RAPTOR 10,000 RPM ---or--- RAID 0 (80GB 7200 RPM + 80GB 7200 RPM)

[Trizik]

would i be better off with a single RAPTOR 74GB 10,000 RPM drive or a RAID 0 setup using two 80GB 7200 RPM drives?

Raptor 74GB 10,000 RPM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160

80GB 7200 RPM:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822135106

 

[Bucks]

the latter

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Raid 0. Raptorsmight be a bit loud and might fail on ya sometime. Besides you get twice as much space with Raid 0

 

[cecco]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Raid 0. Raptorsmight be a bit loud and might fail on ya sometime. Besides you get twice as much space with Raid 0

How is it more likely to fail?

 

[fstime]

Originally posted by: cecco

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Raid 0. Raptorsmight be a bit loud and might fail on ya sometime. Besides you get twice as much space with Raid 0

How is it more likely to fail?

I dont believe the raptor has a high fail rate.

Either way, they have a 5 yr warrenty, I think.

I'd take the raptor, raid 0 offers zero performace incress.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

I take back my comment.

 

[SNM]

Originally posted by: BouZouki

Originally posted by: cecco

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Raid 0. Raptorsmight be a bit loud and might fail on ya sometime. Besides you get twice as much space with Raid 0

How is it more likely to fail?

I dont believe the raptor has a high fail rate.

Either way, they have a 5 yr warrenty, I think.

I'd take the raptor, raid 0 offers zero performace incress.

Yes, that 0 increase in performance is why Sandra measures 4xRaptors as 50MB/s faster than 2xRaptors, and why my 2x7200.7 drives have transfer rates equivalent to a Raptor.


I'd get the 2x80 gig drives. They'll net you more storage space, roughly the same performance, cost less, and be quieter.

 

[KoolDrew]

The single Raptor would likely perform better, but the second option would give you more space. It's your decision.

Yes, that 0 increase in performance is why Sandra measures 4xRaptors as 50MB/s faster than 2xRaptors, and why my 2x7200.7 drives have transfer rates equivalent to a Raptor.

Ya, because synthetic benchmarks mean so much :roll:

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you click the Storage tab at the top of the page and go back a while there is an article "Raptors in RAID" that covers this with real-world benchmarks.

Differences in a HD bench program don't tell you what actual difference you'll see loading game levels or other real tasks.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
Ya, because synthetic benchmarks mean so much :roll:

Agreed. I'd say get the Raptor if you're really looking for speed. RAID 0 gives you the luxury.. of.. loading maps faster. And uh.. um.. starting up windows 2 seconds faster.. while giving you the insecurity of knowing that if one drive were to fail, you'd lose all your data.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Are these going to be the only drives in your system? If so, then RAID 0, for the extra space.
Tas.

 

[Trizik]

I really don't care much about the extra 6 gigs of space the two 7200 raided drives would give me. What I am concerned about is speed.

Noise doesn't bother me. I am on a budget though, and I could save a good $70 going with the RAID 0 setup.

Are there any downfalls to going with the RAID 0 setup? More power usage, etc.?

EDIT: I have an external drive I use for storage. I should also mention that I play CS: Source and Battlefield 2 a lot. Quick map loads and fast Windows booting are important to me.

 

[KoolDrew]

I really don't care much about the extra 6 gigs of space the two 7200 raided drives would give me. What I am concerned about is speed.

2*80=160...

Are there any downfalls to going with the RAID 0 setup?

Reliability. I would say just get a Raptor. It would perform better.

 

[Trizik]

Oh, that's right. For some reason I was thinking RAID 0 could only use the capacity of one drive, but I was thinking of RAID 1.

Thanks.

 

[fierydemise]

RAID 0 is risky because if you lose 1 drive you lose it all, and RAID offers very little performance benefit. If you want slightly faster startup times then get the Raptor but you don't get alot of bang for your buck, I say take the second option not in RAID or one big drive

 

[The Pentium Guy]

I think we need a poll!

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
I think we need a poll!

:thumbsup:

 

[rchiu]

Raptor is going to give you better seek/access time. Meaning it will find your data faster. Raid 0 may give you better trasfer rate, meaning once the computer finds the data, it will move more in shorter amount of time.

So depending on what you are dealing with, if you load/write lots of big files, then raid 0 may give you better performance. But for day to day tasks, raptor will give you better performance.

IMHO, raid 0 is overrated and will have higher failure rate. Go to www.storagereview.com and you will see that must people prefer single fast HDD like raptor or SCSI instead of raid 0.

 

[smithdj]

There is an extensive article about this right here on this site under storage. If I am not mistaken it ends with "Raid 0 has no useful purpose in desktop applications" or something along those lines. Get the Raptor

 

[Trizik]

I just read the article that DaveSimmons recommended (Raptors in RAID: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101) and I must say I am losing my attraction to the Raptor and RAID 0 altogether. I'm almost considering just getting one 7200 drive and being done with it, possibly getting two for a RAID 1 setup.

Question: If I do a RAID 1 setup, can I later switch to RAID 0?

 

[smithdj]

Originally posted by: Trizik
I just read the article that DaveSimmons recommended (Raptors in RAID: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101) and I must say I am losing my attraction to the Raptor and RAID 0 altogether. I'm almost considering just getting one 7200 drive and being done with it, possibly getting two for a RAID 1 setup.

Question: If I do a RAID 1 setup, can I later switch to RAID 0?

Yes you can, I think you will have to start all over with clean drives though (reinstall windows)

 

[Trizik]

Thanks all.

 

[MustISO]

I love my raptor, maybe my machine is fast already but Windows XP and games load pretty damn fast.

 

[edmundoab]

do you want performance or storage/backup ?

 

[SVT Cobra]

raptor no question

RAID 0 offers ZERO and NO performance in the real world...

The raptor sucks some juice but nothing much more than a regular HD would

Also to answer your other question, they are not that loud at all, they just have a more distinctive sound