Live Chat & Podcast at 1:00PM Eastern on Sunday!
There's no such thing as a stupid question, but they're the easiest to answer.
JoinTour
Login
Search
Apple MacOS
Tag Cloud
access acer asus bios bsod computer crash desktop dns driver drivers error ethernet excel freeze gaming graphics hard drive hardware hdmi internet laptop malware memory monitor motherboard network printer problem ram registry repair router slow software sound trojan ubuntu 11.10 uninstall usb video virus vista wifi windows windows 7 windows 7 32 bit windows 7 64 bit windows xp wireless
Search
Search for:
Tech Support Guy Forums > Operating Systems > Apple MacOS >
RAID vs. no RAID

Reply  
Thread Tools
namenotfound's Avatar
Computer Specs
Senior Member with 3,003 posts.
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New York
Experience: no man can be my equal
28-Jul-2010, 12:26 AM #1
RAID vs. no RAID
In the most simplest terms, what would RAID give me?

I'm thinking of getting the new Mac Pro when it's released in August, and the info on the Apple page goes right over my head

http://www.apple.com/macpro/features/storage.html

If I was to get a Mac Pro with 4 drives (HHD or SSD), what are the advantages and disadvantages of having 4 drives with RAID vs. having 4 drives without RAID?

This would be my first Mac Pro, I've only owned iMacs and MacBook Pros before this.
__________________
404: Name Not Found
Don't PM me questions, that's what posts are for
My Favorite Editors: Windows: Crimson Editor | Mac: Fraise | Linux: gPHPEdit
Nick Tompson's Avatar
Computer Specs
Member with 410 posts.
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Experience: Programmer/Web Developer
28-Jul-2010, 04:38 AM #2
RAID is very broad.
What is the RAID mode offered?
namenotfound's Avatar
Computer Specs
Senior Member with 3,003 posts.
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New York
Experience: no man can be my equal
28-Jul-2010, 11:35 AM #3
On the webpage I linked to it says
Quote:
RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 0+1.
Nick Tompson's Avatar
Computer Specs
Member with 410 posts.
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Experience: Programmer/Web Developer
28-Jul-2010, 11:40 AM #4
RAID 0 is just striping - no parity/redundancy - but it can boost performance.
RAID 1 is mirroring, no performance gain.
RAID 5 is explained here http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/perf/...eLevel5-c.html
RAID 01 is mirroring of striped sets - storage efficiency isn't very good here, but has performance benefits.

Using RAID 0, or RAID 5 have the potential to boost performance.
RAID 5 also has data redundancy, so perhaps a good choice with 4 drives.
__________________
So I solve computer problems for a living...
Headrush's Avatar
Senior Member with 1,335 posts.
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Experience: Advanced
28-Jul-2010, 07:55 PM #5
What are you planning to use this Mac Pro for?
Do you already have a backup solution you use?

P.S. namenotfound, how did things work out for the flash converting?
namenotfound's Avatar
Computer Specs
Senior Member with 3,003 posts.
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New York
Experience: no man can be my equal
28-Jul-2010, 09:55 PM #6
I heard of a storage device called Drobo that lets you swap out drives on the fly when they get full/damaged. Would RAID 5 in a Mac Pro allow the same thing? Also, do the drives have to be all of the same capacity? (they can be mixed on Drobo, or so I heard)

Right now, after I finish a video, I move all the files (scratch, renders, etc.) to an external 1TB hard drive. G-Drive by G-Technology. I've been told by various people in my media circles that these are the most trusted external drives for long-term video storage/backup.

I'm going to use the Mac Pro mostly with Compressor (and the rest of Final Cut Studio, but I want the core power for Compressor). Right now I'm using my Core 2 Duo iMac, and although I'm connecting to my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro for the clusters (making 4 cores) it's still slow as heck to compress my huge HD video files to make the filesize as small as possible while maintaining the HD quality for my broadcasters, since they can't handle huge files. (as we speak, I'm trying to compress a 3GB video down to 1GB, and it's taking WAY too long).

12 cores (even 8 cores) would help an awful lot!


About the Flash converting. I'm bummed that I couldn't find anything decent for Mac, but I found a free program for Windows which I've used to make great quality Flash videos! It's called WinFX. So I use VMware Fusion and Windows XP when I need to convert my videos to Flash.
__________________
404: Name Not Found
Don't PM me questions, that's what posts are for
My Favorite Editors: Windows: Crimson Editor | Mac: Fraise | Linux: gPHPEdit

Last edited by namenotfound; 29-Jul-2010 at 12:35 AM..
Headrush's Avatar
Senior Member with 1,335 posts.
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Experience: Advanced
28-Jul-2010, 11:24 PM #7
Quote:
Originally Posted by namenotfound View Post
I heard of a storage device called Drobo that lets you swap out drives on the fly when they get full/damaged. Would RAID 5 in a Mac Pro allow the same thing? Also, do the drives have to be all of the same capacity? (they can be mixed on Drobo, or so I heard)
Unless I'm mistaken, I didn't think the Mac Pro supports hot swapping.
Drives can be different but the maximum RAID size will be the smaller sized one.
Using the same drive is normally the best most optimal arrangement.

Quote:
Originally Posted by namenotfound View Post
I've been told by various people in my media circles that these are the most trusted external drives for long-term video storage/backup.
Pretty sure G_Technology uses Hitachi drives. Whether they are better or not I can't say but if so any enclosure should work as well since they just use the Oxford 394 chipset.


Quote:
Originally Posted by namenotfound View Post
About the Flash converting. I'm bummed that I couldn't find anything decent for Mac, but I found a free program for Windows which I've used to make great quality Flash videos! It's called WinFX. So I use VMware Fusion and Windows XP when I need to convert my videos to Flash.
So ffmpeg didn't work? Always has to me.
namenotfound's Avatar
Computer Specs
Senior Member with 3,003 posts.
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New York
Experience: no man can be my equal
29-Jul-2010, 12:42 AM #8
Quote:
Originally Posted by Headrush View Post
So ffmpeg didn't work? Always has to me.
I was having issues with getting the Apple Developer's Tools to install, and apparently those are needed to get ffmpeg to work on a Mac.
Headrush's Avatar
Senior Member with 1,335 posts.
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Experience: Advanced
29-Jul-2010, 01:27 AM #9
Quote:
Originally Posted by namenotfound View Post
I was having issues with getting the Apple Developer's Tools to install, and apparently those are needed to get ffmpeg to work on a Mac.
I have mine and other great linux tools installed via MacPorts. Simple as
Code:
port install ffmpeg
but you do need developer tools.

If you want a precompiled ffmpeg you can get it here: http://ffmpeg.arrozcru.org/autobuilds/

P.S. If you want anymore info on it, we probably should use your other thread and keep this one for RAID info.
Reply

THIS THREAD HAS EXPIRED.
Are you having the same problem? We have volunteers ready to answer your question, but first you'll have to join for free. Need help getting started? Check out our Welcome Guide.

Search Tech Support Guy

Find the solution to your
computer problem!




Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
WELCOME TO TECH SUPPORT GUY! Are you looking for the solution to your computer problem? Join our site today to ask your question -- for free! Our site is run completely by volunteers who want to help you solve your computer problems. See our Welcome Guide to get started.
Thread Tools


Similar Threads
Title Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
raid no raid raptor help? masterxtech Hardware 4 11-May-2007 08:55 PM
RAID vs single disk, ball park performance increase to expect bcachot Hardware 2 27-Apr-2006 10:08 AM
on-board sata raid -vs- pci sata raid.... axis77 Hardware 3 31-Mar-2006 07:00 PM
ATA Ide VS IDE RAid chewie1012 Hardware 28 06-Jan-2004 09:38 AM
General Discussion: IDE RAID vs. SCSI RAID lyrical Hardware 2 18-Dec-2002 03:27 PM


Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter TechGuy.tv TechGuy.tv Mobile TSG Mobile
You Are Using:
Server ID
Advertisements do not imply our endorsement of that product or service.
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:59 PM.
Copyright © 1996 - 2011 TechGuy, Inc. All rights reserved.

Powered by Cermak Technologies, Inc.