is it bad to have internal scratch disks?

we had a G5 die...it's gone...is it bad to have internal RAIDS (which hold uncompressed 8 bit files for After Effects) - as we have been told they cheat the mac into there is only one HDF instead of two...??? I've used one for four years no problem. PhiL UK aboard Apollo 13

Well, computers do not just die and are gone -poof! What happend to the G5 that it stopped working?
Internal RAID setups can cause extra heat buildup but most certainly they can suck power from the internal power supply to excess.

"" - as we have been told they cheat the mac into there is only one HDF instead of two...???""

What's an HDF?

I use an Quad G5 with 4 internal 500 GB SATA II drives but I use an external power supply so as not to affect the internal power supply.

Actually computers do die, and poof they are gone. Generally it's because of power supply and logic board failures. Course these can be replaced. I've seen no relationship with Internal Raids causing computer failure. Thousands have them.

<<<we had a G5 die...it's gone...>>>

Heat is the major cause of machine failure, but G5s do not go quietly. If the machine thinks there is anything at all unstable or out of control, the vent system goes up full. It sounds like a twin-engine Beechcraft taking off and it's been known to suck cats and small dogs into the vents.

It's also really hard to kill a machine outright. What happened? You came in one morning and you had a theatrical prop instead of a Mac?

Koz

...are you missing a CAT?

;-P

Thats the first thing I look for when a G5 dies. Just open the door and see if any of your pets are inside. If they are, gently remove them and all should be well.

Bwhahahahah ha ha!

Let me wipe the tears away! This is ticklin' my funny bone somethin' fierce

Really!

I have a cat that LOVES the top of my critical video monitor. Now I have this cartoon image of him gettin' sucked through the vents...

They're heeeere!



Post Edited (05-11-06 10:43)

You can run.

You can hide.

But you can't escape the jaws of...

Cat Mac.

This summer, at a theatre near you.

How do you get on the subject of pets? This is not funny...the machine went suddenly...and that was that...no warning no nothing.

We're not making fun of you, Phil...I don't think there's ever a 100 per cent safeguard against a mechanical failure as you describe. Computers do conk out. I had a 10-year-old 486 PC that worked fine for over nine years, and then just started falling apart within the last year of its lifespan. No real detectable cause. Current computers are even more sensitive and prone to failure -- I seriously doubt most of our computers will survive into their tenth birthday.

That's why backups are so important. And they don't do much good unless they are routinely updated and annotated. Most of the time I've seen, the hard drives of a dead computer -- as Michael and Koz have mentioned -- can usually be salvaged and the data rescued. It's hard disk failures that can kill you; computer hardware can be replaced, the information can't. My 486 took a good number of screenwriting files with it.

<<<the machine went suddenly...and that was that...no warning no nothing.>>>

OK, so back to the cats and dogs post, you came in one day and had a theatrical prop. Did you try a different electrical outlet? Different power cord? Did it die during the night or when you tried to turn it on?

Any signs of life at all? If you pull the sides off, are any of the fans turning at all. A number of them make zero noise so you won't be able to tell from the outside.

If the machine is totally dead, that's actually good because a simple power supply change should bring everything back up. I have no feel for the cost of something like that--especially 8 time zones away, but Totally Dead is far, far more desirable than having a machine that crashes for no reason once a week.

The machine is under Apple Care, right?

Koz

We buried G5 today, it was a nice service with moderate attendance. Messeges of condolences can be sent to the above email address. G5 once said to me, I'd like to go quickly and leave a good looking corpse. He shall be missed.

...and the Academy Award goes to...

By any slim chance...did you have one of those SwiftData200 set-ups and incorporate your Boot Drive into your RAID? That would a most unwise decision to say the least. Those set-ups...though a nice idea...will casue more problems down the road. The machines were not meant to house so many drives internally.

Obviously, foley has never lost a machine "poof gone"...because they DO go "poof" all the time.

- Joey



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.