Hello Audiosex

I have 3 USB3 externe harddisk full of Kontakt Libraries. And im not happy with the speed of the harddisk. Sometimes it stucks/freeze by loading and I have to wait a while when I want to load an instrument.
So decided to build by myself a RAID system with 2 X 3TB harddisk ( and later 1 or 2 harddisk more when its full, to upgrade ) for the kontakt libraries only. I`ve googled for getting some information/forum and I guess here are some guys on audiosex who has good experiences and give me some good advice and knowledge.

I want a RAID system ( intern )thats fast and safety by loading the instruments ect. I know there are different levels , I guess 1 - 6. And what RAID level would you recommended for me, a Hardware RAID ( RAID controller) or Software RAID ( by using win7).

Link for infos, vids would be nice

Thanx in advantage and have a nice week end.


Lao

 

I will bookmark this thread just in case..

 

As you get 2 disks only, you can't do RAID 5 (3 minimum)
You can still do 0 an 1.

With 0, you will get 6TB but no mirror (one disk crash, you loose all the content).
With 1, you will get 3TB only AND mirror : one disk crash, you buy another identical one and reconstruct without any loss.

As you need this RAID to READ faster, 0 or 1 are the same on this side. 0 is faster to write, because it "span" data.

Remember : when you add disks, you add possible failure rate. Two disks = twice failure rate.

So if you go RAID 0, be prepared to re-install all your banks. If you don't want to keep a backup for your banks, go RAID 1.
You can do RAID 1 in any serious OS directly, without any additionnal hardware. Because fake RAID are proprietary sh*t and they use your CPU anyway, like software one

Software OS 0/1 RAIDs are better than fake-RAIDs on motherboards chips.
Put your two disks in the tower, choose RAID 1 (my advice to avoid backing up your kontakt libs on another drive) and create your OS software RAID. That's my way

Here is an example with Windows 7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKDCmOBqNBY

Easy

 

Anybody tried an external enclosure like this? It's instant hardware RAID 0,1,5,10, etc. Reviews seem to be ok. Mobius™ 5-Bay FireWire 800, eSATA, USB 3.0 RAID Hard Drive Enclosure

Also, maybe it's just USB 3.0 because of the USB bus? eSATA is pretty much as stable as an internal drive.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTcxRObq738

 

First thanx for your replay. RAID 1 sounds very good to me. But RAID 5 even better I guess ( Kontakt Lib too big ), all the harddisk must be the same size or it doesnt matter? for example disk 1 with 2 TB, disk with 3 TB, and disk 3 with 1 TB? Is RAID 5 safety, fast and how much TB do I have when I put the three disk together, half of the TB?

 

Three external disks: Just curious how many libs would that be?
And I thought that my 35+ libs were overkill...

 

I guess 150+

 

I could be wrong but I think an SSD would be a much better buy than a RAID. That technology is on its way out. But if you choose an SSD keep a backup because once an SSD dies there's no going back...

 

Another question:
Have you already resaved all your Kontakt libs to their current location?
For my libs, doing that alone made a big difference already.
An SSD is great of course, but 150+ libs? well...

 

I'm also a bit of a hoarder but it's possible to make it work on an SSD. I'm just selective about the libraries I put on there, I only put the ones that take the longest to load and that take the highest amount of RAM on the SSD and leave the rest alone. That's the best compromise I think.

 

You could also do Raid 10 (1 and 0 together, get it?)

But you'd need another 3TB Drive, So 4 in Total, You get the performance of RAID 0 and you can have up to 2 drives fail on you.

If you have an SSD and a handful of favourite libraries you could move them on to that.

Output's Signal and Rev took like 40-50 seconds each to load from my USB3 drive and since I moved them onto my internal SSD they now take 10-15 seconds.

The next computer I build will have a 500GB SSD in addition to the boot ssd for Omnisphere and Kontakt.

 

How about a 2 disk SSD array? Best of both worlds, and super fast! The disks can be monitored and should last a very long time once the libraries are written. The cost could get out of hand though.

 

For many years I only use raid sets (except the boot).
One of the best bets are the LSI cards that have 8 sata2 ports, I buyied one for 27usd with 256mb (I use with 6 1,5tb disks).
This is good for the ones, like me, that use hackintoshes.
A Great guy named Dukzcry wrote the drives
Here you can find the compatible models:
Driver for LSI MegaRAID SAS family

 

Could be the right thing but we have yet to invent some 6 TB SSD...

 

thx guys for your information. SSD ist fast but toooo expensive for me. All my Libs are about 3TB right now. And I plan to have 5 or 6 TB, much space for the next few years. I know out there or in the future there will be good libs coming .

 

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/205362-massive-6tb-ssd-hitting-the-market-this-july

 

Coming soon...

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/sandisk-unveils-4tb-ssd-says-6tb-and-8tb-ssds-are-due-next-year-1-518516

July:
http://www.geek.com/chips/worlds-first-6tb-ssd-will-be-available-to-buy-in-july-1622377/

 

About getting more GB starting with 3 disks, RAID 5 is the key.

3 identical disks (only RAID 0 accept different disks. In fact, it is called BOD : Bunch Of Disk ).
And you get a 2/3 ratio : 3x3GB = 6GB storage (3GB third disk is for redondancy).

Like "ovalf" said, RAID cards are better. But i would use them only for RAID 5. For 0 or 1, software is enough...until your run servers or want BIG bandwidth

About SSD/mechanical, there are hybrid solutions : hybrid disks (don't know how they work in RAID) with some "flash" included.
Or using a single smaller SSD, coupled with normal hard drives, to "buffer" most used files. But no RAID here, as far as i know.

There is a big confusion about RAID mechanical and SSD.
SSD gives you better access time to each file. But not more bandwidth.
So if you load a kontakt bank, it will preload DFD faster than a RAID (thats' why ppl with FEW banks prefer SSD).
RAID, on the other side, gives you better bandwidth. More GB per second. And more storage size.

Going internal instead of external will already improve things by far

 

Aside from the RAID set-up (about which some really good advice has been left in response, here), there is a simpler set-up I myself use:

• Backup-only external HDD (USB), on which I store copies all of my sample libraries.
• Firewire 800 (7200RPM) external HDD as read-only ("read-from") for samples on active duty (so to speak).

Hereby, I have an archive of all the libraries (which, admittedly, I should have on a 2-drive RAID for safety's sake), and sufficiently-fast HDD from which to reference the samples while keeping its "seeking" pared-down. At present, I have redundant storage of at least the samples I use commonly or shall be likeliest to use.

I am considering using an SSD for the "read-from" samples drive, for the sake of improved access-time. SSDs have a limited write-to life-span, so it would seem appropriate to have that dedicated Firewire drive be an SSD rather than a HDD.