Hard Drive Configuration

[threeloaves]

How does something like this sound:

Bay 1: WD Raptor 150gb (OS & Apps)

Bay 2 & 3: 2 WD Caviar 640gb in RAID 0
- Partition 1: 50GB Scratch
- Partition 2: Data(Photos, Projects,Crapola, etc.)

Bay 4: 320GB Stock
- Partition 1: Backup of OS & Apps (Weekly)
- Partition 2: Backup of Data (Weekly)
*Not sure how I would do this backup - with SuperDuper maybe?

External: WD Caviar 1TB
Partition 1: Time Machine
Partition 2: SuperDuper Backup (Daily or Every other day)

Or am i better off keeping it a bit more simple, and forgetting about the partitions:

Bay 1: WD Raptor 150gb (OS & Apps)

Bay 2 & 3: 2 WD Caviar 640gb in RAID 0
Data(Photos, Projects,Crapola, etc.)

Bay 4: 320GB Stock
Scratch or spare drive for the moment?

External: WD Caviar 1TB
Time Machine
SuperDuper Backup (Daily or Every other day)

 

[misterredman]

What are you going to use this machine for? Why do you want to use a RAID 0 for your data?

 

[Alrescha]

Why do you want to use a RAID 0 for your data?

Speed?

Maximum usable space?

Convenience of a single volume?

A.

 

[misterredman]

Speed?

Maximum usable space?

Convenience of a single volume?

A.

Yeah, but with double the risk of losing data should one of the drive fail.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

How does something like this sound:

Bay 1: WD Raptor 150gb (OS & Apps)

Bay 2 & 3: 2 WD Caviar 640gb in RAID 0
- Partition 1: 50GB Scratch
- Partition 2: Data(Photos, Projects,Crapola, etc.)

Bay 4: 320GB Stock
- Partition 1: Backup of OS & Apps (Weekly)
- Partition 2: Backup of Data (Weekly)
*Not sure how I would do this backup - with SuperDuper maybe?

External: WD Caviar 1TB
Partition 1: Time Machine
Partition 2: SuperDuper Backup (Daily or Every other day)

Or am i better off keeping it a bit more simple, and forgetting about the partitions:

Bay 1: WD Raptor 150gb (OS & Apps)

Bay 2 & 3: 2 WD Caviar 640gb in RAID 0
Data(Photos, Projects,Crapola, etc.)

Bay 4: 320GB Stock
Scratch or spare drive for the moment?

External: WD Caviar 1TB
Time Machine
SuperDuper Backup (Daily or Every other day)

your easiest option is:
Bay 1 : 150gb boot+apps
Bay 2 : 640gb Photo
Bay 3 : 640gb Projects
Bay 4 : 320gb partitioned for a 80gb scratch & rest for crap

External 1TB for Time Machine

if your using TM forget superduper

but remember your using 1720gb of HDD space, just bay 2 & 3 will have 1280gb of space, if these were full then your 1tb back up system isn't going to have enough space.

I back up my 250 gb boot & a 640gb film & audio HDD's drives to an external, these arent full but about 188gb on there, the other 2 drives i use are for scratch and crap storage and photographic projects, the photographic projects i back up to disc every 3 months, your other option is a HDD vault with something like 4 x 500gb sata II hdds in it configured so you got a 2tb external storage system, Just my thoughts

A simple system, Is an efficient system.

 

[Alrescha]

Yeah, but with double the risk of losing data should one of the drive fail.

I would suggest that if you take a very small probability of failure and double it, you still have a very small probability of failure.

My boot drive is a striped array of four drives. My Time Machine volume is another. I sleep soundly at night.

A.

 

[threeloaves]

The machine is going to be mainly used for design work, and music production.

Now that im thinking about it 640GB is probably plenty of space for just my photos, projects, etc. Maybe I shouldn't even raid them? But, then I would have a spare 640GB - that I don't know what I'd do with though.

Bay 1: 150GB Raptor - OS & Apps
Bay 2: 640GB - ?
Bay 3: 640GB - ?
Bay 4: 320GB Stock
- 80GB Scratch
- 240GB - SuperDuper Backup of OS & Apps

External 1TB: Time Machine
NAS: Itunes, Movies, Media

 

[misterredman]

I would suggest that if you take a very small probability of failure and double it, you still have a very small probability of failure.

My boot drive is a striped array of four drives. My Time Machine volume is another. I sleep soundly at night.

A.

That the probability is small doesn't matter. What matters is that the probability gets bigger the more the drive in a RAID 0.
The important part is to be aware of the gains and of the risks. What one person may find good could be unacceptable for another.

As Mr.Noisy said you will need a big TM drive to backup all.

Anyway, an internal superduper backup of the whole system disk may be good to keep you running in case of problem with the primary drive. You should then be able to boot from it without having to restore or use the external drive. You can always "convert" it, should you need more space for something else.

You already mentioned the scratch disk on another physical disk so every other option should be fine.

 

[Alrescha]

That the probability is small doesn't matter.

I respectfully disagree. The probability is all that matters. A multiple-drive array built of good quality drives has *less* chance of failure than one crappy drive. The fact that the array has ~n times more chance of failure than any one of it's drives is simply irrelevant.

To put it another way, the probability that you'll get injured goes up astronomically the moment you leave your home, but that doesn't keep us from going outside (usually . The chance of getting hurt is still small. The fact that it doubles, triples, or quadruples is simply not important.

A.

 

[misterredman]

I respectfully disagree. The probability is all that matters. A multiple-drive array built of good quality drives has *less* chance of failure than one crappy drive. The fact that the array has ~n times more chance of failure than any one of it's drives is simply irrelevant.

To put it another way, the probability that you'll get injured goes up astronomically the moment you leave your home, but that doesn't keep us from going outside (usually . The chance of getting hurt is still small. The fact that it doubles, triples, or quadruples is simply not important.

A.

I will give my last response, since we already took the discussion away from the OP argument.

You assume everyone perceive risk as you do but risk is something everyone may perceive in a different way. Hence you may be fine but it's your choice to go outside or not.

The important thing is to know the risk is greater. Just to make my position clear: I am currently using a RAID 0 in my setup for the speed boost. ;-) I am aware of the risks and I am fine with it.

For the OP: I suggest you think about getting a UPS (if you still haven't), especially if you are going for the RAID 0 to be safe in case of power failure.

 

[netdog]

I know that this doesn't fit you model, but I would recommend the following

Boot Drive 0: The Raptor you want (be prepared for a lot of noise - this is why I don't use a Raptor)

Drive 1 & 2: Samsung 1TB in Raid 1. This will go a long way toward protecting your data.

Use the stock 320 however you want in the 4th bay. I don't find it is worth the extra heat and noise. You may have need for it however.