Workstation Configurations - Discussion

[Jeff Kilgroe]

This is a place to discuss various configurations for workstations used in your RED workflows. Benchmarks, hardware choices, etc..

[Kim Frank]

So I'll start off with a question abot RAID configuration to enhance speed and security. I read what I could find, but still don't really understand. How do you configure you're Raid setup?
I'm thinking about having two internal Drives (windows and mac dual boot) for OS and Applications and a array of 4 drives but can't think of what is best for speed and Security... RAID0, 5, etc.
Also in the sytem Requirements for Premiere Pro CS5 it's said that for uncompressed you'd need RAID0
quote:
7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats; RAID 0 for uncompressed
But wouldn't that be insecure?

[Elsie N]

So I'll start off with a question abot RAID configuration to enhance speed and security.
Also in the sytem Requirements for Premiere Pro CS5 it's said that for uncompressed you'd need RAID0
quote:
7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats; RAID 0 for uncompressed
But wouldn't that be insecure?

Kim, any information I have is just from personal experience so take that into consideration. I have used RAID 0 for some years now and have never had a drive in any of those configurations fail. I have had drives used as singles to fail during that time. My theory is a RAID 0 drive works easier because it is striping across 2, 3, ... however many drives are in the RAID. I'm also a believer in using drives with fewer platters, or perhaps one that utilizes perpendicular recording, because there are fewer moving parts and theoretically, less chance of failure. But to be safe I will store on a RAID 0 drive and then backup to a large LP (low power) drive using an external e-SATA dock. The LP drives are inexpensive and if you are just storing data, they won't be spinning often so don't need to be 7200 RPM or higher.

I am currently about to put 2/ 1.5 TB Seagate 5900 RPM LP drives as a RAID 0 in a box I am putting together. They will not be my system drive, (that will be a RAID 0 composed of 2/ WD 750 GB blacks)... but a storage drive. I like the idea of the LP RAID if it gives me enough speed during recall because they will put less of a load on my power supply and by all accounts they run much cooler... less heat on the CPU etc.

[Brandon Kraemer]

So I'll start off with a question abot RAID configuration to enhance speed and security...

It's about striking a balance. Raid 0 is the best for high performance, but if you have a large enough raid (16 tb) you can get very high performance with a more redundant raid level like 5/6 that offers some hot swap-ablity.

In general terms... the faster the spindles and the more spindles you have, the higher your bandwidth. It all depends on how many streams you need at once. I work off a SAN, 16 drive (16x1TB 7200 RPM) chasis on a 8 Gbps fiber network and it's stupid fast. It serves 5 edit systems and more animators.

However I can get close to the same video frame rates from a JBOD raid I built myself 4 years ago... that was a Ultra 320 SCSI two channel direct attached (via UL4D) 4 drive enclosure with 15,000 rpm drives... but I was getting 2 streams, one user.

Either way it's about backing up your original assets and your project created files. True backups and clones are the best way to have redundancy because with raid there are always variables.

*ps: I can't wait for SSD raids... talk about the bleeding edge.

[vvxifeng16]

I very much agree with the above mentioned .. I will continue to monitor the

[Von Thomas]

Here's a suggestion. For your archive, backup your files to LTO 4 or 5. This will give you peace of mind, and now that you have your project safely backed up, you can have fun with the fastest RAID 0 money can buy. This will have an improved effect on your edit process without sacrificing your precious data.

[Albert Astorga Zepeda]

It's about striking a balance. Raid 0 is the best for high performance, but if you have a large enough raid (16 tb) you can get very high performance with a more redundant raid level like 5/6 that offers some hot swap-ablity.

In general terms... the faster the spindles and the more spindles you have, the higher your bandwidth. It all depends on how many streams you need at once. I work off a SAN, 16 drive (16x1TB 7200 RPM) chasis on a 8 Gbps fiber network and it's stupid fast. It serves 5 edit systems and more animators.

However I can get close to the same video frame rates from a JBOD raid I built myself 4 years ago... that was a Ultra 320 SCSI two channel direct attached (via UL4D) 4 drive enclosure with 15,000 rpm drives... but I was getting 2 streams, one user.

Either way it's about backing up your original assets and your project created files. True backups and clones are the best way to have redundancy because with raid there are always variables.

*ps: I can't wait for SSD raids... talk about the bleeding edge.

Raid 50 Rules for speed and Redundancy. You get the Speed of Raid 0 and the safety of Raid 5. get a good controller and you could be pushing 1.2 GB per second.

[Roberto Lequeux]

Would a section be more suitable than a thread so there can be separate dedicated threads for each component, software, etc? 0.02

[Brandon J. Garcia]

I just recently purchased an IMAC QuadCore, w/ 4 2.66 ghz processor + 4Gig RAM...

I was wondering what do I need to do to optimize my mac for RED work flow?

Either hardware or software.

or any advice would be nice as well.

thanks,

Brandon

[Felipe Abreu]

Hello! I have great gear and I am burning my brain to achieve the best set up.

Here Is What I already Have (Now Working With Color... waiting for DaVinci to resolve its Self)

- Mac Pro 12 Core 2,93
- NVIDIA QUADRO FX for Mac
- NVIDIA GEOFORCE GT 120
- Red Rocket
- Decklink Extreme HD 3
- 4 Vertex 2 SSD 240gb (for the System)
- 32 GB Ram
- Apple Cinema Display 30'
- Apple LED 24'
- NEC MultiSync PA271W-BK-SV 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor with SpectraViewII Color Calibration Solution
- Samsung LED TV 55'
- Tangent Wave
- Wacom Tablet Intous 4 XL
- Black Magic HDlink Pro Display Port
- Atto SAS 6 G/Bs SAS Card
- Habey DS-1280 3U 12-bay SAS Expander Direct Attached SAS/SATA JBOD Storage Array with 12 X 1.5 7200 RPM Sata Drives

I am planing to Use All 4 Monitors

Apple Cinema 30' on the Quadro for CUDA
LED for iSIGHT and GUI on the GT 120
Samsung 55 on the HDMI from the Black Magic
NEC using Dual HDSDI from Black Magic passing thru the HDLINK and connected via DislplayPort Cable

I am goingtto need extra space for the PCI Cards, any suggestions?

What would be the best Use of the slots? Which card in which slot?

I Need some help to decide how to plug my Red Rocked on the monitor (s) without cabling around everytime i want to use Red CineX

Thanks for the help!!!!


Felipe