The Logic Off Topic list

On 18.09.2006, at 18:02, garygenn wrote:

> Peter, thanks for all that information it defintitely gives me some  
> ideas.

You're welcome.


> ...A couple weeks ago I started getting A message in disk utility
> program ,"Volume Header Needs minor reapir", Well easy enough to  
> fix with reapiar disk
> but it made me start wondering ,Is my disk going bad ? So I started  
> think it would be nice
> all the way around to have a set up that mirrored the system disk  
> then have a raid set up
> fpr my music. One thing that is streange is I changed the nam e of  
> my hd I kept all my
> audio stuff on and the problem stopped . the name before was ,  
> Audio_HD , Now it is
> Audio HD I took out that underscore thinking my be the disk doesnt  
> like have that in it.
> Seems silly but that was  the only thing i did different after  
> installing the HD. ANyWay....

The underscore was certainly a good idea. It is a usual sign and many  
people who work in the terminal (shell) prefer names with  
underscores. Spaces are generally not beloved by those people because  
spacces separate file names and commands.

I rather think that the renaming changed the header information and  
the error was simply overwritten. Looks like you found a nice way to  
repair such a minor problem ;-)


> Maybe I should use the maxtor in it now to do mirroring for a  
> regular back up , then set
> up a raid conf with that Jive 5 and a pci controller that has at  
> least three connections. that
> way I could have to seperate raid configurations as far as the one  
> for the two hds for the
> system and the other three for recording and library storage.

That PCI controller supports two different RAIDs simultaneously?  
Amazing.

Anyway, to keep you from getting bored :-) here are some thoughts  
about that setup:

Three drives are the minimum for a RAID 5. You cannot have a "hot  
spare" in such a set, which would automatically jump in if one drive  
fails. You could set it up with 4 or five disks and one or two hot  
spares. BUT - the RAID might get remarkable slower if one drive  
fails. I do not know if one can record in such a situation.  
Furthermore, if you are really forced to recover the data (and you  
are in my opinion) you are most likely unable to record on that RAID  
for an hour or more while it rebuilds the set. And these controllers  
have no mercy and are definitely unpatient: one wrong answer from a  
drive and the switch it off immidiately. That just as explanation  
that you are still not on the safe side for an outdoor job.

Please be aware that we don't talk about a setup for everyone but  
about as much security as possible for a (I think) given budget.  
Therefore we have to apply a higher level of criticism and to be more  
scared than necessary.

It depends how you use that setup. If time is critical, outdoors or  
inhouse, it could be better to setup two mirrors because they don't  
lose speed after a drive failure (just my 2 cents).

If you do many location recordings without delivering the playback a  
RAID 5 could still be perfect if you keep enough space free on the  
system mirror or carry a spare drive with you. On a bad day that can  
save your ass because although you have no security you CAN record  
that way. And no security at one occasion is not as bad as it sounds.  
Thousands of people are used to record that way :-)

___
Peter Ostry