Setting up RAID 0 for Audio

I am about to format a 2 drive SATA RAID 0 (2 X 500GB Seagate drives with 16MB caches in each drive) array for my sample libraries and wondered if anyone had an idea as to what the best block size might be for drives used in this application. My main sample libraries are from ther Vienna Symphonic Library. The VSL sample files vary between 256K and 512K per individual sample (e.g. C4 soft dynamic violin = 512K, C4 medium dynamic violin = 512K, etc.) The sole use of this disk will be to store samples and audio files. Since I frequently use 48-64 Audio Instruments in Logic, I am interested in the fastest possible loading times. I would be most appreciative of any help or insight regarding this matter.
Thanks.

Some say that there is no benefit of RAID for audio streaming of many small files (VSL for example) while other's say it does (Synthogy for example).
This is not true, I have manage to play my test song with a Raid 0 on a G5 2x2 with QLSO Platinum. (this song was not playing with only the G5 2x2)
I did also a test with VSL, the same piece was playing on a G4 533 MP with a Raid 0, and was not playing without the Raid 0
You better go to an SATA raid made with either Raptors or WDC WD2500JS-41MVB1
I have chose to buy 6 x 36 GB raptor because more you have disk faster the raid 0 will be
I have run Xbench 1.1.3* on a G5 2x2 3 GB here are the marks given by Xbench on different configuration (higher is better)
86 with Lacie 160 GB FW800
97 with Lacie 200 GB FW800
103 with Lacie 250 GB FW800
109 with my internal Sata
122 with a Maxtor 250 GB
156 with Western Digital Raptor 36 GB
158 with a raid 0 of 2 Sata using Apple raid software
160 with a raid 0 of 2 Sata using Softraid
184 with the Rocket raid card in slot 3 and 4 Raptor 10 000 (with 1024 KB segments)
198 with the Rocket raid card in slot 3 and 4 Raptor 10 000 (with 64 KB segments)
205 with the Rocket raid card in slot 3 and 4 Raptor 10 000 with Softraid driver optimize for digital audio
227 with the Rocket raid card in slot 4 and 2 Raptor 10 000 with Softraid driver optimize for digital audio
237 with the Rocket raid card in slot 4 and 4 Raptor 10 000 with Softraid driver optimize for digital audio
268 with the Rocket raid card in slot 4 and 6 Raptor 10 000 with Softraid driver optimize for digital audio
If you want some graphs contact me at blanc(dot)cyril@wanadoo(dot)fr
Best
Cyril

Similar Messages

Setting up RAID for a drive with user folders on it!

We have one hard drive for user data, partitioned into 2 volumes, IDHome and IDData. IDHome contains the home directory for all the users. IDData is shared network data. I want to set up a Raid 1 array for this entire drive, however it seems that you cant do this on the fly without erasing both drives. Ive got a second identical drive, but when I try to create the array in Disk Utility, it wants to erase both drives. That would be a catastrophy of monumental proportions!
Everything from the original drive is backed up, so Im not affraid of losing anything. But I dont even want to go there.
Hers my main qustion. If no users are connected to the server and I backup the original HD, set up the Raid array (thus erasing both drives), then copy everything back onto the array, are users going to be able to log in as if nothing happened? Is OS X going to care that /Volumes/IDHome is no longer on /dev/disk1 and instead on the Raid array now (/dev/disk2 I guess)? Is OS X looking for specific hard drives or just at /Volumes/IDHome?
Ive read a couple of articles on the internet about using the command line diskutils to first enable one drive as a raid array, making the computer think the array exists, then adding a second drive to the array and "rebuilding" the array... but I go back to my original question, is osx going to care that /volumes/idhome isnt technically on /dev/disk1.
I tried to test diskutil enableRaid mirror /dev/disk2 (/dev/disk2 is a backup drive we have installed on the server), but I got an error message saying the syntax needed to be in diskutil enableRaid mirror /Volumes/VolumeName format...it wanted /Volumes in stead of /dev is guess.

You can't partition an Apple software raid drive.

How do you set Plugin parameters for audio in DW CS3?

Hi there,
I am putting some audio on my site using the PLUGIN, from the media insert option in DW. The audio is there but it plays immediately and I'd like for people to have the option to hit the play to start the audio. I have no idea how to do this. Please help if you can. Thanks

Post a link to your page please. Answers are in your code but we can't help you if we can't see what you have done so far.
Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
Web | Graphics | Print | Media Specialists
http://alt-web.com/
http://twitter.com/altweb

With 10.2 I can only use system speaker output for audio, NOT my RME FF400 I used previously. The FF400 works fine with other apps. How can I set this device in FCP 10.2? (it is set in both system preferences and midi)

With 10.2 I can only use a system (e.g. speaker) output for audio, NOT my RME FF400 I used without any problems previously. The FF400 works fine with other apps (some like TwistedWave) setup in the program, and others (like Spotify) using system preferences & audio midi setup. How can I set the FF400 to be the sound output device in FCP 10.2? N.B. The FF400 is set as sound output device in both system preferences and audio midi setup.

From the fcp.co forum. See if this does anything for you.
simon_hutchings
OFFLINE
Junior Boarder
Posts: 24
Thank you received: 5
Karma: 1
I have the solution! Well it at least worked for me. This is the response I got from Apple, Can you please try the following steps towards fixing your audio issue, and report back with your results?
1. Open the application Audio Midi Setup (located in Applications : Utilities)
2. Select the Output Tab for the current output device
3. Select the Configure Speakers option
4. Select the Multichannel tab
5. Change the setting to Stereo Now mine was set to stereo but the left channel wasn't showing left. re-clicking on stereo reloaded the settings and after clicking apply it worked.

Upgraded to 10.3.1.55, now can't set iT as default player,"An error occurred when updating the default player for audio files types. You do not have enough access privileges for this operation." How to fix?

After I upgraded iTunes, iTunes doesn't recognize CD in the drive, apparently isn't the default player. It won't let me set iTunes as the default player, I get the error message "An error occurred when updating the default player for audio files types." I tried Whitesides' remedy (changing Read Only status in folder in Windows) but it didn't solve the problem. Any suggestions? Thanks.
J

Oddly enough. I think I just solved it. It looks like, for some reason, my computer has about 8 different "iTunes music" folders, and I've been saving my music to the wrong one. Neat. Music now imports and plays as it should. Copying things over is going to be so fun tonight!

Global setting for audio track?

Is there a way to set the level for a particular audio track so that no matter what clip is edited onto that track it always reflects the same audio level?
For example: I post a lot of b-roll to a particular track so instead of setting the volume for each and every clip, I would like to set the level for the track.
Anyone know of a way to do that?

You can do it for the entire track AFTER you've placed all the clips in that track. Select all clips in the track and then go to Modify->Levels and enter an ABSOLUTE value. Any clips added to that track after the change will not be affected.
-DH

Setting up RAID 0 and scratch disk from blank drives?

Folks,
Howdy again from NC. I've been setting up an AMD Phenom II 955 to handle PPro CS5 as well as possible, within limits. I built four of these machines for my math class, and am going to give CS5 a go on one of them before caving in and migrating my Production Premium to an i7/X58 platform. Maybe I'll get lucky and find this computer works acceptably with PPro, especially if I transcode my T2i AVCHD footage (likely Neoscene).
I put three new disks into my build yesterday and would like some pointers on setting them up, if I may ask. I have read through a number of posts on this, but don't find direct answers, unfortunately. I've never set up a RAID and want to get it right.
I have two Caviar Black drives for my RAID and a Hitachi Deskstar for my scratch disk. The Blacks are new out of the pack and the Hitachi has had zeros written to the drive. How to begin?
Anticipated issues:
* Do I need to format the drives in a certain way? I had planned on going into Disk Management and setting up a volume on each as my first move. Right now, they aren't even recognized under My Computer. Under Disk Management, all three show as unallocated.
From memory, I right click in the unallocated space and select an option for setting up the volume. Prior to this I only used straight-up drives, no RAID, and after writing zeros to a drive selected "New Simple Volume". It seems to me this is the move to make on the single scratch disk.
But how about the two RAIDed drives? We also have options to set up as "New Striped Volume" or "New Spanned Volume". If the answer is to set as as "New Striped Volume" for the RAID 0 I have planned, do I do this before or after installing the RAID software?
* My documentation for setting up the RAID on my motherboard doesn't indicate when to change my BIOS setting for the two SATA channels from IDE to RAID. Should I do this before or after running the software to set up the RAID? Do I need to go into the software setup with the two SATA channels already configured as RAID?
Right now, all SATA channels are configured as IDE.
* After getting my disks set up, I'd like to optimize my system for editing (turning off unwanted features, etc.). I've been looking all over for a link to an outside site I had bookmarked from a prior post, but lost it on re-install. Anyone recall what the favored link was? It started as a long page of instructions in simple typeface.
In the end, my disks are as follows (unless someone makes a case to use them differently):
OS/Programs - 1TB Caviar Green. Yes, I know the deal on green drives, but I needed to use this drive somewhere. I figured using it as the OS drive would be the best spot for the slowest drive. Maybe I botched this and should have used the following drive for the OS? I had transfer rates in mind and thought the Scratch drive should be faster?
Scratch - 750GB Deskstar 7K100 series. This drive was tops 18 months back when I bought it.
RAID 0 - Two 640GB Caviar Blacks (32 meg cache, twin processors). A bit older in the Black lineup, but the drive charts show them working quickly.
To ask one dumb last question, which will really show my newbieness, I use the scratch drive for page files (right? and what else?) and the RAID for holding any media to be worked upon and for encoding the final project?
I've been reading on this forum for over a month and am amazed that as I have the drives for a RAID, I can't find good links to tell me what to do. I know I am asking redundant questions here but have already spent two hours with the search engine and am only getting tangential anwers (ha! math joke).
Sorry to be asking such newbie questions all over again, but my luck with the search engine hasn't been so good of late. Maybe Bill's idea of creating a sticky section for common questions is a good idea.

about 75-80% of the systems we ship, ship with this config (others would be bigger arrays or no array)
1)OS
2) project drive 2 x raid 0
3) render to/export drive 2 x raid 0
4) back up (pick your poison)
while i cant speak to the older WDs (we have not used them for 3-4 yrs until now)
i can tell you with Seagate and now WD we have not seen the issue that applies to this inRaid 0
we are aware of the timeout issue this happens with controller cards and seagate or WD with large raid 5/6
simple answer use enterprise drives for raid 5/6
if you look at all the external raid resellers Sonnet etc they all use enterprise drives (mostly seagate)
so do we for large raids.
(drobo does not so buyer beware (green), we like to sell drobo without drives in it and use ours)
again BACK UP do not assume your raid 3/5/6/10/1 whatever is bullet proof, trust me its not
so even if you have a loss it should be at best nominal
something i dont think i have seen mentioned enough either
the single most common cause of drive failure (or any component failure) is Dirty Power!
dirty power can be spikes but are usually brown outs (very common in large older cities) or even low voltage coming into the home/office
this is the most common.
rather than a clean 120v you could see it as low as 105v
the other is being on a circuit with a large appliance.
ever see your lilghts flicker when the AC kicks on?
buy a good inline filter UPS. add 20% MORE wattage than your power supply
dont forget to add accessories LCDs, Audio interfaces, speakers/studio monitors etc.
Scott
ADK

Best Block Size in Raid for Photo files

I am setting up my two drive striped RAID 0 and came to a screeching halt at the raid block size.
This RASID is strictly for photo scans and PS CS2 photo files, mostly high res, some medium JPEGs.
Adobe says PS CS2's default block size in 64K, if I can believe the technical support guy, who said it off the top of his head, after not understanding what I was talking about.
Apple Tech support first knew nothing about it. Then, after checking all over for quite some time, said 32K is adequate for what I am doing but 64K is alright. In other words, he said nothing.
What would be the best block size for my purpose and why.
One scan file size that I just checked is 135.2MB, another 134.6 MB and that is typical. JPEGs are, of course, smaller, ca 284 KB. Photos with the Canon EOS-1Ds Mk II run 9mb up to 200mb after processing. No other tyhpes of files will be on this drive.
What would be the ideal block size and why?
Thanks much,
Mark

The default 32K is for small random I/O pattern of a server. Use 128/256K for audio and video files. And 64K for workstation use.
the larger block size gives the best performance for sequential I/O. Someone mentioned an AMUG review of CS2 tests that showed that 64K.
Because this is probably a scratch volume, you could always test for yourself, and rebuild the RAID later and try a different scheme. Sometimes that is the best way to match your drives, your workflow, and system. There are a couple CS2 scripts and benchmark utilities to help get an idea of how long each step or operation takes.

With SSD as primary drive, still need 2nd drive for audio?

If I get an SSD drive as my primary, would I still need a 2nd drive for recording audio? I thought the main reason for needing a 2nd drive was that the 1st drive would be bust moving its needle arounf doing OS stuff (and thus, you wouldn'[t want your audio recording to compete).
But since the SSDs have no moving parts, no needles, heads, etc., would one big SSD drive get the job done? Or, am I still going to want a 2nd drive for audio.
I'm very mobile and would love not to have to lug around a 2nd drive. But if I need to, I need to.
Thanks for any comments,
Ron

I'm not using it as a scratch drive.
My current setup is as follows:
128 GB SSD (Patriot TorqX - 260 Read 200 Write) for OS and Applications
4 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Buffer Hard Drives in Software Raid 0 for Scratch.
I also have 1 650MB Hard Drive (Shipped with Mac Pro) that I can use.
I am shooting in HD via an AVCHD Camcorder. Importing/Converting to ProRes. Editing in FCP. Then exporting to three formats (DVD, AVCHD DVD for use in Blu-Ray Set Tops, and some form of Divx for use on a Windows Media Center). Most "Movies" are 20-30 minutes in length.
I am thinking about returning the SSD as I'm having some issues with it. With the drives I have in hand (or if I need something else, let me know), what configuration do you recommend.

New macbook Pro setback for Audio Production.

the new macbook pro don't come with a Firewire 400 port anymore.
everybody knows that usb is too slow for audio transfer and Firewire 800 is usual.
audio interfaces that use firewire 400 can't be used and with only one firewire 800 port there's no room left 'cause we need that to connect the external drives with audio files.
most interfaces need to be connected directly to the computer.
Any Ideas????

I, too, have an issue with the port configuration on MBPs -- too many USB2.0 ports, not enough FW800 ports. Nevertheless, please note that:
1. Bilingual FW800 FW400 cables (really good ones) are available for less than $20.
2. You can daisy chain external FW HDDs (even heterogeneously, i.e. you can cable your computer to a FW800 device using a FW800 cable and then use a FW400 cable to connect the first drive to a FW400 HDD, etc.). This capability is dependent on having redundant or multi-protocol drive enclosures (that is, you will need drives that have at least two FW ports, such as two FW800 ports or a FW800 port plus a FW400 port, not just a single USB2.0 port).
3. You can go hog wild and purchase a full-on FW800 hub/repeater like the NitroAV Professional Firewire/1394b 8-Port device (google it). I use this device to connect five external HDDs to my MBP (four FW800 drives and one FW400 drive). This hub will set you back $150 -- not trivial, but an elegant solution if you use multiple drives, and it comes with the AC power adapter (believe it or not, some hub manufacturers require you to purchase the AC adapter separately). In my configuration, six ports are used -- five for the drives and the sixth to connect the MBP via a FW800 cable. The hub has the additional advantage of eliminating several of the cables that would otherwise connect directly to my computer, which is, after all, a laptop; the fewer things I have to connect/disconnect when I move my MBP around, the better. You can think of this as a do-it yourself version of the docking station that Apple forgot to give us, at least as far as drive connectivity is concerned!
As an aside, my MBP (see model notes below) does in fact have both a FW800 and a FW400 port. I wish Apple configured unibody MBPs to include two USB2.0 ports and two FW800 ports -- but the above tips make the world right.
Finally, I just don't get the gripe about cabling costs. The unibody MBPs are high end laptops -- most purchasers will have invested well over $3K in their machines. There are a thousand usage patterns; I would much rather buy what I need for my applications without incurring the expense of purchasing bundled stuff that I don't need and which winds up in a (bursting at the seams) cable/doodad drawer.

Can I use the new Apple TV without a display for audio streaming only?

Here's my situation...
I have an Airport Express in my living room connected to my DSL modem to create a wifi network. I also have a current model MacBook Pro and would like to add an Apple TV to my bedroom system for music and Netflix audio streaming. I do not own a TV to do any setup.
If I bought an ATV for my bedroom and connected the optical output to my DAC, would I be able to accomplish my goal or is there a setup procedure on the ATV which mandates a display?
I realize I could just buy another Airport Express for easy audio streaming, but then I wouldn't have the Netflix audio capability which I would like since I watch movies on my MBP. I'm hoping like an Airport Express, the ATV would configure itself for audio streaming once connected to my wifi network.
Thanks for any help or ideas.

If you're planning to stream from iTunes to the AppleTV controlling the material via iTunes, I suspect it may just appear as an Airtunes speaker option for iTunes without any setup needed.
No Netflix in UK so don't know much about it, but I suspect you'd need to control the AppleTV directly for this unless you were viewing on the MBP and used something like Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil to transmit audio.
If you have no desire for controlling AppleTV either on an TV or using Remote app for iPhone etc (and you'd need to set AppleTV up with a TV for Netflix or AppleTV controlled streaming anyway), you might want to consider using another Express upstairs and hook it's optical out to your DAC if you're just after stereo audio.
AC

How to use a bluetooth cellphone for audio input and output

Hello, I was wondering how to set-up my Mac Book so that I can use my bluetooth cellphone for audio in and audio out. Ideally, I would like to use my handset for talking on iChat and Skype. Has anyone had any luck doing this? When I bond my cellphone these optiosn do not appear. I know that this is easy to do on a Windows machine but I am not sure about how to do it on my Mac Book.
Thanks!

Yes it should do what you want.
Go to "Audio Midi Setup", and go to the Audio menu and click "Open Aggregate Device Editor". The interface is pretty simple but if you do get stuck, just use the help function in Audio Midi Setup, as it has a step by step guide.
Then when you return to logic, go to the Preferences>Audio>Drivers section and select Aggregate Device as the new driver rather than either the built in sound or the tascam. Then the inputs and outputs will apply to BOTH devices.

Advice Needed for Audio and MIDI Controller Software

I am hoping someone may be able to give me advice on how I should approach my problem.
I am currently running a live show with audio backing tracks and a small 12 par lighting system. The light system can be controlled via standard MIDI. I am using iTunes to play back sets of backing tracks, and manually controlling the lighting system using a dedicated foot controller.
What I would like to do, is be able to use software to simultaneously play audio files and perfectly sync the lighting (fades, shots, etc. via midi) with the audio track. Ideally, I would be able to have the audio/lighting paired as discreet entities that could be grouped into sets.
i.e.
Audio-MIDI_1 = Audiotrack1 would always be paired with Lightcontroller_MIDI_events1
Audio-MIDI_2 = Audiotrack2 would always be paired with Lightcontroller_MIDI_events2
Audio-MIDI_3 = Audiotrack3 would always be paired with Lightcontroller_MIDI_events3
I could the create a set of Audio-MIDI_x tracks which could be triggered in any order.
I would like to have to option to be able to activate a single track, or have a complete group of tracks activated sequentially (but be able to stop the and start the group as needed - you never know what will happen in a live situation). It would be nice to have a time-line UI as well.
Now the final requirement: it should be able to run on a PISMO PowerBook. <cringe>
I hope I am not too confusing.
I am thinking MainStage would not be the software for this task as Leo is not an option for the Powerbook.
I have looked at QLab and showcontrolpro, but I don't think theses are right for me either.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
TIA

Gary,
With a Pismo you really are confined. I've been using some software from Alien Apparatus called Solo Performer Show Controller (www.alienapparatus.com) and it has a timeline to sequence lights where you can run 32 channels of midi or dmx lighting. The only setback is it needs at least a 1 GHZ processor. There may be a company like Sonnet that has an upgrade for your processor.
The software is able to run backing tracks, send midi controls to effects units or other software, send hotkeys for apps, synchronize lyrics in a window or on an external monitor, controls a dmx fog machine, and also has a six button usb foot controller which can be configured for many things such as scrolling your songlist to select the next song, change volume of tracks, change a light scene, send a hotkey, trigger samples, etc. It is a bit pricey at just under 600 dollars but the foot control is durable, the company has excellent support and they listen to users to add features to the software.
Hope this helps
Thor

RAID for Consumer PCs

If you have an interest in using RAID, then the MS Word document attached to this post may be useful information. Scroll all the way to the bottom for the attachment.
RAID for Consumer PCs
Table of Contents
RAID
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10 (0+1)
INTEL Controller Support for Different RAID Configurations
Background Information for Creating a RAID configuration.
Considerations:
Performance comparisons
Creating a RAID 0 Array
Creating a RAID 1 Array
Creating a RAID 5 Array
Creating a RAID 10 (0+1) Array
Conversion from RAID 0 to RAID 5
RAID 0 to RAID 5 Observations
Other RAID Migrations
*************DISCLAIMER***********
RAID
RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks and also commonly called Redundant Array of Independent Disks. A RAID array is created when one or more hard disks or one or more solid state disks (SSD) are combined to form a logical volume using one of several different configurations. Consumer level PCs typically use RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and occasionally RAID 10 (0+1). The RAID configuration choice is dependent on the requirements for redundancy, speed and capacity. The choice of a RAID configuration will be a compromise between speed, redundancy, capacity and cost. The different RAID configuration options can be restricted by hardware limitations.
RAID 0
A RAID 0 volume is created when 2 hard disks are used and then data is spanned or striped across the different hard disks. The process of spanning data across different hard disks is also called scatter loading. By spreading data across multiple hard disks, a significant performance improvement can be gained. However, should one of the hard disks fail, then the entire RAID 0 configuration becomes unusable. A RAID 0 volume combines the capacity of the hard drives being used in the configuration.
RAID 1
A RAID 1 configuration is created when 2 hard disks are used and then data on hard drive 1 is replicated to hard drive 2. The process is also called data mirroring. This configuration provides for redundancy in the event of a single hard drive failure but at the expensive of a degradation to write performance as data has to be written to multiple hard drives. Since the data is being replicated between two volumes the overall capacity is limited to that of one hard drive.
RAID 5
A RAID 5 configuration is similar to a RAID 0 array except RAID 5 deploys distributed parity also referred to as checksum data. Blocks of data are stripped across three or more hard drives and each hard drive contains block level recreation data (parity). In the event of a hard drive failure, parity will allow for the data to be accessed through a dynamic data creation process. The downside to the dynamic data creation process is a reduction in performance until the failing hard drive can be replaced. RAID 5 performs best for supporting read accesses as write operations will be slower while the parity blocks are being updated. Parity data does consume disk space. A three hard drive RAID 5 array will have about the same total data capacity as a two hard drive RAID 0 array.
RAID 10 (0+1)
A RAID 10 configuration also called RAID 0+1 can be implemented in two different methods depending on the hardware being used. The below left configuration is a striped RAID 1 array being replicated and the below right configuration is a RAID 0 array being replicated. A RAID 10 configuration can provide a RAID 0 performance level even with the loss of one hard disk. The downside to RAID 10 is the reduced configuration capacity.
INTEL Controller Support for Different RAID Configurations.
The RAID configurations used in this document are based on the INTEL SATA controller.
See the below table.
NOTE: Even though your system board may have the appropriate Intel controller,
not all system boards will provide RAID functionality.
Background Information for Creating a RAID configuration.
You can create a RAID configuration provided that:
The PC cabinet can accommodate additional hard drive(s) if needed.
The system board has the necessary open SATA port(s) if needed.
A SATA controller that can support the desired RAID configuration.
You can determine the status of your RAID configuration by using the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) software. If you don’t have this software on your PC then you can download IRST from the Intel web site. I recommend that you use the latest version available from Intel. Background information can be obtained from the IRST User Guide. When you launch IRST, the help topics are an excellent source of information. You can access IRST by going into the Control Panel and select Intel Rapid Storage Technology. You can also access IRST from the lower right Task Bar location. IRST should resemble a hard drive icon and normally it has a green check mark. By default IRST is set as delayed startup so don’t expect to see it active right after boot up. The Intel images being used in this document are from IRST version 11.1.0.1006.
If the SATA controller in your PC is not set to RAID then read this Microsoft article if you are running VISTA or Windows 7. You need to run the MrFixIT script before you reboot your PC in the bios and make the SATA controller mode change to RAID. The script will then allow Windows to choose the correct driver when you reboot your PC. If you plan on using a boot drive image restore then be sure to run the script just prior to making taking your image backup. That way your backup image is set to allow Windows to choose the correct SATA driver.
Before creating any RAID configuration, always make backups of your data and image the boot hard disk to external media such as an USB drive. Additionally, be sure that your imaging product boot disk is functional, particularly if the PC’s boot hard disk is part of the RAID configuration. Its best to use a commercial hard disk imaging product as support and functionality is generally better than the “freebie” software.
Be sure that your PC is running the latest available BIOS. BIOS updates are used to update the Intel ROM firmware. Additionally, check for hard drive and SSD firmware updates.
Summary of preparation steps in priority order:
Backup your data.
Test out your recovery and restore procedures.
Update the following: BIOS, hard drive firmware, SSD firmware
Update IRST
Execute the Microsoft MrFixIt if your PC is not set to RAID mode in the bios.
Create an image of your boot hard drive.
Considerations:
After replacing a failed hard drive, don’t expect the rebuild process to be fast. All of the data that existed on the failed hard drive must be either regenerated using parity data or replicated to the new hard drive.
I recommend that you use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) when using RAID 5. Cached write data needs to be written to hard drive in the event of a power failure to avoid the loss of data. You might want to consider disabling write back cache if you are not using an UPS. There is a performance reduction by doing so at the expense of improving data integrity.
If you need a RAID array over 2 TB then your PC needs: UEFI bios, 64 bit operating system, GPT formated hard drives. Review this Microsoft article on Windows and GPT FAQs.
Since a MBR formated array will limit the useable space to 2 TB it’s therefore best to use hard drives that are 1 TB or less for RAID 0, 5 and 10.
Consider the data growth rate and the size of the array. The Intel controller will limit the number of hard drives. The size of the PC cabinet and available system board SATA ports will also be growth constraints. It’s not uncommon for a business to experience an annual data growth rate of 20 percent.
If you need a RAID solution beyond the typical consumer level RAID configurations, then you should review the RAID options available from HP.
RAID technology in not infalible so you need to consider backups. A voltage spike inside your PC could render the RAID unusable and unrecoverable. Corrupted data or a virus are other reasons for keeping backups. An external USB connected hard drive might be sufficient for backups.
Throughly test your backup and restore software. Always keep more than one backup copy of your data.
Performance comparisons:
All of the hard drives benchmarked are Hitachi 1.5 TB SATA III hard drives connected as SATA II devices. HD Tune was used to benchmark the seniaros using default settings.
Configuration
Average MB/s
Maximum MB/s
Single hard drive
113
152
RAID 0
222
289
RAID 1
104
142
RAID 5
221
288
RAID 10 (0+1)
220
274
Creating a RAID 0 Array.
If you are configuring the Windows boot drive into a RAID 0 array, then you need to use the Intel option ROM method for creating the array. Tapping Cntl-i at boot up will get you into the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Once the array has been created then boot up your image recovery disk and load the array from your image backup.
If you are creating a RAID 0 data only array then you can use the IRST when running Windows to create the array. You can also use the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Even though this HP VISTA RAID setup article is dated, it does have some excellent information.
Launch IRST.
You can observe in the above image the status of the hard drives attached to the Intel SATA controller. Now click on Create. Select Optimized Disk (RAID 0) then click on Next.
Configure the RAID 0 array by selecting two hard drives of the same size and click on Next.
Next click on Create Volume.
A warning window will appear. Click on OK.
The new RAID volume is now created. However, you now need to use Windows Disk Management to ready the volume for use.
Creating a RAID 1 Array.
If you are configuring the Windows boot drive into a RAID 1 array, then you need to use the Intel option ROM method for creating the array. Tapping Cntl-i at boot up will get you into the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Once the array has been created then boot up your image recovery disk and load the array from your image backup.
If you are creating a RAID 1 data only array then you can use the IRST when running Windows to create the array. You can also use the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Even though this HP VISTA RAID setup article is dated, it does have some excellent information.
Launch IRST.
You can observe the above status of the hard drives attached to the Intel SATA controller. Now click on Create.
Select Real-time data protection (RAID 1) and click NEXT.
Configure the RAID 1 array by selecting two hard drives of the same size and click on Next.
Next click on Create Volume.
The new RAID volume is now created. However, you now need to use Windows Disk Management to ready the volume for use.
Creating a RAID 5 Array.
A RAID 5 array will require three to four hard drives. While it is possible to convert a RAID 0 to a RAID 5 array, I recommended that you consider building the RAID 5 array from scratch rather than use a conversion method.
If you are configuring the Windows boot drive into the RAID 5 array, then you need to use the Intel option ROM method for creating the array. Tapping Cntl-i at boot up will get you into the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Once the array has been created then boot up your image recovery disk and load the array from your image backup.
If you are creating a RAID 5 data only array then you can use the IRST when running Windows to create the array. You can also use the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Even though this HP VISTA RAID setup article is dated, it does have some excellent information.
The following procedure will build the RAID 5 array with three hard drives using IRST.
Launch IRST.
During this create process, I will be using the last three hard drives
listed in the above image under Storage System View. Now click Create.
Select Efficient data hosting and protection (RAID 5) and click
On Next.
Select the three hard drives for RAID 5 and click on Next.
Review the volume creation selections then click on Create Volume.
Review the final warning then click on OK.
Now click on OK and review the final array status.
Creating a RAID 10 (0+1) Array.
A RAID 10 (0+1) array will require four hard drives.
If you are configuring the Windows boot drive into the RAID 10 (0+1) array, then you need to use the Intel option ROM method for creating the array. Tapping Cntl-i at boot up will get you into the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Once the array has been created then boot up your image recovery disk and load the array from your image backup.
If you are creating a RAID 10 (0+1) data only array then you can use the IRST when running Windows to create the array. You can also use the Intel option ROM firmware setup utility. Even though this HP VISTA RAID setup article is dated, it does have some excellent information.
The following procedure will build the RAID 10 (0+1) array using four hard drives using IRST.
Launch IRST.
This create process will be using the last four hard drives listed in the above image under Storage System View. Notice that the hard drives are not the same size. Two of the hard drives are 1.5 TB and two hard drives are 2 TB. While it’s recommended to use all hard drives of the same size, it’s not required. The RAID 10 creation progam will pick to two smallest hard drives for the striped pair and then the two largest hard drives for replication pair but not the opposite as the two largest hard drives if used as the striped pair would not fit on the two smaller hard drives for replication. Now click Create.
Select Balanced performance and data protection (RAID 10) and click
on Next.
Select the four hard drives for RAID 10 and click on Next.
Notice that IRST is set to create a RAID 10 volume with the capacity of 2.7 TB.
Review the volume creation selections then click on Create Volume.
Review the final warning then click on OK.
Now click on OK and review the final array status.
Conversion from RAID 0 to RAID 5
If you have a RAID 0 hard disk configuration and you are concerned that a hard drive failure will cause your PC to crash or results in data loss then you might have an option to use RAID 5. A RAID 5 three drive configuration can survive a single hard drive failure but not two failing hard drives. While there are other RAID configurations possible, this document will only be addressing a three hard drive configuration using the Intel SATA controller. Some of the newer HP PCs can accommodate three hard drives and can be configured when ordered with RAID 5.
Observe the below image. This PC has a RAID 0 2.7 TB array. To build the RAID 5 array, you will need to add (configure) an additional hard drive into the array. Click on Manage and then add an eligible hard drive to the array.
Note: all data on the hard drive to be added to the array will be lost since parity and data from the existing array needs to be written to the added hard drive to create the RAID 5 array. Take backups of your existing array in case something goes wrong.
Once you are on the Manage screen then click on Change type.
The following screen will appear:
Select the drive to be included into the array and click on OK.
When the migration process begins, the Status is now indicating migrating and the Type is RAID 5. The hard drive added was 2 TB which meets the minimum amount. BE PATIENT! The migration process will take a very long time for an in place migration to complete.
It’s much faster to delete out the original RAID 0 volume, create the new RAID 5 volume and then reload the original RAID 0 image from your backups. I recommend that you consider
this method verses the in place approach.
Click on Status to show the migration progress.
RAID 0 to RAID 5 Observations
I was able to shut down and boot the RAID configuration before the migration process had completed. The in place migration method was very slow, about 3% per hour and hence my recommendation to use a differnet method. Booting up from different hard drive before the migration process has completed results in a BSOD on boot up.
After completing the RAID 5 conversion, I did receive a message from IRST indicating that one or more volumes is protected against a hard drive failure.
Other RAID Migrations
While there are other RAID migrations options available, they can be platform (chipset) specific. Review this Intel Chipset article on supported RAID migrations. Even though the Intel RAID migration has a safety function built into the process in the event of a power loss or shutdown, it’s always best to have a complete set of up-to-date backups.
The migration process can be painfully slow. The migration time is largely dependent on the hard drive sizes and the number of hard drives involved in the overall migration. In some cases it might be faster to build the RAID array from scratch and then load the data back to the array verses using an in place migration process.
It is possible to increase the overall RAID array (volume) size with some RAID configurations by adding hard drives to the array. The overall size of the array may be limited by how the array had been previously formatted by Windows. Review the information under the Considerations topic in this document.
*********updated August 21, 2013
If you are using SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration then you will need to have the Intel 7 or 8 chipset plus Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) version 11 or higher to get Windows TRIM support to function. The latest version of IRST as of 8/21/2013 that I have seen is 12.7.1036.
*************DISCLAIMER***********
There may be inaccuracies with the information contained in this document so please consider that when using RAID.
*************DISCLAIMER***********
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT
Attachments:
RAID for Consumer PCs.doc ‏3761 KB

Great document
I am a volunteer. I am not an HP employee.
To say THANK YOU, press the "thumbs up symbol" to render a KUDO. Please click Accept as Solution, if your problem is solved. You can render both Solution and KUDO.
The Law of Effect states that positive reinforcement increases the probability of a behavior being repeated. (B.F.Skinner). You toss me KUDO and/or Solution, and I perform better.
(2) HP DV7t i7 3160QM 2.3Ghz 8GB
HP m9200t E8400,Win7 Pro 32 bit. 4GB RAM, ASUS 550Ti 2GB, Rosewill 630W. 1T HD SATA 3Gb/s
Custom Asus P8P67, I7-2600k, 16GB RAM, WIN7 Pro 64bit, EVGA GTX660 2GB, 750W OCZ, 1T HD SATA 6Gb/s
Custom Asus P8Z77, I7-3770k, 16GB RAM, WIN7 Pro 64bit, EVGA GTX670 2GB, 750W OCZ, 1T HD SATA 6Gb/s
Both Customs use Rosewill Blackhawk case.
Printer -- HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus

Advice on RAID Sets, Volume Sets, and RAID Levels of the Volume Sets using an Areca Controller

I have read through a lot of information on disk usage, storage rules for an editing rig, users inquiries/member responses in this forum and I thank each and every one of you – especially Harm.
In building my new workstation, I purchased five (5) WD 1T, 7k, 64M SATAIII hard drives and an Areca RAID card, ARC-1880ix-16-4G, which I plan to use primarily as my media/data disk array. The workstation will use a 128GB SATAIII SSD as the OS/program drive and I will transfer two (2) WD Raptor/10k SATA 70GB drives from my current system for pagefile/scratch/render use. I tentatively plan on using a mobo SATAIII port for the SSD and mobo SATA ports with a software RAID (level 0) for the 10k Raptors.
In reading the Areca Instruction manual, I am now considering exactly how I should configure the 5 physical 1TB drives in terms of RAID Level(s), Volume Sets, and RAID Sets. I must admit that I like the opportunity of allowing for a Dedicated Hot Spare as I am generally distrustful of the MTBF data that drive vendors tout and have the bad experience in the past of losing data from a mal-configured RAID array and a single drive hardware failure (admittedly, my fault!).
In line with the logic that one doesn’t want to perform disk reading while trying to write at the same time (or vice-versa), I am thinking the approach above should work OK in using the mobo disk interface and both software and external hardware RAID controllers without having to create separate RAID level configurations within a Volume Set or further dividing up the physical drives into separate RAID sets. I know in forum messages that Harm noted that he had 17 drives and I could envision a benefit to having separate RAID sets in that situation, but I am not at that point yet.
To some degree I think it might be best to just create one RAID Level on one Volume Set on one RAID Set, but want to solicit thoughts from veteran controller users on their workflows/thoughts in these regards.
Anyone care to share thoughts/perspectives? Thanks
Bill

Thanks for the speedy feedback Harm - I appreciate it.
I was thinking RAID level 3 as well.
Of course, it's always something! I purchased the Caviar Blacks by mistake - which are non-TLER. I will work with EggHead to return the ones I purchased and replace them with RE4 versions as I'm not thrilled about the possibility of the controller declaring the volume/disks degraded unnecessarily and although I have the DOS utility WDTLER where one is supposed to be able to enable/disable TLER on WD drives - I suspect WD is way beyond that now anyway with current builds.
I agree with you about just testing the performance of the options for the raptors - on the mobo and then on the controller. When I benchmark them I'll post the results in case others are curious.
Thanks again....off to EggHead!

Setting up RAID 0 for Audio

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for