Capture, Raid, HD, Speed...

[vigi_lante]

Hi,

I have a Maxtor 120gb 7200rpm 8mb ATA133 Hard Drive, with two partitions, one for capture and the other for Windows and Programs. I'm very pleased with my capture results (no dropped frames at all). But right now I need to buy a new HD, since I need more space for captures.

My motherboard have RAID function, so I thinking to use this option right now. But I would like to ask a few question first...

My buy options are very limited. I can't buy another HD from the same model. So, I'm going with...

Maxtor 80gb 7200rpm ATA133 2mb of buffer
or
Seagate 80gb 7200rpm ATA100 8mb of buffer

The main difference between Maxtor and Seagate is that Maxtor is ATA133 and Seagate ATA100. But, Seagate have 8mb of buffer, against Maxtor's 2mb.

In this case, which one would be better for captures ?

One more thing, since I want to use this new HD with my Maxtor 120gb through Raid, I would like to know if it's possible to leave my Maxtor with 2 partitions: 1- 40gb 2- 80gb , and use this second partition with the new 80gb HD using Raid. It's possible ? Would it affect the good performace that I already have since this new HD will be more slower than 120gb Maxtor ?

Thanks!

[mrk1949]

7200 RPM disks can't keep an ATA133 bus full with data; actually, I don't think they can even keep an ATA100 bus full.

The only time the 100 vs 133 matters is when the disk drive reads the data from it's internal buffer.

So you have 2 MB that can be read at 133MB/s

vs

8MB that can be read at 100MB/s


I'd go with the 8MB Seagate

[studtrooper]

Actually, 2 10,000rpm Western Digital SATA Raptors in a RAID-0 array can't even fill the 133-ATA spec (yes, I know SATA is ATA-150). They might rarely "peak" around there sometimes, but its a fluke. You would see zero difference when capturing using RAID-0. The only thing you'll see different is how fast Windows and other programs (especially games) boot up. Remember though, if one HDD in your RAID-0 array dies, all your data goes with it. It might not be worth the trade off... "Back up or die" as they say

[redwudz]

Yes, I would forget RAID0 with your setup. It only works well with two similar drives and I doubt you would notice any large increase in speed. I would use the 80G for your boot drive, no partitions and use the 120 for your capture drive. If you have a RAID controller, it should also be able to be used for just a plain IDE controller. Put your 120 on it and keep your boot on the main IDE setup.