I agree completely with Sidssp's assessment of the G4/RAID plan, as well as his suggestion to use external HD's.
Michael
Michael
Help create my Mac Music Server
• I've just installed a PCI card from M-Audio (Audiophile 2496) that inputs and outputs 24/96 analog data & coax S/PDIF input/output . I have it in my Dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 Deskside (dedicated to this application), running OS-10.5.7. As yet I haven't used it. I intend to insert 2 internal 1 GB drives in a RAID configuration - it will hold up to 4 internal drives (ATA/EIDE). My intention is to build up a HiDef digital library. I intend to transfer my thousands of records by sampling them at 24/96 from a very good vinyl playback system. I intend to sample the output from my $30,000 Audio Note DAC 5, rather than rip them from the CD - I'm hoping this will produce better sound thru the 24/96 DAC than I would get thru a cheaper CD-DAC when I sell my DAC 5. For CD quality (that I would get from ripping my CD's) - I plan on to output the data thru the S/PDIF output on the Audiophile 2496.
I don't know what music library management system to use. iTunes won't hold the 24/96 audio. I also plan to purchase all future music from HD Tracks (HDtracks.com) in 24/96 format (FLAC because of it's error correction capabilities for downloads & lossless compression on my HD). I don't know what s/w will convert the FLAC to 24/96 on the fly as I play the music. If I can't find such an on the fly converter, I may have to store them on my HD in the full 24/96 format, which will take up substantially more space.
I don't know for sure yet, but I think my 24/96 M-Audio card will also playback 24 bit/88 kHz as well as 44 & 48 kHz and iPod music. I may be able to come in on the S/PDIF input and go out the 24/96 and have it upsampled as part of the Audiophile 24/96. It may upsample from CD quality on my HD - all unknown as of today.
Any thoughts on any of the above would be appreciated.
Music library/playback server s/w - FLAC convertor - Audiophile 2496 capabilities - ... - all for a Mac - PC is not an option
I don't know what music library management system to use. iTunes won't hold the 24/96 audio. I also plan to purchase all future music from HD Tracks (HDtracks.com) in 24/96 format (FLAC because of it's error correction capabilities for downloads & lossless compression on my HD). I don't know what s/w will convert the FLAC to 24/96 on the fly as I play the music. If I can't find such an on the fly converter, I may have to store them on my HD in the full 24/96 format, which will take up substantially more space.
I don't know for sure yet, but I think my 24/96 M-Audio card will also playback 24 bit/88 kHz as well as 44 & 48 kHz and iPod music. I may be able to come in on the S/PDIF input and go out the 24/96 and have it upsampled as part of the Audiophile 24/96. It may upsample from CD quality on my HD - all unknown as of today.
Any thoughts on any of the above would be appreciated.
Music library/playback server s/w - FLAC convertor - Audiophile 2496 capabilities - ... - all for a Mac - PC is not an option
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- 12 posts total
I would add to Sid's excellent post the thought that even if you were to install a hardware RAID card, which might help a bit in some of the areas he mentioned, it would introduce another substantial potential downside. If in the future the RAID card were to fail, and if an identical or similar replacement were no longer available, your music and everything else on the drives would be irretrievable. Regards, -- Al |
I have raid on my main computer which is where I either convert or download flac files. Raid it built into the motherboard. It's a Dell box but I wouldn't buy Dell again. They have cut so many corners that everything is cheap (low quality). I would build one. I built a music server for my Slim Device. I debated long and hard about making it Raid. Since it's running all the time I wanted to save as much power as possible and built this except I used a KPC48 with dual-core. I used a 1 TB WD green drive. The whole thing is supposed to only pull about 40 watts at maximum load. There's a free program called syncback that lets you configure backups however you'd like. It works very well. So in essense I'm mirroring my raid drive on the server in the closet. I decided it was unlikely for all three drives to fail. I'm finding this works very well. I have three computers that are networked with the server. All computers except one are using XP and the other is using Vista. I'm pretty happy with this setup and don't have to worry whether it backed up or not. I access the servier with remote desktop from any of my office computers. Once you set it up it doesn't even ask for your password if you set it up that way. I know you asked for mac but this is another way of doing it in case anyone is interested. |
I am using a Mac Mini with 4gb of RAM using a Firewire 800 cable to an Icy Dock 2 bay RAID enclosure with hardware RAID. It is set up for RAID 1 for mirrored operation. I realize that there are some risks of both drives failing or slow rebuild time but I felt it would be easier to deal with than having to back up on an ongoing basis. The computer sees it as one drive and you never have to deal with it once it is set up. I went with two 1TB WD green enterprise level drives. Not the fastest but plenty fast enough for music with less vibration and very quiet. |
Dmailer, I think it's important to realize that RAID 1 doesn't eliminate the need for backups. It protects you only from a hard drive failure. That's it. There is no protection from accidentally deleting files, the filesystem becoming corrupted for some reason, or damage from a virus. You still need backups, even with the RAID, in order to be safe. If you only have the money for 2 drives, I would advocate using one to backup the other, rather than in RAID. Of course, the best solution is to have 2 in RAID 1, and another one for use as the backup drive. Michael |
- 12 posts total