2x WD360 Raptor in RAID 0

[PICBoy]

Hello, I have the opportunity to buy 2 WD360 Raptor used (with warranty) for less than 80$.

Is this a good solution? will this speed up my load times and make gameplay smoother overall?

I've never done RAID 0 before and never had a 10K RPM drive. I know they dissipate a lot of heat, any tips?

 

[imported_wired247]

not a great idea... raptors are outdated and raid-0 will not significantly speed up load times. gameplay smoothness should have little to do with HDD data rate.

raid scales much better once you have 3-4 HDDs and motherboard raid controllers tend to suck. then there's the issue of double the failure rate.

 

[conlan]

I agree with wired247...however...if you're on a tight budget, using the 2 x 36GB Raptor RAID0 as a boot drive with your OS and a few of your favorite games installed would improve load times over a single slower HDD.

I would suggest using a second HDD as a slave, partition enough space on this slave to store a mirror of your boot drive, for when the inevitable happens.

 

[nerp]

Warning. The 36GB raptors are very loud. I have two sitting in a drawer. Ever since I started using my WD640 Caviar Black, I've never looked back. The Black is faster anyway.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, get a single WD Caviar Black 640GB, skip the raptors.

 

[PICBoy]

Ok, thank you, I'm buying that Caviar.

 

[Zapper48]

I'll second the noisy 36gb Raptors I had in RAID0.My new 300gb Velociraptors are almost silent.

 

[Tweakin]

Originally posted by: Zapper48
I'll second the noisy 36gb Raptors I had in RAID0.My new 300gb Velociraptors are almost silent.

Those things smoke when stripped...I did a test in HD Tune awhile back and they pulled over 250MB/sec for the first 200GB of the array....That would make a nice OS partition.

 

[Zapper48]

Yeah they do.I thought about going the SSD route but I got these 300gb Vraptors for $199 each.With the 5 yr warranty I'm good to go.:beer:

 

[taltamir]

two raptors would outperform a single velociraptor in raid0... even on a mobo. Since raid0 is easy to implement and effectively doubles speed and access time.
Be sure to make backups though, and be aware that they will be loud.