Drive setup for video editing

[waltraudbock]

I have a Dell XPS 240 computer with an Intel(R) Core(Tm)2 Extreme CPU Q6850 @ 3.00GHZ Processor, 2046 MB of usable memory and 32 bit OS Vista Home Premium.
I use Sony vegas Pro 8 and sony DVD architect Studio 4.5.
I just added a second hard drive (Seagate 1.5 TB SATA Barracuda 7200.11) in the hopes that it will alleviate crashes during the render process of videos and improve speed. I am doing quite a bit of video work for home use and am looking to improve speed and stability. Any help is appreciated, especially on how to set up my two hard drives. The original hardrive is partitioned into 3 parts: the OS and user data are in one partition. The other 2 partitions are a Dell backup and a V: drive which I believe allows us to use cable TV.

 

[gtvr]

Are you running low on RAM? If so, HD space won't help you. How much free ram do you have during rendering? You might want to look at going to 4GB, 64 bit Windows, if you're low. Don't know if your software has any issues with 64 though.

You could dump your video files onto the 1.5TB, should help with drive speed, plus just the edit files going there will lower contention (esp if your computer is paging a lot, due to low RAM). If you really want to get fancy, you could get another one and AID 0 them.

 

[waltraudbock]

Are you running low on RAM? If so, HD space won't help you. How much free ram do you have during rendering? You might want to look at going to 4GB, 64 bit Windows, if you're low. Don't know if your software has any issues with 64 though.

You could dump your video files onto the 1.5TB, should help with drive speed, plus just the edit files going there will lower contention (esp if your computer is paging a lot, due to low RAM). If you really want to get fancy, you could get another one and AID 0 them.

Because this is also our general-use computer going to 64 bit Windows would mean replacing the software we are running. I will look into what this will mean. With what I have now, I can add more Ram but it won't use it. I had talked to Dell about adding a third drive and was told I'd have problems with powering it. It would actually degrade the system. Not sure if there is an upgrade for power or if it would mean a new computer. Ideally, a separate computer just for editing videos would be the answer and I may need to do it in the future if this isn't working out.
For now, do you think it helps if I separate the raw video files from the edited files? Would it make sense to have a separate partition for rendering? What if I keep the C: drive on the first hard drive just for the OS and back up data? Are there performance issues with using 3 partitions on the new drive vs 1?
Appreciate your input.

 

[gtvr]

To the best of my knowledge, separating a drive into partitions for something like this will not improve performance (and could make it worse). I don't know exactly where your IO time is going, but you are looking at OS/application data, swap file (a lot of random access), raw video files (probably a lot of sequential access) x 2 types of video files.

It sounds like this machine may be a little underpowered for this work. If it were me, for short term/simplicity, I would use the new drive for raw & edited video files, keep the current drive for OS/swap/backup. See how that works for you.

For the memory, you can add 1GB, that should help a little. You can still take advantage of that much with win 32 bit.

 

[waltraudbock]

Thanks, I will try this and see what happens. I can always partition later to see if there is a difference. Appreciate your feedback.