Hard Drive Configuration (Recommendations Needed!)

[foodfightr]

After reading plenty of reviews and doing some research, I believe I've come up with a potential storage setup for my next build.

Maxtor Atlas II 36GB
WD4000YR RE2 (Partitioned to 36GB Backup, 364GB Storage)

What is a cheap, but fast SCSI controller? I have an available PCI-X slot and I'd like to leave room for another drive (Raid 0) in the event that I need more space. (Unless this feature will cost a lot more!)

How much of a difference will it make if I just grabbed a Seagate Cheetah 10k (SCSI 160 - ST136403LC) which is roughly 1/4 of the price of the Maxtor Atlas II? I could potentially grab four of these and run raid 5 for the same price, controller allowing. (Please speculate both ways!)

 

[bob4432]

when i used the atla IIs, they were very loud and hot, when i switched to the fujitsu that i have now and i think you can pick up @ newegg for ~$125 (or the 15K version for ~$175) there was a noticable difference. also, i am pretty sure that active cooling is recommended for the 15k rpm hdds and older gen 10kr rpm ones.

1hdd will not need the pci-x bandwidth, but more than 1 will.

my backup setup is as follows - my 2 hdds in my main rig get made into images via acronis and then stored on another computers 120GB hdd, so your idea looks good, but you really don't need to partition unless you want to (personal experience)

as far as scsi raid 5, you would definately need active cooling, does your case have enough room for this?

if you just go one scsi hdd, pick u a lsiu160 or adaptec 19160, 29160 or 39160 as 1 hdd will not max the bandwith available, even a new gen 15krpm one.

others can recommend raid cards, but i think a lot of peeps like the lsi stuff over the adaptec

good luck 🙂

 

[foodfightr]

How much active cooling we talking?

Assume that the data is worthless and size is unimportant, the old seagate cheetah 10k drives can be had for as low as $10 (9GB Refurb) or $35 (36GB Refurb).

I wonder how one will compare to the atlas II, or a few of them in raid 5.

Wish I could find a performance review that I could compare to something over at storagereview.com!

 

[SnoMunke]

I am setting up a storage array using a Adaptec 4805 SAS RAID controller, Hitachi 15K 36GB SAS HDD, and 7x Hitachi 250GB HDDs (RAID 5)...I will post some benchies when I get the chance...

 

[SGtheArtist]

I invested in a Seagate X15 18GB SCSI HDD with an Adaptec 19160 SCSI Controller. I invested $400 for these items back in 2002 and while the access time of the X15 is noticable & impressive IMHO it as not worth the cost associated with the benefits.

Unless you really need the access time or throughput benefits I would go with an IDE or SATA HDD & call it a day.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
How much active cooling we talking?

Assume that the data is worthless and size is unimportant, the old seagate cheetah 10k drives can be had for as low as $10 (9GB Refurb) or $35 (36GB Refurb).

I wonder how one will compare to the atlas II, or a few of them in raid 5.

Wish I could find a performance review that I could compare to something over at storagereview.com!

in my current case (a antec 835) i am just using the 80mm fan in the hdd cage with my 36GB scsi and 80GB pata, but even without the cooling the newer fujitsu i have is quite a bit cooler than the older atlas III or II ( i can't remember which one i had....).

i am moving back to my lanboy case soon and will be putting both hdds in the top 2 5.25 bays, then will be cutting the top of the case so i can mount a 80mm up there which will server me well for when i get 15krpm.

maybe take this as a idea of what you would need.

if you want i can post some pics of hdtach benches for my 2hdds...

those prices are nice though

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: SGtheArtist
I invested in a Seagate X15 18GB SCSI HDD with an Adaptec 19160 SCSI Controller. I invested $400 for these items back in 2002 and while the access time of the X15 is noticable & impressive IMHO it as not worth the cost associated with the benefits.

Unless you really need the access time or throughput benefits I would go with an IDE or SATA HDD & call it a day.

but for the prices he can get these at, why not get a 36GB? regardless the 10krpm hdd will have a lower seek time and you can actually feel it, evern if a current gen 7.2krpm has a higher str

 

[foodfightr]

Basically my question is, how does the old cheetah 10k (160) drive compare to the new scsi drives? If there is a huge difference, how will a raid 5 array of the old cheetah 10k (160) drives stack up against one of the new maxtor atlas II drives (proclaimed by storagereview.com as the fastest hard drive).

Both setups will cost roughly the same.

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/scsi/st136403lc.html

If someone owns one, I'd love to see you run some bechmarks that I could compare to storagereview. ( http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark/bench_sort.php )

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
Basically my question is, how does the old cheetah 10k (160) drive compare to the new scsi drives? If there is a huge difference, how will a raid 5 array of the old cheetah 10k (160) drives stack up against one of the new maxtor atlas II drives (proclaimed by storagereview.com as the fastest hard drive).

Both setups will cost roughly the same.


http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/scsi/st136403lc.html

the atlas II are not new.... as the atlas line is up to atlas V.

as far as 3x9 in raid 5 you will have quite a bit more heat to deal with and pesonally i would go the 1x36 vs the 3x9 as platter density should be higher (assuming that the 36GB has only 1 platter).

i am just speculating though.......maybe somebody can answer that has some raid 5 setups....

 

[foodfightr]

Well, even just 1:1 head on, I wonder how they stack up.

I'm talking about the atlas II, 15k.

 

[SGtheArtist]

Go with the single Atlas it will save complexity that is inherent with RAID5 🙂. Then again RAID5 will still function if a drive fails.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
Well, even just 1:1 head on, I wonder how they stack up.

I'm talking about the atlas II, 15k.

15k - go that route...how much are these??? please pm me....