I must have the only IBM Deathstar that works.Been running 24/7 for 6 years on air playback machine.But I concur with Chris on the WD drives.(Caviar black& Raptors)
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Automation hard drive life expectancy
- Thread starter bossbill
- Start date
oldiesstation said:
I also have multiple IBM Deathstars operating 24/7 for over 7 years, with no problems.
(KNOCK ON WOOD) I don't buy anything but Hitachi and WD drives.
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Bill,
I use Intel SSD's for all of my OS drives in my Audiovault Flex system. I prefer to put the OS, Automation Software, & SQL Database on an SSD.
I have 2 file servers (that also boot on SSD), that have RAID 5 Audio Volumes (with WD Raptors) that each workstation mounts.
It is all very fast and stable. I am a HUGE proponent of using SSD for everything but your audio files.
Chris, which SSD drives are you using? Can you really feel the difference in speed in the OS such as Windows?
Are there any drawbacks to SSDs? Are they slower in write operations?
I am very enthusiastic about solid-state memory and ditching the mechanical drive as an operating system disk, but I've had no practical experience with SSD memory so far...
Regards,
Goran Tomas
Are there any drawbacks to SSDs? Are they slower in write operations?
I am very enthusiastic about solid-state memory and ditching the mechanical drive as an operating system disk, but I've had no practical experience with SSD memory so far...
Regards,
Goran Tomas
The main drawbacks to SSDs are:
Lower capacity (last I looked, most on the market were in the 50-150 GB range)
Limited number of write cycles (typically on the range of 10,000)
The speed is noticeably different for high disk activity tasks. Those tasks would typically not include radio automation
Lower capacity (last I looked, most on the market were in the 50-150 GB range)
Limited number of write cycles (typically on the range of 10,000)
The speed is noticeably different for high disk activity tasks. Those tasks would typically not include radio automation
Goran Tomas said:
I use Intel drives only, Goran. In SSD, it's all about the firmware and I think they have it figured out. I still get >100 Meg in writes, but the SQL reads are sickening fast. It makes a HUGE difference in the operation of my automation system. I often tell people that investing in SSD's for my OS & Apps was the smartest move I ever made. It is so big of an improvement, I even did the same for my home PC.
The two biggest things it did for me were:
1. When searching through our All Inventory tab (which parses >26000 files), it is near instant. (Almost like having the database in RAM).
2. The boot process is <17 seconds in Win 7 (including POST).
Chris-
What size drives are you using? Also, which specific Intel SSD? Do the SSDs have the same distinction as HDs--namely personal, enterprise, etc?
I'm going to need to look into these.
Thanks!
What size drives are you using? Also, which specific Intel SSD? Do the SSDs have the same distinction as HDs--namely personal, enterprise, etc?
I'm going to need to look into these.
Thanks!
Chief,
I am using the 80 GB Model here...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167047
My audio is on two redundant File Servers (which also boot from SSD). They use platter based Raptors for a RAID 5.
I have never had any trouble and it's even a little easier now that Audiovault runs in Windows 7 (since it supports TRIM). In XP, I scheduled an Intel utility to TRIM the drive monthly.
It is seriously insanely fast. I can not begin to express the difference in response of the system. At home, I use the 250 Gig model.
I HIGHLY recommend this. Even before I did the File Servers (because I needed instant audio change throughout the facility), I booted from the SSD and had a WD Black 1 TB for the audio volume locally. I actually still have it in place, so that I can fail over to it if my audio network goes down.
www.anandtech.com has the best technical analysis of SSD's you will ever read. You should check it out.
BTW, with Windows 7 64 Bit Pro, Audiovault (including SQL & everything), I am only using about 25 Gig, so I have plenty of free space.
I am using the 80 GB Model here...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167047
My audio is on two redundant File Servers (which also boot from SSD). They use platter based Raptors for a RAID 5.
I have never had any trouble and it's even a little easier now that Audiovault runs in Windows 7 (since it supports TRIM). In XP, I scheduled an Intel utility to TRIM the drive monthly.
It is seriously insanely fast. I can not begin to express the difference in response of the system. At home, I use the 250 Gig model.
I HIGHLY recommend this. Even before I did the File Servers (because I needed instant audio change throughout the facility), I booted from the SSD and had a WD Black 1 TB for the audio volume locally. I actually still have it in place, so that I can fail over to it if my audio network goes down.
www.anandtech.com has the best technical analysis of SSD's you will ever read. You should check it out.
BTW, with Windows 7 64 Bit Pro, Audiovault (including SQL & everything), I am only using about 25 Gig, so I have plenty of free space.
Agreed on the SSD!
I use one for the OS on my home machines, audio on regular platters in the home studio. Main machine is a quad core running at 2.8GHZ and it boots in less than 30 seconds. Same at the client stations I've been able to upgrade.
They really shine on a fast machine, but they also can take an old computer and breathe new life into it. Have a streaming server at one station that's a P4, 2.6gig. The old Dell HD was ready to crap out, so I put in a SSD to run it. All it does is run Omnia AX/E and 2 streams. Hasn't ever crashed since putting in the SSD, and it boots up faster than the dual core machines running the platters on the rare occasion that I need to reboot it for an update.
I use one for the OS on my home machines, audio on regular platters in the home studio. Main machine is a quad core running at 2.8GHZ and it boots in less than 30 seconds. Same at the client stations I've been able to upgrade.
They really shine on a fast machine, but they also can take an old computer and breathe new life into it. Have a streaming server at one station that's a P4, 2.6gig. The old Dell HD was ready to crap out, so I put in a SSD to run it. All it does is run Omnia AX/E and 2 streams. Hasn't ever crashed since putting in the SSD, and it boots up faster than the dual core machines running the platters on the rare occasion that I need to reboot it for an update.
I'll check those out thanks!
I've got a bunch of drives going on 10 years old next month. (Yes they're being replace soon) They're all Maxtor drives from 2001. Still running strong. Wouldn't want to shut them down for more than a couple of minutes and expect them to restart.
Basically in a nutshell any major HD manufacturer should give you very good performance.
I'm still gun-shy of the IBM Deathstars so I stick with WD and Seagate.
I'm not a 100% sold on SSD yet, heard of a location where they bought a bunch for their laptops and had over 50% failure rate even after a firmware upgrade... sounds like another Deathstar scenario, bad hardware that no firmware is going to fix.
However, I wouldn't hesitate to buy an SSD for any rough-usage situation where the drive could receive a lot of G-Force.
Basically in a nutshell any major HD manufacturer should give you very good performance.
I'm still gun-shy of the IBM Deathstars so I stick with WD and Seagate.
I'm not a 100% sold on SSD yet, heard of a location where they bought a bunch for their laptops and had over 50% failure rate even after a firmware upgrade... sounds like another Deathstar scenario, bad hardware that no firmware is going to fix.
However, I wouldn't hesitate to buy an SSD for any rough-usage situation where the drive could receive a lot of G-Force.
Hightech48 said:
I can only speak for the 30 or so Intel Drives I have bought, but I have 0% failure.
It's these drives that guys like OCZ, etc... rush out, trying to get super high read speeds for the overclocking kids that have problems.
That is why I like Intel. They write good firmware.
The Hard drive in my Player101 machine lasted longer than the current mother board.. come to think of it.. the previous mother board lasted 2001-2005 ... I replaced with the same board in 2005.. and it finally bit the dust after a 200 + day uptime recently ... shut it down and it wouldn't power back up (bulged caps)
Have used Western Digital and IBM Deskstars. Ran all IBM Deskstars in my on-air automation system. Never had a failure, though I did replace them, recycling them into other computers. The Deskstar that had the OS for the automation was never replaced. It ran for 11 years until I replaced the whole system. Now using Western Digital because I wanted to try Raptor drives. I've used Seagate, Maxtor and Fujitsu, but prefer WD and Deskstars.
A word to the wise in automation maintenance. Keep up to date backup drives in case if old reliable goes Tango Uniform (aka Teats Up at 2:00 AM on Saturday). We replace drives semi-annually to ensure reliability. Seagate and WD backups (we keep 4 backup HD for all content on the system, and we keep extra backups off site and images on several servers)..
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