About to upgrade to another WD6400AAKS 640GB

[Mr. Lennon]

Right now I'm using a 30g raptor for my OS and a WD6400AAKS 640GB for games, music, and random apps. Would it be better for me to upgrade the raptor to another WD6400AAKS 640GB, partition one section just for the OS, and the other for music? Also, will I have to reinstall every app/game since I am putting my OS on a new hard drive?

 

[Rakewell]

Are you trying to get rid of the 36gb Raptor? I wouldn't, it's still zippier than the 640. I would keep your OS on it, and just install the new 640 GB for your music, and the other one for apps and games.

 

[T9D]

Those old raptors really aren't that great. I have an older 300 gig maxtor and it feels the same as my 36 gig raptor (and thats not really saying much). Benches pretty close to the same too. I'm going to pick up a WD6400AAKS. From what I hear people like those better than even the newer 150 raptors. And they bench like mad. The only thing better is the very new velosiraptor. These old raptors are just loud, hot, and small space, I can't wait to replace mine.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: Rakewell
Are you trying to get rid of the 36gb Raptor? I wouldn't, it's still zippier than the 640. I would keep your OS on it, and just install the new 640 GB for your music, and the other one for apps and games.

I would, the 36gig is several generations old, and slower then the new 640gig.

 

[IEC]

I just got a WD6400AAKS in the mail yesterday and have been putting it to the test.

So far I have been blown away by how much better hard drives have gotten. I was running a 80GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA, a 160GB 7200.7 Seagate SATA... WD6400AAKS benches on HDTach at average 96MB/s or so, over double the others.

Burst is easily 125MB+/s.

What's even better is it's quieter than the Seagate by FAR, and I think even quieter than the Samsung. I'm getting rid of the Seagate and am going to enjoy this even further silenced system... not to mention the larger amount of storage space (Archived TV recordings of my favorite shows = lots of space)

 

[QuixoticOne]

Well it doesn't hurt to keep the raptor except in power/heat/space since you already own / use it.
If you're going to buy another 640 anyway, it isn't like you have to change your existing setup other than
to add the new drive and keep your existing drive letters and content as is.

On the other hand, yeah, the raptor is pretty obsolete, and I doubt you'd miss it if you did just partition off part of
the 2nd 640 for an OS partition. That'll be plenty fast enough. The only real problem is doing an image
backup of the raptor on to the new 640 so your software doesn't need to be reinstalled at all;
I'm pretty sure acronis or some such thing can do that image backup and restore to your new/different hard
disk and partition for you.

Now if you wanted speed and reliability, IMHO, I'd buy TWO more 640 drives and put them in a RAID-5
so you'll have 1.2TB usable space and a good redundant RAID to protect your data in case one of the drives
fails. In that case, though, I'd keep the Raptor as an OS disc because you really don't want to be booting from
or installing an OS onto a RAID disc with 1TB of your valuable data on it. Only downside here is that
a software glitch or malware could still wipe out ALL your data.

Alternatively get two or three more 640's and put one or two in an external eSATA or USB enclosure for
backup and leave it powered off when you're not using it, and run the two 640s with or without the raptor
in the case for the OS + data.

Either way, the simplest thing is to leave the raptor in, but if you have the patience to replace it, I doubt you'd
regret the performance difference.