To RAID or not to RAID...

Gints Klimanis · February 12th, 2004, 04:29 PM

Keith,

Which RAID controller do you use? What I'm really looking for is one card for more IDE channels so that I can run non-RAID alongside RAID. Are you doing this with your controller ?
I'm just trying to speed up my uncompressed video processing.

Thanks to Brian for the Tom's
hardware links. They cite a 100% increase in disk read/write performance using three disks in RAID0, while two disks
offer a 50% increase. Here's the RAID controller they are
using in the benchmarks:

HighPoint RocketRAID ATA133 4044 Channel ~$100
RocketRAID 404 supports up to 8 IDE hard disk drive

http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/frcontroller.htm

Rob Lohman · February 12th, 2004, 04:45 PM

Just so you know, you can also buy normal ATA133 controllers
to add to your system for more channels.

Gints: to whom are you asking that?

Keith Luken · February 12th, 2004, 04:47 PM

I use the Rocketraid 404 which is great as I have 4 channels and it has turned out to be one of the most compatable adapters I have used, both the onboard RAID on my Gigabyte 875 board and a Promise FX2000 had major issues with XP with all my adapters and such, especially the onboard CSA Gigabit. The RR404 is rock solid, Ican run RAID sets on their own dedicate chahenls for each drive along side JBOD on the other channels. A very flexible controller. Just be sure to use the latest Firmeware and drivers and it works great. At one point I had 2 x 40GB RAID 0 then 2 x 80GB RAID 0 and another 2 x 80GB RAID 0 all on the same card! Now I run 2 x 80GB RAID 1 and thena 120 GB and 160GB as JBOD all on their own channels!

Mike Rehmus · February 12th, 2004, 08:26 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Gints Klimanis : >If you're doing HD, that's a different matter.

Isn't HD still a 25 MBit MPEG2 stream ? -->>>

HD at 25 mbps is a new construct for use at the consumer and prosumer level. The JVC camera is the first instance of the standard that was just approved by Sony and the other Japanese camera manufacturers.

The 'big-boy' HD like that used in Star Wars and other movies is way beyond 25 mbps.

Gints Klimanis · February 12th, 2004, 08:41 PM

Ok. After checking the Web, here's an interesting review of the
Promise TX4000 4 channel (8 disk) ATA133 RAID controller,
which sells for about $170 .

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/sto...tx4000_11.html

There's a nice table that includes mention of performance in Premier 4.2 and Sound Forge 4.0. The interesting thing is that
FAT32 performance on page 12 blows away NTFS performance.

Rob Lohman · February 13th, 2004, 05:41 AM

I'm not that surprised. NTFS is a much more complex filesystem
that does journallig, security, encryption etc. which FAT32 doesn't
do. So therefor it has a lot less to check etc.

But, it won't go beyond 4 GB files which basically means it is
unusable for most types of video work. Also NTFS is much more
robust if something goes wrong.

Gints Klimanis · February 13th, 2004, 03:09 PM

Anyway, I'm going for RAID with the HighPoint 404 four channel ATA/133 RAID card for $120. I just scored a couple of 120G drives (Western Digital, 8MB buffer, 7200 RPM) for $50 each after rebate and will have my friend pick up two more.

February 12th, 2004, 04:45 PM	#17
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Just so you know, you can also buy normal ATA133 controllers to add to your system for more channels. Gints: to whom are you asking that? __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 12th, 2004, 08:26 PM	#19
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	<<<-- Originally posted by Gints Klimanis : >If you're doing HD, that's a different matter. Isn't HD still a 25 MBit MPEG2 stream ? -->>> HD at 25 mbps is a new construct for use at the consumer and prosumer level. The JVC camera is the first instance of the standard that was just approved by Sony and the other Japanese camera manufacturers. The 'big-boy' HD like that used in Star Wars and other movies is way beyond 25 mbps. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

February 13th, 2004, 05:41 AM	#21
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	I'm not that surprised. NTFS is a much more complex filesystem that does journallig, security, encryption etc. which FAT32 doesn't do. So therefor it has a lot less to check etc. But, it won't go beyond 4 GB files which basically means it is unusable for most types of video work. Also NTFS is much more robust if something goes wrong. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 12th, 2004, 04:29 PM	#16
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Keith, Which RAID controller do you use? What I'm really looking for is one card for more IDE channels so that I can run non-RAID alongside RAID. Are you doing this with your controller ? I'm just trying to speed up my uncompressed video processing. Thanks to Brian for the Tom's hardware links. They cite a 100% increase in disk read/write performance using three disks in RAID0, while two disks offer a 50% increase. Here's the RAID controller they are using in the benchmarks: HighPoint RocketRAID ATA133 4044 Channel ~$100 RocketRAID 404 supports up to 8 IDE hard disk drive http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/frcontroller.htm

February 12th, 2004, 04:47 PM	#18
Keith Luken Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 200	I use the Rocketraid 404 which is great as I have 4 channels and it has turned out to be one of the most compatable adapters I have used, both the onboard RAID on my Gigabyte 875 board and a Promise FX2000 had major issues with XP with all my adapters and such, especially the onboard CSA Gigabit. The RR404 is rock solid, Ican run RAID sets on their own dedicate chahenls for each drive along side JBOD on the other channels. A very flexible controller. Just be sure to use the latest Firmeware and drivers and it works great. At one point I had 2 x 40GB RAID 0 then 2 x 80GB RAID 0 and another 2 x 80GB RAID 0 all on the same card! Now I run 2 x 80GB RAID 1 and thena 120 GB and 160GB as JBOD all on their own channels!

February 12th, 2004, 08:41 PM	#20
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Ok. After checking the Web, here's an interesting review of the Promise TX4000 4 channel (8 disk) ATA133 RAID controller, which sells for about $170 . http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/sto...tx4000_11.html There's a nice table that includes mention of performance in Premier 4.2 and Sound Forge 4.0. The interesting thing is that FAT32 performance on page 12 blows away NTFS performance.

February 13th, 2004, 03:09 PM	#22
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Anyway, I'm going for RAID with the HighPoint 404 four channel ATA/133 RAID card for $120. I just scored a couple of 120G drives (Western Digital, 8MB buffer, 7200 RPM) for $50 each after rebate and will have my friend pick up two more.