Unrarring and unparring, what is better 1 HD or 2 HD's and how to setup Sabnzbd+

[nzb_leecher]

Making a new system and i am thinking if there is much profit to get if i took 2 HD's instead of 1 HD. Dont want RAID.

Specially for 30GB files (300 x 100mb) you want a fast system. My old system P4 / 1 HD can taken 1 hour to repair such a file.

How set i SAb to the best speed possible?

I thought somewhere like:

A.  HD 1 for Xp or Vista.
B.  Article Decoding in memory cache (4g system so 400 mb cache should be enough) .
C. Writting to complete dir  on HD 1
D. Writing to incomplete dir on HD 1
E. Repairing on HD 2

Is this the smartest choice or do i miss anything, in my experiance unparring / repairing can bring a system to a almost complete stop for a long time if you do something beside it (reading, writing). So a extra and fast HD should be a better choice. But you have to be very smart to figure out the best settings so the action dont bite each other and it would be nice if a can watch a film without hickups becuase the unpacking / unparring begint for 20 minutes :-)

[shypike]

I'm not a disk expert, but knowing the behaviour of SAB, I would say:

par-repairing should not happen that often, can be done on HD1.
Unpacking is almost always needed, so unpacking from HD1 to HD2 would be the most efficient.

[neilt0]

C. Writting to complete dir  on HD 1
D. Writing to incomplete dir on HD 1
E. Repairing on HD 2

I don't think you can do this -- fairly sure you can't have a directory for PAR2 repair that's different from the incomplete -- and if you did, you'd end up moving to that PAR2 folder before repair which would be slow anyway.
Although, what's the cache directory used for?

This is the way I do it on a PC:

Download directory: C:
Complete directory: D:

Which is quicker than unpacking on the same drive assuming they are both connected via a fast bus like SATA.

[shypike]

The cache dir holds:
- Internal book keeping of SABnzbd (the *.sab files)
- Index file for each accepted NZB job and for each file it holds
- Articles that cannot be kept in memory before being assembled into files.

So having a large article cache in memory will keep the latter category to a minimum, thus reducing
disk access.

[duz]

If both hard drives are on the same cable, it'll go slower then if they arn't.

[neilt0]

The cache dir holds:
- Internal book keeping of SABnzbd (the *.sab files)
- Index file for each accepted NZB job and for each file it holds
- Articles that cannot be kept in memory before being assembled into files.

So having a large article cache in memory will keep the latter category to a minimum, thus reducing
disk access.

So, going back to the first post,

"C. Writing to complete dir  on HD 1
D. Writing to incomplete dir on HD 1
E. Repairing on HD 2"

C and D should be different drives, E is not relevant?

That's the way I've always thought how SAB works in any case.

[nzb_leecher]

Did some more thinking.
I think the wisest choice is now.

Article cache in memory
HD1 OS and all other files.
HD2 complete and incomplete dir also unprarring wil happens here (there is no dir setting for unparring in sab, not yet anyway)


That way i can run everything without a hick because all the big disc action happens on HD2.

But after sab is finished, i will move the files from the completed dir manually to HD1. Thats faster then putting the complete dir on HD1 becuase Sab will will after unpacking transfer the 5gb or 30gb files from hd2 to hd1 that can take up to ten minutes at least. Sab will be dloading also and writing files back to HD2 so basicly 1 read and 1 write proces will be taking place at the same time on HD2 crippiling it.

[neilt0]

But after sab is finished, i will move the files from the completed dir manually to HD1. Thats faster then putting the complete dir on HD1 becuase Sab will will after unpacking transfer the 5gb or 30gb files from hd2 to hd1 that can take up to ten minutes at least. Sab will be dloading also and writing files back to HD2 so basicly 1 read and 1 write proces will be taking place at the same time on HD2 crippiling it.

That's not how SAB works. It would unpack directly to HD1, so if I were you, I'd have HD2 as your incomplete and HD1 as your complete.

I used to have this config when I was using a PC and it's faster than unpacking to the same drive.

[nzb_leecher]

But after sab is finished, i will move the files from the completed dir manually to HD1. Thats faster then putting the complete dir on HD1 becuase Sab will will after unpacking transfer the 5gb or 30gb files from hd2 to hd1 that can take up to ten minutes at least. Sab will be dloading also and writing files back to HD2 so basicly 1 read and 1 write proces will be taking place at the same time on HD2 crippiling it.

That's not how SAB works. It would unpack directly to HD1, so if I were you, I'd have HD2 as your incomplete and HD1 as your complete.

I used to have this config when I was using a PC and it's faster than unpacking to the same drive.

yes you are right and no you are not 
We are both right, i think

When you want optimum dload, repair and unpack speed and do anthing while this is going on. Youre solution seems to be best.

When you do all those while you are starting and closing all sort of apps, all writing and reading from HD1 (surfing with multiple tabs in firefox, ftd, newsleecher, or just watching a BR movie from harddsik) you can run into a disc performance problem if that happens while SAB is just unpacking. Here can my solution be a better choice, but feel free to comment.

Maybe we can ask the makers of sab for an realtime switching possibility for the complete dir

[nzb_leecher]

But after sab is finished, i will move the files from the completed dir manually to HD1. Thats faster then putting the complete dir on HD1 becuase Sab will will after unpacking transfer the 5gb or 30gb files from hd2 to hd1 that can take up to ten minutes at least. Sab will be dloading also and writing files back to HD2 so basicly 1 read and 1 write proces will be taking place at the same time on HD2 crippiling it.

That's not how SAB works. It would unpack directly to HD1, so if I were you, I'd have HD2 as your incomplete and HD1 as your complete.

I used to have this config when I was using a PC and it's faster than unpacking to the same drive.

In the end i dload to hd2, encode in ram en unpack to hd1 , man is it fast. No more irritation when unpacking or unparring a movie. No more a cripled computer.

2 hd's is the best thing i bought for my computer.