Thanks to all for the suggestions and insight. I decided to go with the two 500GB drives configured as a RAID 1 array. I like the idea of having an automatic, almost real-time backup of the primary drive. I also chose this option because drives in general are dirt cheap and I can install another one or two shortly after getting it.
In fact, I'm likely to install two more 500GB drives, so I have plenty of space and options for allocating swap and scratch. I was telling my son how cheap this stuff is. Back in the late '80's I worked on a project where I recovered 4.5GB of DASD on IBM 3380's. That was on my resume for 10 years because it represented over $750K savings to the company. I took that off several years ago. 4GB drives, if they can be found anymore are dirt cheap. A 4GB microdrive goes for under $100, not mention that 4GB solid state CF are now so inexpensive as to make microdrives look like dinosaurs. Tom C. >From: David Savage <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> >To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> >Subject: Re: OT- PC, Photoshop, and RAID Decisions, Decisions >Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:04:49 +0900 > >At 05:03 AM 2/11/2007, you wrote: > >I'm within hours from making a decision regarding a new desktop. > > > >I'm currently using PS2. The desktop comes with Vista Home Premium, >though > >it's possible I'll go to XP Pro depending on how performance seems. I'm >on > >a laptop at present with Vista Business. No major complaints after >turning > >off eye candy, reminders, automatic scheduled processes, and telling it >to > >look like classic windows. > > > >I'll likely get 1TB of storage. But there are options. > > > >1. 2 X 500 GB non-RAID SATA drives. > >2. 2 X 500 GB configured as RAID 0. > >3. 2 X 500 GB configured as RAID 1. > > > >Let's forget option 3 since I can backup to any external drive I want. > > > >To the meat of my question... Ideally the Windows virtual swap file and > >Photoshop scratch area are not supposed to be on the same physical disk. > >With option 2 though, Windows and CS2 will see 1 big drive. Who can tell > >which physical drive is being utilized for what? It seems counter to >what I > >think would be the best approach (which is to have an additional RAID 0 > >array for PS Scratch, which I won't). > > > >While a little performance may be lost, might it be better to go with a > >non-RAID configuration and be sure that Windows swap and Photoshop >scratch > >are on two independent physical devices? Any one have experience with >this > >exactly. > > > >Also, I'm a little afraid of RAID 0 and recoverability. Thanks. > >Stay away from RAID 0 for file storage. I lost 8 months of data (which I >didn't back-up) due to a drive that physically destroyed itself. > >I recommend building your workstation for speed, & looking into Network >Attached Storage (NAS) for file storage/back-up. (I'm currently considering >a Netgear ReadyNAS configured for RAID 5.) > >If you went that route, option 1 (or ideally 2), would be the way to go >IMHO. > >Also, check the windows web site. There is a white paper there about >configuring your system for digital imaging. > >Cheers, > >Dave > > > >-- >PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >PDML@pdml.net >http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
