Hard Drive Question, Please Help

[HansGroenewold]

Hello,

Can someone tell me the difference between SATA and IDE hard drives, is the connection? Also, I know it's better to get the 10000 rpm one because it's faster, how about the cache? Is it better to get a 7200 rpm HD with a 16MB cache or a 10000 rpm HD with a 8MB cache? Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Hans Groenewold

 

[Rike]

You got it, it's the connection. And I believe you are talking about the new Seagates and the WD Raptors. The raptors are still faster for most desktop applications. Check the access times; that tells the story.

 

[HansGroenewold]

Hello,

I noticed the average seek times of the 10000 rpm drive is almost half the time of the 7200rpm about 8.9 ms to about 4.5 ms. I guess this would be a good drive to have for gaming. Also, I assume it's OK to have a second drive at 7200rpm. Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Hans

 

[Rike]

The most efficient thing to do in terms of money would be to get a 36Gig Raptor for your OS and whatever games you're running and then just get a ordinary 7200 RPM drive that's as big as you need for storage. Easy to set up, easy on the wallet.

 

[ssvegeta1010]

Get a raptor for OS and a larger drive for everything else

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Rike
The most efficient thing to do in terms of money would be to get a 36Gig Raptor for your OS and whatever games you're running and then just get a ordinary 7200 RPM drive that's as big as you need for storage. Easy to set up, easy on the wallet.

The first gen raptor was not very good compared to current 7200 RPM drives, just read Anandtech's Raptor vs All article. If you want the performance, you have to get the 2nd gen one, the 74.

 

[Rike]

Originally posted by: malak

Originally posted by: Rike
The most efficient thing to do in terms of money would be to get a 36Gig Raptor for your OS and whatever games you're running and then just get a ordinary 7200 RPM drive that's as big as you need for storage. Easy to set up, easy on the wallet.

The first gen raptor was not very good compared to current 7200 RPM drives, just read Anandtech's Raptor vs All article. If you want the performance, you have to get the 2nd gen one, the 74.

Quite true, but I was assuming he would new, therefore, the first gen problems would be a non-issue. Definitely something to watch if you buy used.

 

[deveraux]

Raptor's are great but if you see the reviews for the 16MB cache's, they're not too bad either. Still lose to raptor in terms of game loading and sequential search, but for about the same price with almost 4x the storage space, it's definitely worth considering IMHO. However, if you have the money and would like the speed, definitely go for raptor for OS + games (decrease game loading time) and another larger drive for storage.