64 bit operating system on storage server at DVinfo.net

Alan Van Vliet · January 24th, 2008, 06:38 PM

I just purchased a Dell 690 Precision Workstation for use with a Matrox RTX2 card and Adobe Premiere CS3. I also have a separate storage server (NF100) which basically acts as a NAS device.

I specified XP Pro (32 bit) for the system (per recommendations on the Matrox site) and the 690 came with it installed correctly. But the storage server (Raid 5)came in with a 64 bit system. Does anyone know if the 64 bit system on the storage server is going to present problems? I do plan on using it to do all of my capturing, editing, and storage.

I spoke with Dell and they did not think so. I have not installed the Adobe software or the card yet, and wanted to be sure the system was right before proceeding.

(This is after several years of frustration dealing with a Pinnacle DC1000 which I never got to work properly!)

Thanks for any thoughts.

Regards, AL

Mike McCarthy · January 25th, 2008, 12:10 PM

It shouldn't matter for most intents and purposes. It could be a Macintosh for all your edit system could care, as long as it provides the necessary bandwidth. Any particular reason you opted for NAS with a single workstation? Even Gigabit is very slow for video editing. A direct attached array will always be much faster, and usually cheaper.

Alan Van Vliet · January 25th, 2008, 03:46 PM

Mike,

Thanks for your reply.

I actually have three workstations and use them for different purposes, as I primarily am a still photographer. I hadn't thought about being limited by the network access speed.

The 690 has two 300 gb Sata drives striped together in a Raid 0 configuration. I suppose I could partition that and use one partition for editing. Or I could add another drive to the 690 and use exclusively for editing.

Any of those scenarios sound better?

Thanks, AL

Adam Gold · January 25th, 2008, 03:49 PM

Check this out:

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Prem...8DDE57377.html

Alan Van Vliet · January 25th, 2008, 07:57 PM

Thanks Adam,

Good article.

I have always partitioned my hard drives and used an empty scratch disk in Photoshop. I guess I will need to set up something similar in Premiere.

I have a 120 GB Medea Video Raid (SCSI) which I have had for 5 - 6 years and used as a capture device. I was instructed to format the drive before capturing a large project. If I have an extra slot in the 690 for a SCSI card, I probably could use it to capture footage.

The majority of my video editing really only involves capturing and storing 8 - 12 second tennis clips which I use at a later time for instructional articles on a web site. I am planning on using the NAS for storing clips but will do the editing on the 690 as suggested.

Regards, Al

Adam Gold · January 26th, 2008, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Van Vliet

Thanks Adam,

Good article.

I have always partitioned my hard drives and used an empty scratch disk in Photoshop. I guess I will need to set up something similar in Premiere.
...I am planning on using the NAS for storing clips but will do the editing on the 690 as suggested.

Regards, Al

The article is pretty insistent that partitioning disks does not help at all and that NAS for clips is a very bad idea.

Alan Van Vliet · January 26th, 2008, 09:01 PM

Adam,

Thanks for your comments. I guess I missed the point. Quotes from the article state...

"For best performance, it is recommended that you dedicate a hard drive or drives strictly to your media assets. Specify these dedicated disks as your scratch disks." and..."In terms of performance, it’s usually best to dedicate a different disk to each asset type, but you can also specify folders on the same disk."

I understand that the effectiveness of any media that has to be accessed across the network is go be limited by the speed of the connection. I assume that I will need to install an additional drive(s) on the 690 and just use the NAS for backup.

I was hoping that with a library of very short clips, I would be able to keep them on the NAS.

Regards, AL

Adam Gold · January 26th, 2008, 09:07 PM

I was actually thinking of the following quotes:

"Although you can divide a single disk into partitions and set up partitions as scratch disks, this doesn’t improve performance because the single drive mechanism becomes a bottleneck. For best results, set up scratch disk volumes that are physically separate drives."

and

"Specify only disks attached to your computer. A hard disk located on a network is usually too slow."

You could probably get away with eSATA, but my understanding is that Ethernet, FW and USB are too slow. And if Mike says even Gigabit is too slow, I believe him.

Alan Van Vliet · January 26th, 2008, 09:16 PM

Thanks Adam,

I missed the additional part of that article completely.

AL

Mike McCarthy · January 28th, 2008, 11:40 AM

Gigabit will work for DV and HDV, it just will not work WELL. Using the current internal Raid would be better. Partitioning that will have little effect on performance, but may make it easier to reinstall your OS without wiping your data.

Alan Van Vliet · February 11th, 2008, 05:56 PM

I had to return the 690 Precision to Dell because of an issue with the video card.

As a result, I was able to go ahead and restructure my system to have 4 independent drives, instead of using partitions on the 690 and the NAS device as I had planned. One drive will be dedicated for a system drive and the others for photo and video editing.

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas and input. I'll let everyone know how it works out once I get the Matrox card installed.

Regards, AL

January 24th, 2008, 06:38 PM	#1
Alan Van Vliet Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pinehurst, NC USA Posts: 69	64 bit operating system on storage server I just purchased a Dell 690 Precision Workstation for use with a Matrox RTX2 card and Adobe Premiere CS3. I also have a separate storage server (NF100) which basically acts as a NAS device. I specified XP Pro (32 bit) for the system (per recommendations on the Matrox site) and the 690 came with it installed correctly. But the storage server (Raid 5)came in with a 64 bit system. Does anyone know if the 64 bit system on the storage server is going to present problems? I do plan on using it to do all of my capturing, editing, and storage. I spoke with Dell and they did not think so. I have not installed the Adobe software or the card yet, and wanted to be sure the system was right before proceeding. (This is after several years of frustration dealing with a Pinnacle DC1000 which I never got to work properly!) Thanks for any thoughts. Regards, AL

January 25th, 2008, 12:10 PM	#2
Mike McCarthy Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 517	It shouldn't matter for most intents and purposes. It could be a Macintosh for all your edit system could care, as long as it provides the necessary bandwidth. Any particular reason you opted for NAS with a single workstation? Even Gigabit is very slow for video editing. A direct attached array will always be much faster, and usually cheaper. __________________ For more information on these topics, check out my tech website at www.hd4pc.com

January 25th, 2008, 03:46 PM	#3
Alan Van Vliet Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pinehurst, NC USA Posts: 69	NAS device Mike, Thanks for your reply. I actually have three workstations and use them for different purposes, as I primarily am a still photographer. I hadn't thought about being limited by the network access speed. The 690 has two 300 gb Sata drives striped together in a Raid 0 configuration. I suppose I could partition that and use one partition for editing. Or I could add another drive to the 690 and use exclusively for editing. Any of those scenarios sound better? Thanks, AL

January 25th, 2008, 07:57 PM	#5
Alan Van Vliet Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pinehurst, NC USA Posts: 69	Scratch drives Thanks Adam, Good article. I have always partitioned my hard drives and used an empty scratch disk in Photoshop. I guess I will need to set up something similar in Premiere. I have a 120 GB Medea Video Raid (SCSI) which I have had for 5 - 6 years and used as a capture device. I was instructed to format the drive before capturing a large project. If I have an extra slot in the 690 for a SCSI card, I probably could use it to capture footage. The majority of my video editing really only involves capturing and storing 8 - 12 second tennis clips which I use at a later time for instructional articles on a web site. I am planning on using the NAS for storing clips but will do the editing on the 690 as suggested. Regards, Al

January 28th, 2008, 11:40 AM	#10
Mike McCarthy Major Player Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 517	Gigabit will work for DV and HDV, it just will not work WELL. Using the current internal Raid would be better. Partitioning that will have little effect on performance, but may make it easier to reinstall your OS without wiping your data. __________________ For more information on these topics, check out my tech website at www.hd4pc.com

January 25th, 2008, 03:49 PM	#4
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	Check this out: http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Prem...8DDE57377.html

January 26th, 2008, 09:01 PM	#7
Alan Van Vliet Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pinehurst, NC USA Posts: 69	Adam, Thanks for your comments. I guess I missed the point. Quotes from the article state... "For best performance, it is recommended that you dedicate a hard drive or drives strictly to your media assets. Specify these dedicated disks as your scratch disks." and..."In terms of performance, it’s usually best to dedicate a different disk to each asset type, but you can also specify folders on the same disk." I understand that the effectiveness of any media that has to be accessed across the network is go be limited by the speed of the connection. I assume that I will need to install an additional drive(s) on the 690 and just use the NAS for backup. I was hoping that with a library of very short clips, I would be able to keep them on the NAS. Regards, AL

January 26th, 2008, 09:07 PM	#8
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	I was actually thinking of the following quotes: "Although you can divide a single disk into partitions and set up partitions as scratch disks, this doesn’t improve performance because the single drive mechanism becomes a bottleneck. For best results, set up scratch disk volumes that are physically separate drives." and "Specify only disks attached to your computer. A hard disk located on a network is usually too slow." You could probably get away with eSATA, but my understanding is that Ethernet, FW and USB are too slow. And if Mike says even Gigabit is too slow, I believe him.

January 26th, 2008, 09:16 PM	#9
Alan Van Vliet Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pinehurst, NC USA Posts: 69	Thanks Adam, I missed the additional part of that article completely. AL

February 11th, 2008, 05:56 PM	#11
Alan Van Vliet Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pinehurst, NC USA Posts: 69	System Specs I had to return the 690 Precision to Dell because of an issue with the video card. As a result, I was able to go ahead and restructure my system to have 4 independent drives, instead of using partitions on the 690 and the NAS device as I had planned. One drive will be dedicated for a system drive and the others for photo and video editing. Thanks to everyone for the great ideas and input. I'll let everyone know how it works out once I get the Matrox card installed. Regards, AL