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

Mark Garland mythtvusers at markgarland.co.uk
Mon Dec 28 00:01:18 UTC 2009


> 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.

Hope that helps,

MG



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