Dedicated Hard Drives and Partitioning

[Pinnocio]

Hello folks, before I start let me just say Hi to everybody, first post here
Well, my new computer will be arriving by the end of the week (X2 4400+ DC)
with 3GB RAM, E-mu 1212m + Audiophile 192 and 360 GB of Hd Space.
My work is mostly virtual projects with mostly Streamed Samples (libraries) and occasional (I think that's how it's supposed to be written) 1 recording of either Vocal or Gtr. I'm planning on working with Dual Boot - Xp Pro 64bit and Xp Pro 32bit. I need help regarding the arrangement and partition management of my system.
I was thinking of going this way:
1.SATA 200GB:
30 GB*2 (C: and D for OS and software only (Sonar etc.)
and the rest for back up and audio use (recorded tracks, mixing etc..)
--- Question --- Is it ok for sonar and the os to be on the same partition? I've read a few articles which said I should but something just doesn't feel right, but then again, I may be wrong.
2. SATA 80*2 RAID-0:
100-130 GB of samples and rest (30-60 GB) for Video Streaming and other things I can't think of right now (mabe "Current Projects" partition).
Since i'm alittle lost regarding the best way to partition my drives and keep everything clean, clear, fast and best optimized, I would very much appriciate any suggestions, would like to see your configuration and every tip you can and may give me.
Cheers guys, and thanks alot,
Yoav

 

[bgavin]

IMO, you are asking for trouble with dual-boot and XP/64. The OS is not mature, driver offerings are sparse, and you are living on the bleeding edge of new technology. If that is your thing, go for it.

Please get a 2nd drive, preferably from the same manufacturer. There are many hairs that can be split about where to locate the paging file, OS, Sonar, and so forth. Successful Sonar recordings have been made for a very long time, on hardware nowhere close to the power of yours.

Even if you use the 2nd drive only for project backups and GHOST images of your installed system, that is fine. Check into the BART-PE environment, which is what I use for all my GHOST operations. Works great.

You should create a disk image of your brand-new system the day it arrives, for safe keeping. Assuming you bought a Dell or other pre-packaged system, there are diagnostic and system-restore hidden partitions on the disk that are irretrieveably lost should the disk crash. You cannot download these from the vendor. Save an image of the new system. Duplicate the images on other drives, or burn them to DVD for safe keeping.

One thing you might consider, is using the restore CD to entirely rebuild the system from scratch, but without all the bundled junk that comes with the system. I install a lot of Dell in my client sites, and there is no end to the junk they stuff on a factory machine. The only truly clean way to get this junk off your system, is to never install it in the first place.

Once you get the system configured to your liking and everything works, save it all in a GHOST image. You now have a safety net, should you break something when doing the XP Tweaks, catch a parasite, etc. This saves *hours* of rebuild/reconfigure time.

 

[TimOBrien]

Partitioning Drive 1 to have one part for OS/apps and another for audio mixing is NOT what you want to do.

You want to have the audio go on that SECOND dedicated drive so that while you are recording, any interruption by the OS or application doing housekeeping does not interrupt the flow of audio data.

I'm still a firm believer that RAID will do you no good and may in fact cause you trouble.

Run 3 separate drives. Put your OS and apps on the first, recording/video/data on the second and stream samples from the third. Backup religiously and as gavin suggests, Ghost everything.

Keep . It . Simple.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Yoav,

> i'm a little lost regarding the best way to partition my drives and keep everything clean, clear, fast and best optimized <

See my three-part series from Keyboard magazine:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

Especially see part 1 which explains partitioning and in great detail.

--Ethan

 

[Pinnocio]

First of all, thanks thanks and thanks.
I've been going around forums asking the same questions and finally I get more then 2 posts (and more then 1 person), so once again, thanks for the replies
Ok, regarding the xp 64bit, i've got no problem, i've got my Sonar 5 x64 and there are final working drivers for my E-mu 1212m and that's ALL I need for this system so i'm ok. Remember i'm mostly working with Samples and motsly streamed samples (not Trilogy - VSTs etc...).
Moving on, I think i'll go with the RAID-0 since i've heard many wonderful things (and many bad but I usually go with the good ones ) and would like the extra speed they can give me, but with that given speed I couldn't help but thinking, wouldn't this drive be better used as an OS+Software drive? I mean, how much does streaming samples need better speed? That's a very "troubling" question for me. Another thing was, Tim, as I said, I don't record much, nothing heavy and don't need much for recording 1 track at a time (mostly Vocal or Gtr), my main work is almost completley Virtual - That's why I got this heavy machine, becuase my last project kept crashing my 3200+.
Anyway, I thought on going like this and please tell me what you think -
--- 200GB SATA - 1st Partition - (C: 40GB) Xp Pro x64 + Sonar x64 etc.)
Partition 2 - (D: 40GB) - Xp Pro 32bit + Sonar 5 etc.)
Partition 3 - (E: 20GB) - OS Backups (both x64 and 32bit)
Partition 4 - (F: 50GB) - Projects Backups | Par. 5 (G: 45GB) - Misc.
Partition 6 - (H: 5 GB) - Virtual Memory --NOTE-- I know that a 200GB driver doesn't realy have that much space but that's just for making things easier--
--- 80*2 SATA RAID-0 - 1st Partition - (I: 120GB) - Samples, Loops etc.
2nd Partition - (J: 20GB) - Current Projects.
3rd Partition - (K: 20GB) - Video Streaming

That's what I think I should (not would though unless someone would enlighten me I probebly would) do.
Please, once again, suggestions, recommendations and remarks are most welcome.

Thanks alot, again, Yoav