Opinion on Hard Drive Setup

[mn072065]

ok need some opinions please. I will be getting tomorrow 2 WD 150 GB Raptor X Hard Drives. My system specs are: 3.2 Dual Processors, two 250Gb WD Raid 1 setup and and extra 250GB HD for data. Since I'm getting also next week either the WD 500GB or the Seagate 750GB (have not decided which one of those to get). My question is if I add the two Raptors and Raid them 0 and utilize it for my Win64 Operating System, is that a smart choice. I figured the other large drive for data. What will I be using the pc for? It's for all my videos that I take of my family and covert to DVD. I do not store them. I also just want to have more space. It's always good to have space. Or do I make one of the larger drives my OS and the raptors my data. Thanks for any opinion. Just wanted some choices before I reformat. Last I will be getting the Vista Ultimate.

[edDV]

First, I would advise against RAID 0 for the OS and applications. This is popular with gamers to get fast reboots and large game application loads because the games crash a lot or they change games often. All game data goes on the RAID. They tend to only load a few games hence take on the risk that a drive failure would destroy all data.

For everyone else, we can't risk that loss of data and if the system is well maintained, one may only need to reboot once a week rather than several times an hour.

Second, I don't see the need for the Raptors vs. larger PATA/SATA drives at the same price. Raptors have no significant processing advantage for typical video processes unless you are trying to work with SMPTE-259M uncompressed broadcast video. If that is the case, you will need much more. The only advantage they provide is slightly faster disk copy from one Raptor to another.

Plus they make a hell of a lot of noise. Consider a wall to separate the computer from the user.

[INFRATOM]

The way you're setting up is for a server. Its ok for normal use too as long as cost is no object. having 2 raptors as raid and other as a big storage is fine. but if your typing and click speed is not that fast and you can't sustain that for a long time raid speed is not necessary one of those raptors is fast enough. One other thing new SATA hard drives are sata300. Raptors could only be 150's (not 100% sure ...your controller should support 300mb/s too). All that said if you don't mind the cost, that config is ideal. raptors are expensive if you are not running an application server maybe you want to spend that extra on storage see if you need that much storage or RAM. If you haven't got enough RAM WIN Vista is coming soon go for more RAM. The difference between a raid and one raptor is probably a blink of an eye, on workstation it is not that much apparent as on an application server. One other thing if you are using the raptors for OS only you can get the smaller size. I think 20 - 30 gigs is plenty for OS and all the programs. You can always move all your temp folder or enviroments to other hard drives.

[mn072065]

Thanks for the reply. So it really doesnt make sense to raptor the OS. I heard that everything loads quicker. I'm not into gaming, though I have some games that my 10 year old plays. You say "One other thing new SATA hard drives are sata300. Raptors could only be 150's (not 100% sure ...your controller should support 300mb/s too)", how will I know or find out if my controller supports 300mb/s? Also what if I do one raptor for the OS and two either 500 or 750 GB storage. Is Seagate better than Western. Again thanks all for the extra advice. I want to do this correctly.

[ahhaa]

Hi- your motherboard can't be an OEM, that's not a brandname Google your mobo maker & model number and you should find a a pdf or something with all the specs & user info.

When buying big HDs, always check the factory warranty. Seagates typically have a 5 year warranty; many WDs are only 1 year...

[mn072065]

Thanks. I have a dell 600 XPS. When I called dell on the motherboard brand, they said OEM. Also I noticed WD having 5 year warranty or is it bogus. Getting the HD from Compusa.

[Scorpion King]

Lets see: You have 3-250GB drives now and are getting another 2-150GB tomorrow, then maybe a 500GB or a 750GB next week. That will be a total of 1.8TB. You must do a bunch of family video editing.......

The 5 drives would be plenty for me, without the 500 or the 750.

I would create 2 - raid-0 arrays for my editing needs. That way you get lighting fast times working video from one to the other. I would use 1 drive for the OS and another drive for My Documents. If your board does not support 300Mbps you will still get the 150Mbps from those drives. My SATA drives are 300's. In Raid-0 you will get ~1.5 times more speed than a single.

I have ran raid-0 arrays for years without issues. The odds of dropping a drive is no worse than dropping one in a single configuration. Yea, drop one of the set and you loose all the data but if you are working from tape you will still have the data anyway.... Drop a single drive and the data is also gone......

With only 5 drives I would need to partition one for C and D. E and F would be the raids. The main and the dump.

Good luck.

[ofbarea]

I have a Raptor 150 for setup as my boot disk and the system does boot faster. This is a fact. I also have a second 250 WD SATA disk for video and audio editing.

After using the Raptor as my boot device I will never go back to slower disks because my machine will feels less responsive. Probably I will get a second Raptor to mirror my current one to have fast access times and security at the same time.

[edDV]

Comes down to cost effectiveness. If boot time is important, then use a 150GB Raptor instead of a 500GB 7200RPM SATA at similar price.

A SATA 300 drive doesn't go significantly faster than SATA 150 in the real world unless you pull a lot of data out of the disk cache (e.g. application servers). Video processing seldom calls for repeated data from cache. Usually a continuous sequence is read or written to the drive with little help from the cache. The hardware read/write is slower than 1.5Gb/s. So again, no economic benefit.
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-283-1.htm

[Capmaster]

I agree with EdDV about not raiding the OS. Setting up a raid 0 complicates things, and is of questionable value for infrequent reboots.

A raid 0 for the data storage, however, makes more sense. You effectively double your writing speed with two drives where it will really benefit you, triple with 3 drives, etc. And if you have BIOS or OS issues, you won't be pulling your hair out, since the system doesn't need the raid to boot

[mn072065]

Thank you all. I decided to have my raptors as raid 1. I rather be careful. I will be buying the Seageate 750GB for data on Friday. Thanks all.

[ahhaa]

Thanks. I have a dell 600 XPS. When I called dell on the motherboard brand, they said OEM. Also I noticed WD having 5 year warranty or is it bogus. Getting the HD from Compusa.

OEM means Original Equipment Manufacturer; many software utilities will ID a mobo make & model for you. Here's what one review says is in your case:

Mainboard

* Chipset type
* NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition

* Data bus speed
* 800 MHz

http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_XPS_600/4507-3118_7-31457921.html

[Capmaster]

Thank you all. I decided to have my raptors as raid 1. I rather be careful. I will be buying the Seageate 750GB for data on Friday. Thanks all.

Seagate makes the best drive, in my opinion. Good choice! 8)