Storage questions

[stncttr908]

Alright, with my new setup, I'm currently looking to purchase 2 80GB WD SE drives, 2 Galaxy Tech SATA adapters, and use my 30GB Maxtor as a backup drive since the 2 WD will be run in RAID-0. However, I'd like some opinions on this. Does anyone use SATA adapters, and how reliable are they? Also, do you have any idea about the kinds of performace increases I could see using the SATA adapters in RAID-0? Or would I just be better off getting 2 Raptors for 10k rpm RAID-0? I'm sure that would scream, but until they release higher capacity versions, it's really not practical. So, what would be the best setup as far as cost/storage/speed goes?

Also, I cannot use these drives in an IDE RAID-0, since I plan on purchasing an NF7-S which doesn't have IDE RAID onboard.

 

[WarmAndSCSI]

The performance difference between ATA-133 and SATA is not noticeable. I don't even think there's much difference between running a good, fast HDD at ATA/66 and ATA/133. Hard drives can only be so fast. The internal transfer rate and cache size of the drives is what makes the big difference. And the SATA adapters will not make the drivers faster - they are still running off of the 133 MBps of the drive's external transfer interface.

 

[dakels]

Raptors are much faster then normal 7200rpm SATA or PATA. That because they are 10k rpm. The SATA doesn't make it faster, the fact that it spins faster then any other PATA or SATA drives is what makes it faster. Thats why SCSI is so fast. Those drives are 10k - 15k rpm.

The SATA adapters are a waste of money IMO. They dont do anything major for your performance. Its nice to use SATA cables for the size and thinness, but you wont see a speed boost. SATA just gives you a better maximum bandwidth, a bandwitch of 150MB/sec which you will never normally see anyways even in RAID 0. Most 7200 rpm HD's, PATA or SATA dont go over 40-50MB/sec and the raptors I think may hit about 60-70MB/sec at best.

This all depends on what you want to spend. If you need space but want speed and can afford it, get 2 Raptors then RAID 0 them. Use them as your main bootup and fast partition drives. Then get 1 or more PATA 7200 rpm drives for the extra storage that is not speed critical like the OS partition or swap/scratch partitions.

If you want to save money just get 2 PATA 7200rpm drives (Check the hot deals forum).

Or you can get just one Raptor as a boot up drive and a PATA drive for storage. The raptor will be much faster then a 7200 rpm drive. You add more later for RAID.

36gig Raptors OEM are about $135
80 gig 7200rpm PATA drives are like $100 and as low as $40-60 with a AT hot deal with some coupons and rebates. Sometimes there are hot deals where you can get even a 120-160 gig for well under $100. You wont see Raptor deals like that and other 7200 SATA drives which aren't much if any faster then normal PATA 7200rpm.

edit: my spelling sux