[jamsum]

I have been puzzling my brain over which RAID system would be better to build for what I want to do with it, which is to create family DVDs and music recording because I am a part time musician. I have Pinnacle Studio 9+ and also plan to buy Nero 7, plus a number of other software video and audio recording tools, software and hardware.
The main two reasons that I want a RAID system are for performance and redundancy, since I want as much of a crash resistent system as I can build, as well as data recovery options in case of a failure of a disk in the system. I plan on using a Gigabyte socket 939 system board with SLI video card capability, Windows XP 64, 2 gigs of memory, and a Sony DRU 800-A optical drive. I do have experience in building basic PCs, but don't know that much about RAID. I have heard that RAID 5 is popular, which this board will accommodate, but in researching the different RAID level characteristics on the web, it seems that all of them have differing limitations depending on what the user plans to do with the system. I would most ceratinly appreciate any input you can send my way, as well as tell me if I am on the right track with the components I have.

[gotrootdude]

Remember to disable Nero scout! It's ridiculously sluggish! Can turn a speedy PC into a slug.

The Sony DRU 800-A is not a recommended drive. You'd be much better off with a NEC or Pioneer burner. The Sony drive has one thing going for it, and that's that it's about a half inch shorter and will fit in smaller cases easier.


You'll want RAID level 1 for redundancy. The system may still crash occasionally, but your data should be safe.

[Rockn]

Raid 5 is also fault tolerant as long as you don't lose more than one drive. You need a minimum of three drives as well to create the array. You may be better off just getting an external firewire drive for storage and just get some larger SATA internal drives without RAID at all.