Hard Drive Set up (confirmation I messed up)

[racemize]

As a side note, it does appear to run faster than it did when everything was on the RAID.

[crna59]

Yes, all of your programs should be on your OS drive.
BTW.. for a RAID 0 array.. you need 2 hard drives besides your OS drive.

Regards,
Bruce

[racemize]

yes, it is a two WD 10K 70 gig Raid 0. Hopefully I can just uninstall cubase and reinstall it without too much hassle. I'd hate to have to reinstall all the plugs too.

[racemize]

should plugins be installed on the OS drive with their samples on my raid, or is ok to have all of the plugins and audio files on the raid?

[crna59]

Originally Posted by racemize

should plugins be installed on the OS drive with their samples on my raid, or is ok to have all of the plugins and audio files on the raid?

Plugins are a program and should be on your OS drive.

Regards,
Bruce

[KingDaddyO]

I like to separate my OS from the Applications and Data. This makes backups, system maintenance, catastrophic restores, etc. a very straightforward process.

This concept in it's purest form, would have one physical hard disc for each volume type. But one inexpensive alternative is to create 2 or 3 partitions on a single physical disc. Keeping the OS partition small (appx. 10-20GB) will help improve overall system performance. By moving Apps to a diff. partition or disc, you don't need as large an OS space. If you go this route, be sure to always 'Customize' your software installation choices, as the installation defaults will almost always dump everything (incl. huge sample libs) onto the C: drive. Data should always be isolated from the OS.

Keeping the OS isolated makes system restore a relatively painless process. Most well coded apps don't really care where they are installed (read the 'Read me' file to be sure). I just don't like everything to be dumped into the Windows .\Programs Files directory by default. There's already too much junk in there. Data paths can almost always be customized in the Options menu.

If you get into the habit of making a copy of your registry after each system change (Run - regedit - File - Export) along with good backups, rescue disks, etc., you can give yourself multiple chances to successfully recover from almost any type of system crash.

[racemize]

So, if your OS crashes, do you just reinstall the programs into their existing directories? In other words, it seems like you still have to reinstall all the software again on an OS crash/resintall, so do you gain the ability to keep preferences / VSTs and whatnot by partitioning them away from the OS?

[KingDaddyO]

Originally Posted by racemize

So, if your OS crashes, do you just reinstall the programs into their existing directories? In other words, it seems like you still have to reinstall all the software again on an OS crash/resintall, so do you gain the ability to keep preferences / VSTs and whatnot by partitioning them away from the OS?

No, not if your apps and data have been kept isolated from the OS.

If you maintain a relatively clean OS partition and back it & the registry up regularly (very important!)... then after you restore your OS from the restore or original media, you can just Import your last full registry backup. Then reboot. Since your apps & data haven't been touched (and you have known good backups, right?) Bam! - you should be back online, since nothing has changed.

But the key, is to always make sure that you have good backups before ever playing around with the registry. Remember, you can always try again if it blows up in your face... as long as you have known good backups.

And if this method doesn't work for you, so what. You're just back to where you started... doing the typical full Windows install, never ending patch updates, apps re-installs, profile configurations, option settings, ad nauseum... it's almost enough to make me think about buying a Mac.

[racemize]

ah I see, hadn't ever tried doing the registry backup on a restore like that. How do you get around the system file failures in XP (i.e., when I try to copy the whole hard drive it'll say something like 'this is a protected/system file and cannot be copied' and the whole copy will fail).

Thanks!

[KingDaddyO]

Originally Posted by racemize

ah I see, hadn't ever tried doing the registry backup on a restore like that. How do you get around the system file failures in XP (i.e., when I try to copy the whole hard drive it'll say something like 'this is a protected/system file and cannot be copied' and the whole copy will fail).

Thanks!

When I say backup, I generally refer to backups that are the result of a backup program. Quick & dirty backups (which are simple copies of your files or folders) are fine, but they are just that - quick & dirty. You can't copy a complete 'online' Windows drive, because there are locked system files in use. While there are ways around this, it really isn't necessary to go to that level, to be able to restore a 'working' system efficiently. It does require a bit more planning and preparation than the typical approach. In my opinion, it's a good investment if it will give you more flexibility than the "reinstall Windows and everything else you've ever installed" approach.

Good backup software will be able to include protected system files.

I generally rely on a combination of techniques:
- separate the elements from each other (OS, Apps, Data)
- get good backup software and hardware
- learn how to use the backup system properly
- maintain a consistent backup schedule
- most importantly, verify your backups by including verification as part of the job, and restoring a few files or folders to test the backup
- make quick & dirty file copies also, as these can save you in a pinch if a full blown restoration isn't needed

One company whose software I'd recommend is Acronis. They make high-quality low-cost utilities that work very well. I like them much better than Symantec (who bought out my old favorites, Norton Utilities... many moons ago). Plus there are an endless supply of shareware and free utilities on the net, but these require you to do your own research. There are also many 'one-touch' backup products available off the shelf, but I don't use any of those and can't comment on their value.

Hope this helps!