jei

Hey guys,

I currently have 1 WD 500 gb caviar SE 16. It is my only hard-drive. I have been getting very slow load time and windows reponse times so i was wondering about getting 1 of 3 options.

Which do you guys think would be the best for both performance & redudancy with cost in mind as well? I don't have a specific cost range but like everyone else, i would prefer to spend the least as possible to still get best performance. Better states i guess would be, which would be the best "bang for buck" for me?

1) Get WD Raptor 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache, use this one as my main HD for windows & games. Let my current 500gb HD for musik, movies, and misc. ~$200.00

2) Get 2 x SEAGATE 250GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache, load the 2 seagates in RAID0 and use my current WD 500gb as the redudancy drive? I think this would make it RAID 0+1. ~$110.00

3) Get another 1 x WD 500GB Caviar SE16 7200rpm SATA II w/ 16MB, and put this with my current WD 500GB Caviar. Make it a RAID 0 configuration. Then get a SEAGATE 250GB FreeAgent™ Desktop External Hard Drive to store all of my essential files. ~$180.00

Few questions i have about some of my options:

A) In choice #1, I have windows and all of my files are in my current WD 500gb HD. Would I be able to install windows onto the WD Raptor, then re-install all of my games onto the Raptor? OR would i have to reformat my current drive then I would be able to install windows onto the WD Raptor?

B) In choice #2, have windows and all of my files are in my current WD 500gb HD. Would i be able to install windows onto the 2 x seagate 250gb in raid0, then re-install all my games onto the raid0 config? OR would I have to reformat my current drive, then i could install in windows onto the radi0 config?

C) In choice #3, have windows and all of my files are in my current WD 500gb HD. Would i have to re-install windows to get the 2 x WD 500gb HD to work in raid0, or can i set up raid0 without having to reformat?

Thanks again.

losttsol

I currently use your option #1, except my "big" hard drive is only 320GB. It works well, but the raptor does make noise while my seagate barracuda is basically silent. If I could do it over again, I would probably have bought 1 more 320GB, raid 0'd it with my current HDD for games and OS, and got an additonal 500GB+ for the data storage, movies, pictures, backups, etc... I guess that would be kind of like your option 3.

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Raptors06

If you raid your drive, you will have to wipe your drive with the data on them - or rather, the process of the RAIDing will wipe your data. So, you'll lose your data unless you back them up somewhere to keep the data and subsequently migrate them over to the RAID array. If that's too much work, then it sounds like Option 1 or 2 are your only choice. Option 2 allows you to keep your WD with your data (I would advise unplugging the drive just in case - you never know) and install Windows onto the RAID, then plug the drive back in and back up your data to the RAID. Option 3 won't work unless you back up to something else beforehand.

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jei

Which option should yeild the best overall performance/cost?

stargate125645

I would go with a VelociRaptor over a Raptor should you choose option 1. Though I don't think you will notice significant changes in speeds simply by switching to a 10kRPM HDD.

Is your Caviar an AAKS model? If so, I would get another one and put them in RAID-0 (your third option).

I do not believe option 2 is possible. To have RAID 0+1 you need to have an even number of drives, 4 minimum. You can store a ghosted backup of your RAID-0 array on the 500GB drive, but it will not be RAID 0+1.

CyberDruid

I would go with the Samsung F1 TB drive. For the money you are talking about it's the fastest choice. I have benched it side by side with my WD Raptors, RaptorX, Hitachi Deskstars and Seagate 7200.10 and it's faster than any of them. Very close to 90 mb/s on an ICH9. If you format a modes partition on thed F1 (Say 300GB) youi wil likely see 90-93 mb/s which is very nice for a single drive.

Right now NCIX has a sale on the 750GB F1 for $92. A pair of those in RAID0 would be faster than the TB and large capacity and cheaper.

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