Will this hardware work?

Here we go, this is what I ended up (for now, at least, lol) going with for my set-up: 1- fdisk (1 primary each, type set to raid auto) 2- mdadm (128 chunk-size, level 5 raid) 3- lvm (pv/vg/lv-etc.) 4- mkfs (xfs on "vault" (music) and ext3 on the rest; used -b 4096 and stride 32) 5- mount (new RAID+LVM set-up) 6- fstab (update for auto mount at boot) 7- Rock on and have fun with a sweet set-up! That is using 4x 500GB hard drives, with disk 1 separate from the RAID+LVM for all operating systems, applications/software, and temp/editing storage space, and disks 2, 3, 4 for primary storage via RAID+LVM. :-)

You make a good point :-) ...there really isn't much of a need for Windows (however... it's ideal for gaming.;) Vista= my "playtime" system. ;-) Though technically it's not so much play at present - I'm beta-testing (technically "pre-beta"/"alpha") a specific online game (that requires the use of testing via Windows). There is the possibility of that game being either ported, emulated, or VMware/etc. to *nix in the future, though not currently. Or, at least, it won't be for at least a year, as the official release date for that MMO is about a year from now. Linux/Unix= everything else. I am also a big fan of several Linux distros and Unix flavors and I enjoy installing multiple systems and learning different ones. I'd like to use Linux for my studio work primarily. I've generally used Unix in the past, though have enjoyed using Debian-type Linux and Slackware. I'm interested in learning more about a couple other Linux/Unix systems - Gentoo and Solaris. How does this look as a possibility: 1st, My 4th hard drive arrives in the mail tomorrow morning - I hook it up. :-) 2nd, Disable BIOS RAID. 3rd, Install Windows and Linux, partition the drives, set up RAID5 on 3 of the drives via mdadm, and start fresh with the 4 hard drives, doing something kind of like this: (time out... these forums are really bad at outputting what I type in the editor, I have to try to force carriage returns...) Disk #1, ~500GB (no RAID) Parttn. Size Purpose 1 1GB /boot (to 64 Studio) (go ahead and install 64 Studio) 2 200GB Vista (complete system) (install grub after, add windows to it) 3 15GB Solaris (/ (all of it except /zone (home)) (*BSD later) 4 (extended) 5 20GB 64 Studio (/ (all of it except /studio and /boot) 6 ~235GB 64 Studio (/studio/workspace (storage while editing music)) 7 2GB linux swap (pri=0 0 0) 8 2GB linux swap (pri=0 0 0) ("striped" swap priorities) 9 2GB unix swap ("pri=0 0 0") 10 20GB other-linux (all except storage and swap) (Gentoo for now) Disks #2,3,4, ~931GB (RAID 5 via mdadm) Parttn. Size Purpose 1 ~755GB /studio/vault (for 64 Studio, main storage for audio/music recordings) 2 ~122GB /zone (for Solaris, /zone/home and other storage (normal stuff)) 3 50GB /home (and similar for "other-linux" storage) 4 (extended) 5 2GB linux swap (pri=1 0 0) 6 2GB unix swap ("pri=1 0 0") Setting equally high priority ("striped") swap: vi /etc/fstab ...and change "default 0 0" to "pri= 0 0 0" on all swap partitions. ...and perhaps this is optional, unless applying swap changes right away: sync;sync;swapoff -a swapon -a That gets into swap play and perhaps even swappiness (/proc/sys/vm/swappiness). I've heard people say I should get 6GB RAM for studio production work, though I haven't experienced how memory handles the work yet so I'm not sure. All of this is on the 2.6+ GHz quad-core CPU with 4GB 1066MHz RAM... I have a hunch I'll be okay on necessary computer "muscle" but, who knows, I may actually find a way to use it all up. lol All of those partitions are still up in the air... I also may have too much or too little space noted in some places for some of it, not sure at the moment. Going back to MS products... I had to purchase Vista (bum deal, though at least it was OEM so I "saved" 50% compared to what people pay in stores), though otherwise, the last time I purchased an MS product was, I have no idea when. :-) At least, I'm not aware of when - they are a bit of a monopoly. EDIT: I forgot to mention, I am currently running Windows and Linux on a 3-disk RAID 5 set-up. :-) I figured it out... it wasn't too difficult, though took some digging. I left the BIOS RAID enabled, installed drivers in Windows (to recognise the RAID5) and used dmraid in Linux (to recognise the RAID5). I typed out the steps for a colleague who wanted to try it out, here's a copy/paste: 1. boot livecd 2. goto terminal 3. sudo apt-get install dmraid 4. sudo modprobe dm-raid4-5 5. sudo dmraid -ay 6. cd /dev/mapper 7. ls (for raid "nvidia_[letters]") 8. ubiquity (install) 9. used guided partition with raid volume (let it automatically do it, it just created / and swap) 10. disabled grub install 11. reboot to livecd again 12. sudo fdisk nvidia_[letters] (listed in /dev/mapper) (fdisk to see how it's set up, prtn.5 was / and prtn.6 was swap) 13. sudo mkdir /target 14. sudo mount nvidia_[letters]5 /target 15. sudo mount --bin /dev /target/dev 16. sudo mount -t proc proc /target/proc 17. sudo mount -t sysfs sys /target/sys 18. sudo chroot /target 19. apt-get update 20. apt-get install dmraid 21. apt-get install grub 22. mkdir /boot/grub 23. cp /usr/lib/grub/[arch]/* /boot/grub 24. grub --no-curses 25. device (hd0) /dev/mapper/nvidia_[letters] 26. find /boot/grub/stage1 27. root (hd0,4) 28. setup (hd0) 29. quit 30. update-grub (selected "yes" for new menu.lst) 31. vi /boot/grub/menu.lst 32. changed "# groot=(hd0,0)" to "# groot=(hd0,4)" 33. changed to hd0,4 in boot entries 34. added: title windows root (hd0,0) chainloader +1 35. opted to change delay to 30 and commented out "hiddenmenu" 36. save/exit 37. update-grub (kept "local file") 38. reboot (vista & linux both work now)

Which Vista features are indispensable to you at the moment? The reason why I ask, is that I am running my whole project studio out of my 64 Studio system, from time management, email, word processing, photo editing etc. I have recently moved to the 64 Studio 3.0 pre-release version to test it, and have not looked back since. The last MS Product I bought was a mouse ;-)

Hi! Here's an update... I have the new computer up and running, though it looks like the best bet for using RAID-5 would be to separate Windows from *nix. I came across apps like dmraid and mdadm. The dmraid application allows for creating arrays with windows & *nix, however, until recently it did not support RAID 5. Now it does, though it appears mdadm is a more "solid" approach. It has supported RAID 5 for a while now, though does not appear to work between windows & *nix. My motherboard's RAID works such that I have to go with either "all raid or no raid", meaning use all the HDDs with RAID or none at all. With the thought that comes to mind, I'm considering abandoning motherboard RAID and using strictly OS (non-BIOS) RAID specifically for use with my music production. Though, I am unsure if it will work. Would this work: I get a 4th HDD, disable motherboard RAID, install Windows Vista on HDD #1, set up RAID-5 (via mdadm only) on HDDs #2,3,4, and install my Linux and Unix systems on HDDs 2,3,4? I don't know if mdadm allows for only using RAID-5 on 3 out of 4 HDDs. There really is no purpose in using RAID on the Vista drive, though the Vista is still a must-have. There is only a purpose in having RAID on the *nix for added security of data (i.e. audio recordings) in the event that a HDD dies. I'm also hoping that mdadm does not require a motherboard's "onboard RAID" (the BIOS RAID). If it does require that, then I am out of luck as the mainboard requires "all or none". Any ideas? Thank you! :-)

Since you are starting up, try it and let us know. At most you will have wasted a few hours if you do not succeed. I know I could not get it right initially, but that was donkey's years ago, and perhaps the feature is better supported now. Because I am used to my setup as it is, I am not going to mend my ways any time soon. Perhaps when I build another system for the studio... Thanks for the updates! Q

Fake raid does not work well under the RT kernel. I would rather create a spanned volume, or create separate partitions. I have 3 drives in my system, one is /home, and another is /audio. My primary drive has /boot, /, /data and the swap on it. On PCI, try to get a second-hand RME Hammerfall 9632. I have one and it is exactly what you would need if you get the ADA8000, or any other ADAT preamp. The newer cards from RME are impressive, but the ADAT functionality is unchanged, and those cards are quite expensive. I am negotiating a "Recent Posts" page on here... Cheers,

I ordered computer parts. :) Here's a slight update with changes in some of the previously listed components: CPU: AMD Phenom 9950. (125W) Motherboard: ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe/HDMI Monitor: Acer 24" RAID: going fake raid (onboard) for now, will get raid card later I'll get recording equipment after the computers pieced together and up and running. I'd like to have a more physical understanding of what options I can choose from at that point. I'm pretty much set on getting 2 AT2020 mics +cables+stands. I might get something like the ADA8000. I might hold off on a mixer for now. And I'm still having difficulty deciding on which PCI card to get or if I should get one that comes with an external audio interface. I hope to have a better feel for that once I've set up the computer. :) By the way, did this website change the "style" of this forum section?

If you get the Yammie monitors, be sure to get the matching sub, at the monitors are a bit on the dry side (lacking low end) I went to the Thomann superstore, and tried out all the monitors they had there. Choice of monitors is a personal choice. Listen and then choose. I got the nEar 05 Experience monitors from ESI. It was the best sounding monitors I could afford. It is not as dry as the Yammies, but I built myself a sub 70Hz woofer to compliment them. Works quite well.

Thank you again! That is very helpful. Here's an update to the set-up... Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair II. GPU: nVidia GTX 260. Case: NZXT Tempest. RAID card: HighPoint RocketRAID 2300. Monitor: Samsung 2433BW 24". As far as audio/music recording gear goes... I was looking into 1 or 2 mics +cables+stands, either the AT2020, Samson C01, or Samson C03. At the moment I'm considering 1 or 2 AT2020 mics. For mixers, I was looking into either Yamaha or Mackie with 12-channels, found a nice Mackie. Though it's analog, I need the ad/da, and with the nice software that's available, I'm considering actually not getting a physical mixer but, rather, something like the Behringer ADA8000 (for a/d d/a) and something similar to the RME 9652 (PCI card). http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHADA8000 http://www.zzounds.com/item--RMEHDSP9652 For studio monitors, I'm still doing some digging, though a couple of the Yamaha HS50M speakers might work. http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMHS50M I'm trying to see if I can find lower priced (yet still quality) versions of the ad/da, PCI, and studio monitors. The ones I just listed add up to over $1,300 (that's excluding the additional $200+ for 2 mics/cables/boomstands. At the moment I'm spending some big $$$ on the computer. Regarding the motherboard and BIOS - from all of the reviews I've read, it sounds like several (if not most or all) motherboards require "flashing" the BIOS with updates. I've read some HOWTOs on that, though I might just ask someone at a local computer shop to do that (unless it's really easy and not risky to do myself). Thanks again!

Make sure your motherboard is running the latest version of the bios available for it before installing. It could save you endless hassles...

Download the driver here

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_177.80.html

As for cases, I love the Antec Sonata series cases. Built like a tank, but real quiet. You will appreciate this when you start making music on your system.

Let us know how it goes. If you run into any kind of trouble, let us know - someone here should have the answer...

Everything should work ok, except the GPU, which would need the drivers from the nvidia site. There are a number of how-tos and other info on that here on our forum already, and I suggest you take a look at it before installing. This system should realy take off under 64 Studio... hope you have decent seatbelts installed as one of your options!