. Thanks! Art

December 17th, 2012, 04:04 AM	#2
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Re: Guidelines for Disk Usage Art, The dilemma is, how is your backup organized? With tapeless media backup is more important than ever. If you have a solid backup workflow, I would suggest the following: C: OS & programs, single disk. D: Media & projects, two disks in raid0, only if you have a good backup policy. E: Media cache, previews & exports, two disks in raid0. If your backup policy is not yet covered adequately, I would break out the D: drive to two separate disks and setup your configuration like this: C: OS & programs, single disk. D: Media, single disk. E: Projects & exports, single disk. F: Media cache & previews, two disks in raid0. The reasoning behind it is that the data on the raid0 F: drive are easily recreated after a disk failure. Nothing important is lost. For the rest it is a matter of distributing the load as much as possible. Hope this helps.

December 17th, 2012, 10:55 AM	#3
Art White Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Lansing, Michigan Posts: 185	Re: Guidelines for Disk Usage Thanks Harm, This spells it out simple for me. I do not have a good back up plan other than backing up on one of the 5 discs and plan B is an external firewire HD. I have never tried a RAID any number set up. Too chicken in my old age I guess.( Unless someone on this list can tell me a simple way to build a RAID 0 from the two drives I have cuz I have had good success following instruction from you guys) My Operating drive is a fast Velociraptor but it's small at 300 gig with only 50 gig left. The other 4 are 2T WD. I just re-install Windows so now is the time to set this up correctly. Thanks for the help! Art

December 17th, 2012, 11:29 AM	#4
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Re: Guidelines for Disk Usage Art, I have an old system, about three years old, and you always wonder how much stuff you collect in the course of these years. It is similar to moving into a new house and finding a nice clean garage, but come back several years later and you realize why people invented 'garage-sales'. Same with a computer. I have a 150 GB Velociraptor as a boot disk in that system and have installed Adobe Master Collection CS5, CS5.5, CS6, numerous plug-ins for all versions, like Minnetonka Surcode, Color Finesse, Magic Bullet Suite, all Pixelan plug-ins, etc. In addition I have the complete PPBM5 and PPBM6 websites installed, Sonic Fire, three internet browsers, accounting software, benchmarking and testing software and I only use around 80 GB on the boot disk, despite all the pollution. If you use more than 200 GB, it is time for serious spring cleaning.

December 17th, 2012, 01:17 PM	#5
Art White Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Lansing, Michigan Posts: 185	Re: Guidelines for Disk Usage Harm, Tell me about it! I only have CS4 Master and CS5 and a bunch of Digital Juice Products but that's it! I didn't think I had room for Sonic Pro...wonder if Digital Juice can be installed on the non operating system drive? Those files are huge. Art

December 17th, 2012, 03:42 PM	#6
Harm Millaard Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 1,832	Re: Guidelines for Disk Usage Art, I have around 60 GB of Sonic Fire sound and 70 GB of stock footage all stored on a dedicated disk. In your case I think you can store all your Digital Juice files on the E: drive if you follow my second suggestion.