raid 0 help?

[dotti]

i just recently build a new system

and i have the seagate 250gb (perpen. series)

and i m kinda lost what i should do...

i was thinking of getting 2 80gb harddrive and raid them (raid 0), and use the 250gb harddrive for storage. Of course, I will be installing my os on the 2 harddrive thats in raid for better performance.

can anyone recommend me a 80gb haddrive or does anyone have a better idea?

first of all, i want to run two drives : 1 for os and 1 for main storage. Since I already have the 250gb seagates i want to use them, but I don't know what to do

help out a confused fellow here.

thanks

 

[PCcashCow]

Any SATA 150 drive with your size requirements will work fine. You could also get a single Raptor, or just go wich whats cheap.

 

[kamiri]

I am a little confused. First you said you have a 250gb then later you said you already have the 250gb seagates. So do you have 1 or 2? If you have 2, why not set them up as a raid 0 and partition it so that you have ~80gb C drive and ~420gb D drive?

If you only have 1 250gb, you could buy another for about the same price as 2 80gb drives and do the same. If you insist on having a seperate physical drive for storage then I would suggest buying 2 80gb drives, setting them up in raid 0 for your main and using the 250 for storage. I dont really see an advantage with doing it that way, but the difference would be losing about 90gb storage space with the 80s.

 

[dotti]

i have the 250gb segates.

and i was wondering if i should get 2 80gb harddrives and raid them for my os and i will be using my 250gb seagates for storage.

or like what "kamiri" said, I could possibily get another 250gb seagates and raid them, but that means if 1 harddrive dies then all my data is gone. :?

 

[PCcashCow]

Well, if one drive dies Raid 0 or straight disk, your toast. Raid 1 and up gives you some better redundancy, but go with the pair of 80s in raid 0. Back up your data to the 250 periodically.

 

[kamiri]

Well, if one drive dies Raid 0 or straight disk, your toast. Raid 1 and up gives you some better redundancy, but go with the pair of 80s in raid 0. Back up your data to the 250 periodically.

This would be the advantage that I didn't see lol. Backing up data is never really a concern for me but I could see how efficient backups would be a greater benefit than having an extra 90 gigs of storage for most people. I only use my system for gaming and normally wipe/reload every 3-6 months. I have two 80 gig drives in raid 0 and partitioned so I can throw any files I want to keep on my D drive and easily reinstall the C drive if I desire. If I have anything that I really need backed up then I throw it on 1 of the other PCs.

So I guess the real answer to your question depends on what your pc is used for and if you have another pc that could be used for backing up the more important files. In my experience you can't really go wrong no matter what you do. If you make a choice and decide later that you wish you had done it the other way, then its really no big deal. You'll know for sure how you want it next time or you'll switch it to how you want it now.

 

[rantsky]

My suggestion - get the two 80GB and RAID0 them. Put the OS and temporary files on this drive. Use the 250GB for storage and backup -- anything you care for on the RAID0 should be backed up to the 250.

Don't think you should go for a Raptor. From my experience, in real life 7200 RAID0 is quicker than a 10K Raptor. Also, Raptors are very noisy (much more than 7200 RAID0) and cost a lot. Don't have any special tips about the brand - I trust WD but I guess Seagate, Hitachi etc are just as good.

BTW 160GB is not much more expensive today, you might want to consider a pair instead. In the long run the 160 should have a much longer lifespan I would think...

Cheers

 

[dotti]

thanks rantsky,

yeah, i read lot of reviews and i think it's pointless of getting a raptor especially in my case(just my thoughts).

now i have to decide how much storage i need.