[broadbandaddict]

Hey, I'm hoping one of you guys can help me out. I'm trying to decide between 3 500GB WD Blacks and 2 1TB WD Blacks for a RAID 0 setup in my desktop. I'm not too concerned about total space but 1.5TB+ is needed. I'd also like to keep the price at ~$200 and right now both of the drives are on sale. I'd like to keep the first portion of the array partitioned off for games and the second portion for general storage. I write at least 300GB of data a week and it is removed within a couple days of being archived to my server so, please, don't tell me "RAID isn't a backup". If I lose anything I do not care. I'm looking for a good balance of price/speed/warranty.

I'll be using my motherboard RAID controller if that matters and it will be hooked up to SATA 3Gbps ports.

Thanks.

 

[OS-Wiz]

Two drives, on software raid, will fail less than three.

 

[silvergoat]

I don't understand how this can be a hard choice. I'm sure a 1TB drive is priced closely enough to a 500GB drive that the additional storage + the fact that you'll only need two rather than three make it a no-brainer. The potential for additional speed from three drives as opposed to two will be mitigated by the fact that it is only temporary storage and so you'll never really get into the slower inner platter. Sprinkle on the fact that the first response pointed out that two failure points are better than three and the point makes itself, even though it may not be something you're concerned about----it's still better in every way.

 

[Kramy]

Most 500GB drives use smaller platters that have lower sequential speeds. What are you using the array for? If it's for video work, sequential speeds matter the most.

How important is the 5yr warranty? The reason I'm asking is, the WD 1TB Blues (WD10EZEX) offer pretty good value if you can accept their measly 2yr warranty.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=74462&vpn=WD10EZEX&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1324

Three of those almost fits your budget and would give pretty insane performance. Probably around 400MB/sec sequential.

 

[broadbandaddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OS-Wiz

Two drives, on software raid, will fail less than three.

Yup.
Quote:

Originally Posted by silvergoat

I don't understand how this can be a hard choice. I'm sure a 1TB drive is priced closely enough to a 500GB drive that the additional storage + the fact that you'll only need two rather than three make it a no-brainer. The potential for additional speed from three drives as opposed to two will be mitigated by the fact that it is only temporary storage and so you'll never really get into the slower inner platter. Sprinkle on the fact that the first response pointed out that two failure points are better than three and the point makes itself, even though it may not be something you're concerned about----it's still better in every way.

True, I like to consider all my options though.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Kramy

Most 500GB drives use smaller platters that have lower sequential speeds. What are you using the array for? If it's for video work, sequential speeds matter the most.

How important is the 5yr warranty? The reason I'm asking is, the WD 1TB Blues (WD10EZEX) offer pretty good value if you can accept their measly 2yr warranty.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=74462&vpn=WD10EZEX&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1324

Three of those almost fits your budget and would give pretty insane performance. Probably around 400MB/sec sequential.

Um. Well I hadn't really thought of Blues, I'll keep those in mind. I prefer a longer warranty, just for the fact that I will more than likely keep these for over 2 years. Would the RE4 drives be any better? I'm assuming the Blacks should be fine for mobo RAID.

 

[Kramy]

Neither the Blues nor the Blacks have TLER. That means if they develop bad sectors at some point, they may drop from the array. RE4 drives have TLER set to 7 seconds, which mitigates the array drop, but does nothing to prevent bad sectors.

Since you do not care if you lose anything, there is no point going for RE4 drives.

Currently WD Blacks are built off ~500GB platters. It's a very reliable design, but they don't have the same sequential performance as the newer Blues using 1TB platters. That said, if any of them die in the future as the warranty begins to run out, you'll likely get back Blacks built on 1TB or 1.5TB platters. (I'm thinking 4 years out here - well past the Blue's warranty expiry date.)

I prefer warranty to performance, but for select usage (like FRAPSing stuff) it can be important to weigh them the opposite way. (Sequential performance above all else!)

 

[silvergoat]

x1000 on the warranty

I still have 2 WD drives (black and raptor) that have been with me through 3 builds, and have been re-purposed about a half dozen times each. I still have warranty on them and it makes me very comfortable knowing that even now, if they crapped out, I would get them replaced by WD with zero problems.

 

[broadbandaddict]

Very good, I'll get the Blacks. Thanks guys, +REP incoming.