RAID 0 Died on me - couple of questions

[sdrac]

Well, after 4 yrs (yes, thats how old my rig is) by RAID 0 Array finally failed.
It looks like one of the Raptor WD740GD's went on me.

So now I'm debating what to replace it with:
- another RAID0 with new Raptors (figure I should only use the remaining as a backup since its so old).
- RAID0 with some other 7200rpm drives
- No RAID0: go with a new Raptor for the OS and another 7200 for data.

Anybody have any thoughts on whats best and the most effective way to partition it up in general? (I had bookmarks to alot of info on this but its backed up and until I choose one and rebuild, I can't access the info!!).

The rig is old enough that the SATA ports are 150 only so I need drives that are backward compatible (I think most are but just in case).


thx,
Sdrac

 

[Zenthar]

Did you buy your Raptors with your system? If so they are covered by a 5 year warranty, you could just RMA the one that failed (I think for RAID arrays, you can even send both and let them figure-out which one failed).

 

[sdrac]

Zenthar -
I built the system - bought the components myself - but what you say is probably true. I will definetly look into RMA'ing the drive(s). I was still thinking of getting some new drives - didn't want to wait for one, and figured I could keep the RMA'd units as spares (or switch later if I feel the new drives aren't giving good performance).
I remember reading that some of the newer 7200 rpm drives were nearly as fast as the raptors. Looking at the HD chart on Tom's that seems to be pretty much true - but I'm wondering if anyone has real world experience with both the raptors and some of the newer 7200's?
Also wondering about the optimal way to partition, etc. - again, i had read some articles in the past that I had bookmarked but until I can do a restore I can't access them (got to change my backup strategy I guess)...

 

[Zenthar]

Newer drives are much better than the Raptor for massive file transfer, but, but one thing remains: they are "only" 7200RPM drives. That means they have don't perform as well for random reads on disk and for OS, specially swap files, it might be of more consequence; if you look at Tom's benchmarks, you will see that raptors still lead in workstation I/O and XP boot.

Given that, would I invest in a Raptor now ... no. But having one I wouldn't replace it (I actually have an old 5 years old 36GB here, but wouldn't replace unless it fails).