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What do YOU want to do
with
your DAW?
>24/96 Recording and Mixing with lots of
edits, plug-ins
>24+Tracks Recording and Mixing, some
Plug-ins
>Basic Audio
Recording/Multimedia
>Micro SATA
Groove Machines
>Groove Machine Ultra Laptop
>Special/Closeouts
 Dual Processor
XEON
>SCSI-Based
>SATA-Based
Rack-Mount Solutions
FireWire
800 | SATA RAID| SCSI
External Solutions
FireWire/USB
Portable Solutions
Accessories
Drive Carriers
What
Applications have been tested with the Groove Machines?
Tower Chassis
Details
Mid-Tower
Details
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What is a RAID Array?
A RAID array is a technology that allows two hard
drives to look like one to the computer. The operating system will assign one
drive letter to the drives yet spread the data across both/multiple drives -
either doubling the throughput of the system or providing a "mirrored"
drive (or perpetual backup) in the case of hard drive failure. There are many
types of RAID arrays - the most common use in DAW's are RAID 0 and RAID 1.
RAID 0 Specs:
- RAID 0 uses two hard drives as one with
minimal overhead.
- RAID 0 implements a striped disk array, the
data is broken down into blocks and each block is written to a separate disk
drive.
- I/O performance is greatly improved by
spreading the I/O load across many channels and drives.
- Very fast, but requires separate backup
strategy
RAID 1 Specs:
- RAID 1 provides fault tolerance as all
writes are duplicated on both drives.
- 100% redundancy of data means no rebuild is
necessary in case of a disk failure, just a copy to the replacement disk.
- Transfer rate per block is equal to that of
a single disk.
- Highest disk overhead of all RAID types
(100%) - inefficient but safe.
So what does this mean for my DAW?
A DAW configured with a RAID 0 array and 150 MB/Sec. Serial ATA Drives (like our
SATA machines) can
provide up to 300 MB/sec. throughput under optimal conditions and blow away
typical ATA 100-based systems in testing. Throughput numbers can reach very
close to a high-end SCSI based systems' peak performance with minimal
overhead. If you're using your DAW for tracking, mixing, editing, or all of the above, you
need this technology to reach maximum track counts
with minimal problems. RAID 0 SATA will speed up all data transfers, whether during tracking or session
backups and loads. You can also partition a RAID 0
into 2 logical drives for easy backups and defrags so you get great performance
and easy backup capabilities.
A RAID 1 based DAW duplicates all writes on both drives to provide an online
backup or "mirror" of session data. Therefore, your performance will
actually be lower than a single non-RAID 1 configuration. The trade-off is
recovery from a failure is much faster. This configuration is not recommended for
DAW's unless 100% reliability/zero downtime is more valuable than the
performance of the DAW.
Is this technology reliable?
Yes. The mean time between
failure for the drives we use in our RAID 0 array-based machines is upwards of 5
years of constant use. They are as reliable as your typical ATA 100/133 7200 RPM
drive. The performance
gain for the price cannot be beat. Just be sure to backup your data on a regular
basis to the
supplied removable/swappable backup drive(s) to ensure your sessions are safe.
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