Which hard drive is better?

[pkilway01]

Western Digital Caviar 320GB SATA WD3200AAJS vs. 2 Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB SATA WD4000AAKS

The 320GB is the 8mb cache version, and the 400GB is the 16mb cache version.

I'm looking to buy two to create a RAID 0. Two of the 400GB'ers would run me a little more money (but not enough to kill the deal).

I'm just asking as many seem to really like the 320GB'ers, and I haven't heard much at all about the 400GB'ers (in fact I think it's a pretty odd size)

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: pkilway01
Western Digital Caviar 320GB SATA WD3200AAJS vs. 2 Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB SATA WD4000AAKS

The 320GB is the 8mb cache version, and the 400GB is the 16mb cache version.

I'm looking to buy two to create a RAID 0. Two of the 400GB'ers would run me a little more money (but not enough to kill the deal).

I'm just asking as many seem to really like the 320GB'ers, and I haven't heard much at all about the 400GB'ers (in fact I think it's a pretty odd size)

People like the 320 GB drives because they're probably single platter. 400 GB drives sound like they're two 200 GB platters or even 4 100 GB platters. I think.

 

[taltamir]

from looking at newegg, i see that 40$ buys you are 40GB drive... and as little as 70$ buys you a 500GB drive... where do yours fall in terms of price?

The 320 might be 2x160GB platters... or they might be the new 1x320GB platter. The latter is a nice modern fast and low power drive. Although not as good as the 640GB 2x320GB model (WD says they optimized the firmware for different usage).

Whatever you do, do not store anything of value on a RAID0 array without backing it up somewhere (backup means a copy, not moving it to external drive!) and also, be aware that you might have driver issues and other hardships setting up a RAID0 OS drive. If you can deal with it though, you can reap the benefits. (i never found it worthwhile to bother with).

 

[pkilway01]

Originally posted by: taltamir
from looking at newegg, i see that 40$ buys you are 40GB drive... and as little as 70$ buys you a 500GB drive... where do yours fall in terms of price?

The 320 might be 2x160GB platters... or they might be the new 1x320GB platter. The latter is a nice modern fast and low power drive. Although not as good as the 640GB 2x320GB model (WD says they optimized the firmware for different usage).

Whatever you do, do not store anything of value on a RAID0 array without backing it up somewhere (backup means a copy, not moving it to external drive!) and also, be aware that you might have driver issues and other hardships setting up a RAID0 OS drive. If you can deal with it though, you can reap the benefits. (i never found it worthwhile to bother with).

I can get 2 x 400Gb for around $90 plus shipping, and I can get 2 x 320Gb for around $75 plus shipping.

I understand the pitfalls of RAID 0, I've been using 2 x 80Gb hd's for the last 4 years in RAID 0. I also have a 640Gb hd that I use as a backup, and then have an external hd that I use to backup the backup.