Which PC for maximum reliability?

I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

"Dogbert" a écrit dans le message de news:
...



I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

Do not buy a machine off the shelf. They are designed for the average user -
and price is important.

Go to a professional service : they will assemble a machine according to
your needs, and they will offer a maintenance service. To find the adequate
professional, ask other users in your town.

Since money is not the most limiting factor, I suggest you consider
the following NETWORK:
1) a high-end work station - lots of RAM, with RAID level 1 hard
drives for the OS and raid 5 for the local data disk array - for
photoshop, etc, and as a backup for #2
2) a mid-level backup work station - lots of RAM, regular hard drives
(for office billing, calendaring appts, etc), but also as a backup for
#1 should it fail.
3) a separate network storage device (NAS). This should have RAID 5 as
well, and be used to
a) backup up every thing on both machines
b) serve as archive storage for all the data out of use and over 90
days old.

4) Configure all machines to accept OS updates ONLY manually - NOT
auto updates. Accept Anti Virus updates daily.
5) a reliable person to set up your NETWORK, FIREWALL, BACKUPS, and
INITIAL SOFTWARE INSTALLS, and to do monthly security updates,
software patches, new installs, etc.and to assure your virus checking
stays current. They should also set you up with a UPS on EVERY
machine.

6) a firm rule that NEITHER of these machines is EVER used for web
browsing.
7) another firm rule that you ONLY open email from known sources that
has been through a good, current virus checker.

Why?
The RAID arrays assure that hard drive failures don't take you down.
The controlled updates assure that patches don't cause problems
the email rules and virus control keep your system from getting dirty.



On 09 Jun 2007 05:16:34 GMT, Dogbert wrote:




I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

In article ,
Dogbert wrote:

I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

Hands down, a MacPro. There's a reason why survey after survey, both the
Mac hardware, Apple's customer service, and the Mac OS X operating
system continue to set the gold standard in usability and reliability.

If I were you, just to hedge your bet, I will buy two MacPro's, one
display, one or two keyboards, and a pair of large external firewire or
USB 2 hard drives. Share the hard drives between the Macs. Use one hard
drive to back up the data on the other hard drive through automated
software such as SuperDuper and get Photoshop CS 3 and you are set. You
can easily do that with $10,000.

On 09 Jun 2007 05:16:34 GMT, Dogbert wrote:
I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

That isn't enough money unless you want to do the job of TRYing to make it
reliable yourself. (good luck) Since you came on here and asked the question in
the first place it is pretty safe to assume that you aren't capable of doing
that.

When companies have mission critical computing requirements they PAY for 24\7
computer services. They don't buy their own equipment. They pay a company to
maintain, backup, upgrade, and other wise meet their computing requirements.
Multiply that number by 8 or more and try again.

Dogbert wrote:
I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

Any software and hardware can and eventually will fail in one way or the
other. Therefore there is no "I need _MY_ PC available always". The only
viable approach is to have backup systems.

Depending on your specific needs this could be a small network with local
data backup and a contract with a company, which will replace the PC within
24 hours of malfunction. Or on the other end you got hot data backup in
several different geographic/global areas (in case a natural desaster kills
all data centers in a specific area or a major network cable to a specific
region breaks) and a distributed software system with hot standby, where
another PC mimics whatever happens on the main PC and can take over
immediately if PC 1 goes the way of the dodo bird.

I would consult a professional company because designing and maintaining
such a system is way beyond the skills of the typical PC amateur.

jue

In article , Dogbert
wrote:

I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.


As per the other responses, trying to do this with off-the-shelf PC's
is an exercise in futility. You need a complete backup computer. They
needn't be identical; one can be well-equipped and the other just
adequate.

The suggestion to use Apple Macintoshes is a great one, for several
reasons:

1. Higher end off the shelf Macs are built to a far higher level of
quality than ANY non-custom built PC. (Believe me - I've built PC's
that try to mimic Apple quality. Not easy) There's even some argument
for buying a Mac and just running Windows on it (should you insist on
doing so).

2. The Mac OS has an "archive and install" feature that allows you to
replace your operating system without affecting user data OR
application software in most cases. The last time I reinstalled Windows
over an existing setup, it almost cost me my sanity.

3. In case of a hardware failure, you can usually just pull the drive
from one Mac, put it in another, and get back to work. None of this
"detecting and customizing for your hardware" crap that Windows needs.
Ever try that on Windows? Ugh.

In fact on my primary computer, I've NEVER re-installed OS X. I started
out with the beta, and have upgraded through all the versions; further,
the same install of the OS is now in it's THIRD physical computer. And
it's never locked up, crashed., or needed to be reinstalled. Since
November of 2000...

In article ,
writes
On 09 Jun 2007 05:16:34 GMT, Dogbert wrote:
I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

That isn't enough money unless you want to do the job of TRYing to make it
reliable yourself. (good luck) Since you came on here and asked the question in
the first place it is pretty safe to assume that you aren't capable of doing
that.

When companies have mission critical computing requirements they PAY for 24\7
computer services. They don't buy their own equipment. They pay a company to
maintain, backup, upgrade, and other wise meet their computing requirements.
Multiply that number by 8 or more and try again.

We bought the equipment and pay our own staff to provide front line
support along with upgrades, backup and meeting new requirements, the
hardware swap-out is on next day support from the supplier. Do you
REALLY think that a company with mission critical computing is going to
wait for some outside support to turn up, even if it is 24/7?

--
Ian G8ILZ
There are always two people in every pictu the photographer and the viewer.
~Ansel Adams

Jürgen Exner wrote:
Dogbert wrote:
I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

Any software and hardware can and eventually will fail in one way or the
other. Therefore there is no "I need _MY_ PC available always". The only
viable approach is to have backup systems.

Quite true.

Depending on your specific needs this could be a small network with local
data backup and a contract with a company, which will replace the PC within
24 hours of malfunction. Or on the other end you got hot data backup in
several different geographic/global areas (in case a natural desaster kills
all data centers in a specific area or a major network cable to a specific
region breaks) and a distributed software system with hot standby, where
another PC mimics whatever happens on the main PC and can take over
immediately if PC 1 goes the way of the dodo bird.

I would consult a professional company because designing and maintaining
such a system is way beyond the skills of the typical PC amateur.

Exactly.

That's why going with Macintosh makes sense; you don't need outside
help, consultants or an IT department.

--
John McWilliams

Dogbert wrote:

I have a busy photo studio, and absolutely cannot put up with delays
caused by a broken photo editing PC (broken hardware or screwed up
microsoft windows). I need my PC to be available, always. I am
willing to spend well over $10,000 if throwing money at the problem
is the solution.

Hmmm,
Have one custom made.
I am using a 2xdual core Pentium based server with RAID SCSI storage.
Has dual monitor set up, redundant power supply on UPS, etc.
Pretty fail safe box.