How should I set up my new HTPC's Hard Drives?
November 12, 2009 11:30 AM Subscribe
How should I set up my new HTPC's Hard Drives?
I just built an HTPC. It has room for four internal hard drives. I intend to run Windows 7 on it and cram it full of music and videos which I will access through Windows Media Center. I currently have three 1 TB hard drives installed in a RAID 5 array. My question is which one of the following three ways should I set up the system:
1 - One partition on the RAID 5 array. This partition will include the OS and the data files. Pros: It will be very easy to expand this in the future by simply adding a fourth HD to the array. Cons: Doing a full OS reinstall will be nearly impossible without buying a very big external Hard Drive for backing up the data files.
2 - Two partitions on the RAID 5 array. One smaller partition for the OS and the larger one for data. Pros: Doing a full OS reinstall will be easy. Cons: Adding space to the data partition will be difficult, possibly needing a big external HD for backup.
3 - One partition on the RAID 5 array and a smaller separate Hard Drive for the OS that will not be a part of the RAID array. Pros: Doing a full OS reinstall will be easy. Cons: There will be no more internal HD bays available, making expanding the RAID array more difficult.
I am leaning toward option three, but I need to know if I can simply replace the drives in the RAID array one by one in order to expand the storage capacity without wiping the data completely. IE: replace disk 1, allow the RAID to repopulate that drive, then replace disk 2, etc...
Am I missing something? What would you do?
I just built an HTPC. It has room for four internal hard drives. I intend to run Windows 7 on it and cram it full of music and videos which I will access through Windows Media Center. I currently have three 1 TB hard drives installed in a RAID 5 array. My question is which one of the following three ways should I set up the system:
1 - One partition on the RAID 5 array. This partition will include the OS and the data files. Pros: It will be very easy to expand this in the future by simply adding a fourth HD to the array. Cons: Doing a full OS reinstall will be nearly impossible without buying a very big external Hard Drive for backing up the data files.
2 - Two partitions on the RAID 5 array. One smaller partition for the OS and the larger one for data. Pros: Doing a full OS reinstall will be easy. Cons: Adding space to the data partition will be difficult, possibly needing a big external HD for backup.
3 - One partition on the RAID 5 array and a smaller separate Hard Drive for the OS that will not be a part of the RAID array. Pros: Doing a full OS reinstall will be easy. Cons: There will be no more internal HD bays available, making expanding the RAID array more difficult.
I am leaning toward option three, but I need to know if I can simply replace the drives in the RAID array one by one in order to expand the storage capacity without wiping the data completely. IE: replace disk 1, allow the RAID to repopulate that drive, then replace disk 2, etc...
Am I missing something? What would you do?
Response by poster: Thanks for the idea ODiV. I should note that I am keen on keeping the Data portion on one drive letter as some media players are not so good at dealing with media across multiple drives. I am specifically referring to iTunes, which I use for my iPhone and which I like for how it organizes my music.
I should also note that all of this will be backed up off site using Mozy.
posted by soy_renfield at 11:53 AM on November 12, 2009
I should also note that all of this will be backed up off site using Mozy.
posted by soy_renfield at 11:53 AM on November 12, 2009
I don't know how good Mozy is, but if it's a reliable backup I wouldn't waste any capacity on RAID for a home PC setup.
I have 2 internal drives and an external. I keep the important data on the OS volume and schedule back ups of that and any OS settings that I care about to the other internal. The other internal also stores data that I don't care all that much about losing. Rips of media that I own, videos I've pulled off the Internet that I could find again, raw footage of personal video that I have already edited down etc.
I keep my external in a fireproof safe and take it out every couple of weeks or so to back up to it. I store some of the less important data on there as space allows. Mozy would presumably replace this step for you.
This would make replacing any one drive easy and saves you a bay.
posted by IanMorr at 12:19 PM on November 12, 2009
I have 2 internal drives and an external. I keep the important data on the OS volume and schedule back ups of that and any OS settings that I care about to the other internal. The other internal also stores data that I don't care all that much about losing. Rips of media that I own, videos I've pulled off the Internet that I could find again, raw footage of personal video that I have already edited down etc.
I keep my external in a fireproof safe and take it out every couple of weeks or so to back up to it. I store some of the less important data on there as space allows. Mozy would presumably replace this step for you.
This would make replacing any one drive easy and saves you a bay.
posted by IanMorr at 12:19 PM on November 12, 2009
I've had great experiences with Mozy but remember that most home DSL lines have a really slow upload speed. If you're ripping/recording a lot of video it may take a looong time to catch up.
posted by GuyZero at 12:23 PM on November 12, 2009
posted by GuyZero at 12:23 PM on November 12, 2009
Best answer: I use your option number 3 on my Linux HTPC. Linux supports the replace-one-drive-at-a-time option for growing the array, but I'm not sure what your options are since you're on Windows.
posted by zsazsa at 12:26 PM on November 12, 2009
posted by zsazsa at 12:26 PM on November 12, 2009
Unlike the way I treat work or personal data (encrypted backups, offsite storage, duplicates), I don't use RAID for entertainment media, or even back it up at all. I do have it spread across drives (tv, music, movies, more movies), but that's more a convenience thing.
I figure if I lose a drive, or even all my drives, or even all my drives and all my DVDs... it wouldn't be that hard to rebuild again, given a backed up index, a high-speed internet connection and a weekend.
posted by rokusan at 1:16 PM on November 12, 2009
I figure if I lose a drive, or even all my drives, or even all my drives and all my DVDs... it wouldn't be that hard to rebuild again, given a backed up index, a high-speed internet connection and a weekend.
posted by rokusan at 1:16 PM on November 12, 2009
RAID5 sounds like a waste to me. You're wasting 1TB of data (n-1) for what? Media files don't need the disk i/o nor the redundancy (can pretty much live anywhere).
posted by wongcorgi at 3:11 PM on November 12, 2009
posted by wongcorgi at 3:11 PM on November 12, 2009
I'd pinch 10-30GB off every RAID drive and install the root OS on that, outside of the raid.
Easily expandable, and the simplicity of a non-RAID root partition is kind of attractive. Don't know if you can mount your user files off-root with Windows though.
Also, you can mess around with other OS'es or whatever in the little 10-30GB slices on all the disks. You won't miss these few gigabytes in the big picture, either. Pretty cool to have a readily-bootable ghost'ed windows sitting there for a rainy day.
Or alternatively:
In Linux at least, you can partition the RAID-5 array any way you want. E.g., create a big RAID-5 tank with the 3 drives you have. Assign maybe 100GB from that to the root partition. Then when you expand the array, you simply grow only the data partition. I'm 90% sure this is possible, e.g. that this isn't actually the Con in Scenario 2.
posted by krilli at 3:18 PM on November 12, 2009
Easily expandable, and the simplicity of a non-RAID root partition is kind of attractive. Don't know if you can mount your user files off-root with Windows though.
Also, you can mess around with other OS'es or whatever in the little 10-30GB slices on all the disks. You won't miss these few gigabytes in the big picture, either. Pretty cool to have a readily-bootable ghost'ed windows sitting there for a rainy day.
Or alternatively:
In Linux at least, you can partition the RAID-5 array any way you want. E.g., create a big RAID-5 tank with the 3 drives you have. Assign maybe 100GB from that to the root partition. Then when you expand the array, you simply grow only the data partition. I'm 90% sure this is possible, e.g. that this isn't actually the Con in Scenario 2.
posted by krilli at 3:18 PM on November 12, 2009
I agree with wongcorgi, but I also disagree. You're wasting 1TB, yes. But that's still only 70 dollars you're wasting. And not even wasting it - you gain the computing comfort of a single, huge volume. And redundancy is always cool. Redundancy in a big HTPC storage tank allows you to take backups of almost anything around the house on it.
Having a storage array that is mostly immune to disk crashes is always a good thing. Learning about data management and storage practices is also always a good thing. Do it!
posted by krilli at 3:23 PM on November 12, 2009
Having a storage array that is mostly immune to disk crashes is always a good thing. Learning about data management and storage practices is also always a good thing. Do it!
posted by krilli at 3:23 PM on November 12, 2009
Don't install the OS on the RAID - more hassle than it's worth when you need to upgrade/reinstall or expand the array. I think RAID-5 is fine though as you can always add another disk. Of your options, 3 is the best of the lot and I would personally use a separate physical disk for OS/programs. Preferably, for noise reasons, you want remote networked storage for the RAID-5 holding the media.
posted by turkeyphant at 3:35 PM on November 12, 2009
posted by turkeyphant at 3:35 PM on November 12, 2009
I think you're over thinking. Use JBOD for a single drive letter, no redundancy for media files. Seperate partition / drive for the OS. Replace HDDs every 3 years (and increase capacity to whatever is cheapest / TB). Make backup of stuff you don't want to lose.
posted by defcom1 at 5:48 PM on November 12, 2009
posted by defcom1 at 5:48 PM on November 12, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ODiV at 11:48 AM on November 12, 2009