[s-cars] NAC- need advice on photo workstation, RAID and some other ???s

[Taka Mizutani]

Matt-
Thanks a bunch for the comments- this is solely for a single workstation-
not for a server and for my personal use- I want a dedicated digital
photography
workstation to manipulate RAW files off of my DSLR as well as 35mm scans
and print them to a soon-to-be purchased photo printer (the Epson 2400,
HP B9180 and Canon 9500 are the contenders).

I'm trying to future-proof the system somewhat- I have a 6MP DSLR that will
probably be supplemented with a 10MP one in the near future; I've switched
over
completely to digital photography at considerable expense and pain; I have a
S939 MB with PCI-E SLI so running a x4 or x8 card is no issue (don't plan on
doing
SLI anyway- I'll get a XBox 360 if I want to do games) and plan on upgrading
the
3500+ to a X2 4200+ in the future, at the minimum.

I can't run a Unix system due to the software requirements and the fact that
I'm
not trying to construct a fileserver.

What do you think is the best solution for my needs? I've got pretty much
everything
except the RAID controller card and a couple more HDs (I have 3 WD 3200JDs
sitting idle
right now, with a Maxtor 250 Ultra 16 running the OS and apps). I know I
have to
run a real hardware RAID card to do RAID 5 or 6 and that it's going to get
expensive.

The Promise (I think) and the Areca (definitely) cards both support hot-swap
and online
rebuilding/expansion/replacement so I should be okay in that regard. I
mentioned SATA
backplane cages for hot-swap capability, I plan on getting them as well as a
case better
suited for this- CM Stacker, unless the Antec Titan 550's front drive access
will allow me to
install a backplane cage (will visit a store to check this out carefully).

I also have a 200G Seagate for use in an external enclosure for periodic
backup, will
probably get at least one more external so that I have multiple backups.

Also, what do you think about the EMC Retrospect backup software? I already
have
Norton Ghost 10, but am concerned that I won't be able to image a RAID array
using
Ghost.

Thanks for your help.

Taka


On 6/10/06, matt ludwig <matt.ludwig2 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> Hey,
>
> Sounds like you are shooting a lot. I have been through this
> situation before and can add to the mix a bit.
>
> Kind of an over-arching item, but i feel that depending on XP SP2 is
> possibly the worst OS to manage a RAID config on. that said, it is
> fine if you are going to be using as a desktop solution and looking
> at the RAID, but i would definitly look at having a flavor of UNIX
> dictating how that data is written and be what dictates all automated
> jobs, etc.
>
> Tape is good for backup, but it is limiting w/ size. anything over
> 200Gb starts to add up $$ real quick. the other disadvantage to
> backing up in that large a chunk when it is for personal use, is the
> risk of loosing a whole huge amount of data rather than smaller, less
> harmful ones. DVD backup nice for this (or smaller tape volumes).
>
> as for controller cards, i have heard good things from both you name.
> this is a pretty critical item in optimizing RAID so it is wise to
> invest here. as long as you are talking about personal, one-machine
> usage and not across a massive, automated network w/ lots of
> variable, either will be fine. generally speaking, you will be using
> very little of it's capability so either will work.
>
> if you are really looking to keeping ALL your data live in addition
> to backups and going to go north of 2TB (i mean seriously going to
> commit to this), i would consider very strongly looking towards
> building out some sort of server farm (most likely RAID w/ hot-
> swapables and redundency cross-written to removeable media and/or off-
> site storage) as your costs will become quite high otherwise. in my
> experience doing this, it is multiple 1, 2U rack mounts all running
> UNIX working off a master controller behind another UNIX desktop
> machine.
>
> you are getting some cool stuff for sure! : ) good luck with it and
> if you are looking for any assistance w/ it in the Boston area, i am
> happy to offer some contacts to help you with it if you like.
>
> sincerely,
>
>
> matt.
> 1995.5 S6 Avant
> Lima, Peru (soon to be Portland, ME... )
>
>
> On 10Jun , 2006, at 4:33 PM, Taka Mizutani wrote:
>
> > Are you talking about RAID off a MB or using a dedicated controller
> > card?
> >
> > I was going with a fairly high-end controller card (for a
> > workstation) to
> > maximize
> > reliability. I'm wondering if going with Adaptec would be safer
> > than Areca,
> > which is
> > not the same size of company.
> >
> > I'm running Win XP Pro SP2. No wireless networks, but I could
> > easily network
> > to a
> > second PC via a 100MBs switch. These a RAW photo files, maybe 20MB
> > each, but
> > will eventually number into the thousands. That's the problem- manual
> > backups are
> > fine with small chunks of data, but when you are talking about
> > hundreds of
> > GBs,
> > that DVD backup won't cut it.
> >
> > I'm looking toward the future as well- that's why RAID and tape
> > backups are
> > really the
> > only thing I can see that will scale well when I'm talking about a
> > potential
> > 2TB setup in
> > a few years. Even tape doesn't have the density that I'd really
> > want- the
> > affordable systems
> > max out around 200GB per tape and I'm not able to buy nor do I
> > really want
> > an autoloader.
> >
> > Taka
> >
> >
> > On 6/10/06, Kent McLean <kentmclean at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Taka Mizutani wrote:
> >>> I'm building a dedicated photo workstation for maximum reliability
> >>> and redundancy so as to avert any potential data loss. However,
> >>> I have to do this in a reasonable budget, so I can't afford to drop
> >>> multi thousands on this setup.
> >>
> >> I may be wrong, but...  I haved heard horror stories about RAID
> >> setups where data got corrupted on the first drive, and it was
> >> copied that way to the redundent drives, destroying what had
> >> been good data.
> >>
> >> If it were me,  I'd rely on frequent manual backups.  I'd just copy
> >> the work data to a second drive in the PC after every session.
> >> I'd also get a removable (USB/Firewire) drive and copy to that,
> >> too, then store that drive off-site.  And to make sure that a stray
> >> magnet or flood doesn't screw up the drives, I'd burn the data
> >> to DVD(s) on a regular (weekly, monthly) basis, and store those
> >> off-site.
> >>
> >> That's my two cents, and worth every penny.
> >>
> >> Some questions that didn' arise:  what OS are you using?
> >> Do you have a wireless network to back-up to a 2nd PC?
> >> How much data are you talking about?  Some ISPs provide
> >> lots of storage for little money (easy access and off-site).
> >>
> >> --
> >> Kent McLean
> >> '94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
> >> '89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" up in smoke
> >> _______________________________________________
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