> On Feb 29, 2:09 pm, "Rod Speed" gmail.com> wrote:

>> ritpghotmail.com> wrote:

>>> On Feb 28, 3:18 pm, "Rod Speed" gmail.com> wrote:

>>>> ritpghotmail.com> wrote:

>>>>> On Feb 27, 10:23 pm, Arno Wagner privacy.net> wrote:

>>>>>> In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storageritpghotmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:

>>

>>>>>>> I'm not exactly a newbie but I haven't written any books on this
>>>>>>> subject either.

>>

>>>>>> [...]

>>

>>>>>>> My goal is to have 1.5 TBs in a RAID 5 arrangment so I can begin
>>>>>>> to capture hundreds of hours of video from old VHS and DV tapes.
>>>>>>> I'm tempted to just install one additional 500 gig HD for a
>>>>>>> total of two and just dedicate the second HD to video capture
>>>>>>> ala an old EIDE (non-RAID) arrangement. I won't get the
>>>>>>> performance benefit from striping. But do I really need it? Can
>>>>>>> I do this?

>>

>>>>>> [...]

>>

>>>>>> I think the question is what you want to actually do. RAID5 is
>>>>>> not for speed. Unless yu have a fast hardware controller
>>>>>> (recognizable by its price, at the moment something like 500 USD
>>>>>> and up), speed will
>>>>>> be slower than individual disks. My impression is that you do
>>>>>> not actually want RAID in any form.

>>

>>>>>> Also messing with your system drive is probably a bad idea, if
>>>>>> you are not sure you can actually reliably backup and recreate
>>>>>> it.

>>

>>>>>> You also do not seem to want the RAID5 for added reliability,
>>>>>> correct? If so, use additional drives for your video-data.
>>>>>> Current deives should be fast enough even for high-resolution
>>>>>> streaming. As to size, I would advise to honestly estimate
>>>>>> how much space you need and then get 1.5x ... 2x that. TB
>>>>>> disks are really not that expensive.

>>

>>>>>> As to reliability, RAID1 and RAID5 reduce down-time due to failed
>>>>>> disks. They do not replace backups. For backups the currently
>>>>>> cheapest solution is external USB HDDs. For files, just copy them
>>>>>> over. For system backups, yes, this is a bit difficult under
>>>>>> Windows, typically writing to an image file is best. (Linux:
>>>>>> use ye old tar archiver, which still does the trich reliably
>>>>>> and for free.)

>>>>> Thanks to you all for the great feedback - even though I feel
>>>>> dumber than a rock at this point. I had started out just wanting
>>>>> to add a dedicated HD for video capture and editing. And that is
>>>>> all I want to do at this point. I was under the impression that
>>>>> because my PC out of the factory, was set up for RAID (with the
>>>>> controller card on the motherboard) I was not going to be able to
>>>>> simply
>>>>> add a HD like I would on my old PC which had EIDE architecture.

>>

>>>> You still add an extra hard drive the same way. The RAID
>>>> functionality
>>>> is optional and you will find that the original drive isnt RAID.

>>

>>>>> I'm still not sure what my options are.

>>

>>>> Just add a new drive of the size you feel you need, and forget
>>>> about RAID.

>>

>>>>> I guess I can understand that because I will be dealing with large
>>>>> files that the data will be read into RAM serially thus negating
>>>>> any benefit from striping

>>

>>>> Its more complicated than that, but dont worry about it.

>>

>>>>> (although I'd would wonder why RAID wouldn't include
>>>>> the ability to initiate 2 reads in parallel even for large files).

>>

>>>> It does.

>>

>>>>> So if this is true I have nothing to gain from RAID 0 (striping).

>>

>>>> The short story is that while raid 0 does give some increase in
>>>> performance,
>>>> that isnt very useful for the sort of thing you want to do because
>>>> the speed
>>>> of video editing isnt limited by the speed of access to the file,
>>>> it limited by
>>>> the work done on the file when editing, and so on the cpu
>>>> horsepower etc.

>>

>>>>> And I don't really care about backing up the video files
>>>>> (RAID 1) because I'm not throwing away the source media
>>>>> (although some of the VHS tapes are a bit long in the tooth).

>>

>>>> Yes, in that situation doubling the cost of the drive(s) isnt
>>>> necessarily
>>>> worth it when you can get it from the VHS tapes again if you ever
>>>> need to.

>>

>>>>> So I guess I go back to my original question. How do I add a
>>>>> single 500 gig HD to this PC without going thru the complexity of
>>>>> converting
>>>>> to any of the RAID options (0, 1, 5, 10, etc.) all of which are
>>>>> supposedly supported by my MB (with hardware RAID controllers
>>>>> added).

>>

>>>> Just plug the drive into the motherboard and see it show up in the
>>>> bios.

>>> I can do that (just plug in a 2nd 500 gig SATA HD which I already
>>> have) but how can I be sure I won't lose what is on the existing
>>> drive.

>>
>> That shouldnt happen, but the only way to be completely
>> sure is to have a full backup of the original drive.
>>

>>> Is there any chance that could happen as I install the 2nd drive?

>>
>> Its certainly possible to stuff things up when adding a 2nd drive.
>>
>> It shouldnt happen if you are careful, but it does sound like
>> you arent all that fluent with systems, so there is some risk.
>>
>> But you are taking a considerable risk not having a full backup of
>> the original drive anyway. That drive could just die at any time,
>> even before you add a 2nd drive.

>> At least backup the stuff you cant just reinstall. A DVD burner doesnt cost much
>> and unless you have a lot of video files that you have created yourself etc, that
>> should be quite adequate to backup what most have created on a system.

> I have 250 gig of USB external HD available which should
> hold the 140 gig of OS, apps, and data on my primary HD.

> I need to get up to speed on how to image the primary HD. The version
> of Acronis I have seems to be able to clone, buy not image, my HD.

> And cloning requires the HDs to be identical in size

> which creates a problem for me.