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April 13th, 2005 17:00
Adding Additional SATA HDDs
I'd like to get some recommendations on adding additional SATA HDDs to my PWS670. The computer will be used strictly for Photoshop and I wanted to max out the amount of SATA HDDs to best make use of data storage. This is my proposed setup.
(1) 80GB SATA HDD on onboard controller for Windows XP SP2 OS and applications
(1) 160GB SATA HDD on onboard controller for Windows XP SP2 Paging File
(1) 120GB SATA HDD on Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID controller for Photoshop CS Scratch Disk
(1) 120GB SATA HDD on Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID controller for Data storage
I usually the controller mainly for a JBOD setup but I'm I could setup the controller as a RAID 0 setup for better Photoshop CS Scratch Disk performance. I was thinking of just getting the Adaptec SATA controller but since it's only 32-bit/66MHz I wasn't sure if that would be a severe bottleneck for the drives. The Addonics controller is fairly new with a PCI-X bridge of 64-bit/133MHz bus speed, I thought this would make better sense. I'm already using the single PCI slot for my Creative Audigy 2 ZS soundcard.
Whaddaya guys think?
Thank you,
Sean S.
(1) 80GB SATA HDD on onboard controller for Windows XP SP2 OS and applications
(1) 160GB SATA HDD on onboard controller for Windows XP SP2 Paging File
(1) 120GB SATA HDD on Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID controller for Photoshop CS Scratch Disk
(1) 120GB SATA HDD on Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID controller for Data storage
I usually the controller mainly for a JBOD setup but I'm I could setup the controller as a RAID 0 setup for better Photoshop CS Scratch Disk performance. I was thinking of just getting the Adaptec SATA controller but since it's only 32-bit/66MHz I wasn't sure if that would be a severe bottleneck for the drives. The Addonics controller is fairly new with a PCI-X bridge of 64-bit/133MHz bus speed, I thought this would make better sense. I'm already using the single PCI slot for my Creative Audigy 2 ZS soundcard.
Whaddaya guys think?
Thank you,
Sean S.
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Chipstone
525 Posts
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April 13th, 2005 23:00
(1)80GB SATA HDD on onboard controller for Windows XP SP2 OS and applications
(1)160 or a 250GB SATA HDD on onboard controller: Backup for Photoshop production files.
(1) 120GB SATA HDD on Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID - Raid 0
(1) 120GB SATA HDD on Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID - Raid 0
Create a Raid 0 with the two 120GB attached to the Addonics SATA II PCI-X RAID for your Photoshop files & paging file.
The Raid 0 array will be very fast to load, read/write, any file size of Photoshop production files, and the paging file will access (read/write) data at the same speed of the Photoshop files; all activity will be synchronized.
Otherwise if you create a Raid 0 array, but place the paging file on a non-raid drive, the paging file will read/write at half the speed of the Raid 0 array.
Placing the page file on the Raid array will not impact in any way on performance; the PCI-X card will be minimally saturated by only two drives set to Raid 0.
Then on a daily/weekly basis you can copy (Backup) your critical production files to the 2nd drive attached to the on board SATA controller.
tekbytes
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April 14th, 2005 00:00
I always look forward to hearing from you. Adobe's KB site recommended that you don't put the Windows Paging File and the Photoshop Scratch Disk on the same physical disk. That was why I kind of avoided going with the RAID 0. I was thinking about this.
80GB onboard SATA Windows XP OS and applications
160GB onboard SATA OS Paging File and Data Storage
120GB + 120GB = 240GB RAID 0 on PCI-X controller for Photoshop Scratch Disk
I was thinking, since my system has 3GB of RAM, 1GB can be used for the OS and 2GB will be dedicated to Photoshop which is the max it can handle until CS2 comes out in May. With PS maxing out on physical RAM, it shouldn't have to access the paging file that much right?
Do you have a lot of experience in Photoshop. I'm having a hard time finding good articles on how to configure the darn thing with multiple disks.
Thanks once again for all of your help!
Sean
Message Edited by tekbytes on 04-13-2005 08:12 PM
Chipstone
525 Posts
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April 14th, 2005 00:00
You setup seems sensible for your needs, but in order to take full advantage of the page file I would consider a 36GB 15K SCSI drive or the SATA Raptor 10K drive; to keep up with the speed of the raid array, otherwise the page file read/write speed will lag behind the raid array and you could take a hit in performance.
You could also increase the size of your primary drive to allow for the storage of the critical production files.
Another thing you may want to consider. Hitachi just came out with the new SATA II interface drives interfacing at 3 GB/s, and selling for bargain basement price, I am not sure on the price of a PCI SATA II controller, but it may be worth looking into. If you setup a Raid array with two SATA II drives the speed would be phenomenal, faster than any current SCSI raid setup. Here is the link:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100594-2&affiliate=yahoo
Personally, I mostly work with Access & SQL databases, but the Photoshop files are similar in creation of SQL queries and output databases.
I have an External SCSI enclosure with two Maxtor 300GB set to Raid 0 for the SQL/Access data & 2 Fujitsu 15K 73GB set to Raid 0 for the operating system (Server 2003) and the page file.
Since I have 4GB of ram I set the page file to ½ of Ram as opposed to 1.5 as recommended, but have found that Windows will use all available memory before it begins to tap into the page file.
Then on a daily basis the production SQL/Access files are copied overnight to a fibre channel array with 8 146 GB drives. I do extensive work for a company that requires extensive database financial compilation on files with over 3 million records per database, so they paid for the setup.
Message Edited by Chipstone on 04-13-2005 09:31 PM
Message Edited by Chipstone on 04-13-2005 09:38 PM
tekbytes
9 Posts
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April 14th, 2005 22:00
Thanks,
Sean
Chipstone
525 Posts
0
April 14th, 2005 23:00
Its relative, a recent review on performance of the Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 with NCQ(Native Command Queuing) Vs. Raptor found the Seagate par with the Raptor in many benchmarks and excel in others.
The SATA II retail drives are already out, and when these drives are benchmarked using a SATA II controller card they will blow away any current SATA drives including the current 10K Raptors.
The page file will always trail the Raid 0 no matter what drive you place the page file in, but the difference in a performance hit will be diminished, not so much by sheer speed, but NCQ can be a compelling reason as well.
Here is the link to the Seagate vs. Raptor:
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=755
Also remember, the more ram you have diminishes Windows XP page file usage; not entirely. I use Windows Server 2003 without a page file; I have 4GB installed ram and therefore I force the program to access only pure ram for the applications. It works with Access/SQL I am not sure if you can do without a page file, regardless of available memory, with Photoshop.
Message Edited by Chipstone on 04-14-2005 08:08 PM