Opinion on storage setup

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Caps

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Opinion on storage setup

PostTue Apr 01, 2014 4:48 pm

I'm looking to change up my storage setup a bit; if possible, I'd like to have media files, project files, scratch disk all located in one spot - a RAID-5 setup connected via USB 3. My main concerns are ease of grading and editing, hope to be able to run as close to full-res as possible.

Windows 7 Pro, 16GB RAM.

Usage: I'l be running Resolve and Premiere Pro, primarily editing by proxy and grading Raw Cinema DNG 2.5k files. Will also be using some multi-layer AE.

-SSD: OS disk + programs
-Internal 5600 RPM HD: Other non-mission critical misc. files / programs
-RAID-5: (4 disks x3TB 7200RPM drives, external RAID enclosure connected by USB3) Scratch, project files, media files, renders/output, proxies

Will I have issues or bottlenecks by not having scratch disks on a separate drive, or is there another setup with these same basic components that folks would recommend?

Thanks!
-Caps
Last edited by Caps on Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Haavard Helle

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostTue Apr 01, 2014 5:30 pm

The USB3 connection will quite likely be a bottleneck, but I have not tried the exact configurations myself, so maybe someone can share some their experiences.

I find that I get different level of stability and performance from different USB3 ports, and also from different add-on pci-ex usb3 cards. Also the choice of pci express slot affects performance.

I'd recommend a dedicated internal raid if you want to work with raw files.
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sean mclennan

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostTue Apr 01, 2014 5:45 pm

Only 3 disk raid....I would go internal. It will be faster. Having said that, you will not bottleneck USB3 with a three disk RAID (spinning discs). So if you can't fit the drives or spare the power, I wouldn't stress about going to USB3 route.
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Caps

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostTue Apr 01, 2014 6:15 pm

sean mclennan wrote:Only 3 disk raid....I would go internal. It will be faster. Having said that, you will not bottleneck USB3 with a three disk RAID (spinning discs). So if you can't fit the drives or spare the power, I wouldn't stress about going to USB3 route.



Oops, I see my specifications above are confusing. It's actually a four disk enclosure, four disks, 3TB each. I'll edit to make it more clear in the original.

Definitely can't fit four extra HDs internally.
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Haavard Helle

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostTue Apr 01, 2014 6:32 pm

While USB3 might provide enough bandwidth as Sean says, be aware that different chipsets does provide a different level of performance and stability.
Be sure to check reviews of motherboards or usb3 expansion cards before making the investments.

If you for some reason would go for internal raid, be aware of the same limitations of internal raid chipsets.
I just recently got rid of my Raid 5 that was running on the Intel raid on the motherboard, the performance was not great, but the new Raid 0 is very fast.
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sean mclennan

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostTue Apr 01, 2014 9:04 pm

haavard wrote:While USB3 might provide enough bandwidth as Sean says, be aware that different chipsets does provide a different level of performance and stability.
Be sure to check reviews of motherboards or usb3 expansion cards before making the investments.

If you for some reason would go for internal raid, be aware of the same limitations of internal raid chipsets.
I just recently got rid of my Raid 5 that was running on the Intel raid on the motherboard, the performance was not great, but the new Raid 0 is very fast.


very true.

On a side note, RAID5 is nowhere near as fast as RAID0.
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Haavard Helle

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostWed Apr 02, 2014 12:08 am

That is true, but there is also an issue with many of the on board Intel raid controllers, making them many times slower than they should be in certain configurations.
I tried all sorts of stripe and cluster sizes, but handling lots of small dng files resulted in terrible performance. Also writing and reading at the same time caused a complete bottleneck and made it useless.
I'm only mentioning this because sometimes things does not work as advertised when it comes to consumer raid solutions. Check reviews, not just the theoretical specifications.
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Caps

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Re: Opinion on storage setup

PostThu Apr 03, 2014 2:51 am

Thank you all, very helpful

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