Hard Drive Reconfiguration

[Intelman07]

First of all, here is the list of drives I have.

150GB WD Raptor SATA
7200.7 200GB SATA
7200.9 250GB SATA
7200.10 250GB IDE (With an IDE > SATA Adapter)

I want to consolidate while maintaining a high level of performance. The 7200.10 has to go, the IDE > SATA adapter makes cable management a mess and doesn't fit into my p182 very well in the cage. I was origionally going to get another raptor and do raid 0, but it is so expensive, plus I found out that the single platter 250GB seagate 7200.10 is noticeably faster than the raptor. So I thought about getting one of those, but I'd be gaining no space. Now I'm set on getting 2 Western Digital SE16 500MB drives (or the RE Enterprise versions, I dunno really).

I have 4 SATA ports, I am using the drives I'm replacing for a Home Server build. I do a lot of gaming, have lots of music and digital pictures and a lot of home movies (have a baby sister that is 4 years old) that take up a lot of space. I like speed and lots of space, if I can find a happy medium that is what I want. Any thoughts problems emotions or suggestions anyone would like to share?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

ok so you're 250gb IDE 7200.10 is gone... how about keeping those three drives and using each like this:

150gb Raptor for all your OS, programs, Games (etc anything that runs a startup program)
250gb 7200.9 SATA: use it for your media storage like movies, music, videos etc
250gb 7200.7 SATA use as secondary storage, stuff u access less

if you're planning to buy a fourth drive i suggest another 7200.10 and do a Raid 1 setup since you seem to like seagates OR the new Samsung Spinpoints. they're very quiet and run cool

 

[Intelman07]

Hm, quiet and running cool is why I looked at the Western Digitals, I do like segates alright, but they've never been the fastest, or the quietest, but they do come with that 5 year warranty. Something about that just makes your data feel safe. I heard the Spinpoints are good, it'd just feel weird buying a samsung hard drive.