[mythtv-users] This hardware look ok for HD setup? (steve)

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Mon Dec 28 00:18:46 UTC 2009


On Sunday 27 December 2009 05:01:18 pm Mark Garland wrote:
> > Per Brian's suggestion, I'll get a separate drive for the OS/Software.
> 
> I'm not sure I'd agree if honest, although Brian and others may have a lot
> more experience with HD set ups that I do.
> 
> I currently run a combined FE/BE *SD* setup, using 3 tuners and a single
>  1TB WD Green drive (like you are planning) partitioned 3 times - 50gb
>  ext3/4 (not sure without checking) for the OS, 8gb for swap (2xRAM), and
>  ~908GB as XFS for the recordings.
> 
> Right now (Christmas) the machine is under a lot of load.  As an example,
> the other night -
> - all 3 tuners were active and recording SD
> - mythcommsflagging was running (it's set to low cpu, so ~75fps)
> - the missus was watching a recorded SD stream
> - I was watching an SD stream from a remote frontend
> 
> That's 6 operations running simultaneously, one the one drive, no issues.
> No jerky playback, no nothing.
> 
> IMO, I like the single drive setup.  It allows a bigger choice of cases;
> less chance of failure (running on the idea that 2 drives = double the
> failure rate); less heat; and less power usage if you are planning to run
> the machine 24x7 as I do.
> 
> Though, if none of the above are of interest to you, and if your usage will
> be similar to the above but with HD streams (higher bandwidth/IO), I would
> consider splitting.  I'd also concede with Ron's point that two drives
>  offer extra flexibility.

The only time I have really "needed" the second spindle is when there is heavy 
database use when making multiple recordings. This can happen due to 
mythfilldatabase runs, or when someone is doing a program search to schedule 
recordings.

But a second small drive is inexpensive enough that it's a low-cost addition 
that can help in the rare cases when you need it.

BTW - I say "spindle" because obviously just using a second partition on the 
same drive will not help.


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