[mythtv-users] Is an IDE hard drive enough?

[Andrew Dodd]

Quoting Matthew Geller <mgeller at mn.rr.com>:

> Backend server
> Dual P2-400 with 512MB of Ram
> 2x Hauppauge 250's
> 
> Considering my options for disk.  I want to be able to record 2 shows while
> watching live TV on a front-end box.
> 
> The math is pretty simple, 3 x 12MBits/sec = 4.5 MB/sec which is easily
> attainable by IDE (35-40MB/sec on most drives with 8MB of cache).  But will
> the 4-5ms seek time kill drive performance writing 2 streams and reading
> one.
Should not be a problem with only 2 simultaneous streams being recorded and one
stream being played back.

Might start becoming an issue with 3-4+ tuners, then you def. want to go for a
fast 7200RPM IDE.

DO NOT USE A FIREWIRE DRIVE.  The Linux SBP-2 driver and simultaneous read/write
activity do NOT mix.