Raid questions

Heya,

1 - A single 10krpm raptor is faster in general. Nothing comes close to it for the speed for a single drive in basically every aspect. However, two 7200RPM drives in RAID 0 perform better than a single Raptor 10k does. The only thing the Raptor is better at is access time. The RAID actually pushes data faster. There was a comparison review done here at Tom's Hardware I think, that was RAID vs. Raptor and the RAID simply outperformed it for the cost. The limitation of the Raptor is that it's really expensive for a small storage space. You just get more speed. RAID gives you more speed with a much larger storage capacity, making it more attractive unless you simply want to only ever use a single drive. So it's up to you. The Raptor will require specific hardware. The RAID0 with 7200rpm only needs a RAID controller which can be part of the mother board and/or an additional card. So it depends on your needs. Want a single drive that is as fast as you can get with low storage and a high price? That's the Raptor. Want high performance and high storage for the same cost? Go RAID 0 with 7200 rpm drives. Want both max performance and huge storage? RAID0 with Raptors (lol). If you're willing to spend a LOT of money and want pure speed, the 10k rpm drives in a RAID0 setup are simply unmatched--as fast as it gets, but again, very very pricey.

2 - Similar load times, anywhere from 23 to 35 seconds, but this also depends on your CPU.

3 - Load time depends on what you're loading. RAID is much faster when it's picking up huge files. If the cluster size is set very small, it's fast with small files too. The only thing that is slower on RAID is access time, but we're talking like half a millisecond, and you will not notice that (this is more for people who only care what the number shows on a benchmark). You will have faster load times on many applications simply because you're able to build your page/cache faster and retrieve files faster. It's not a very noticable amount though. Again, depends what you're loading. Be specific.

Personally I would pass on the Raptor. It's expensive and fast, but low storage. I prefer RAID because it's actually faster and I get way more storage. Plus, RAID only gets faster with each pair of drives I add to the array, and I can get parity with RAID5 with just 3 drives, being faster than a RAPTOR and have partiy/redundency and the 3 drives will have more storage than the Raptor, and cost the same if not less, and yet still have better performance. Raptor is just fancy new tech. Use a Raptor if you want the highest access time, but don't want the fastest actual transfer speeds (RAID0 beats the Raptor in that big time). 10k rpm drives on RAID0 will be faster than everything else, period. It's noticably faster than a normal drive. However, it's extremely costly. I would recommend RAID0 7200 rpm drives. They're fast and affordable. 10k RAID is for enthusiasts and servers.

Very best,

I have a further question. I am looking to run a Raid 0 on my main OS/Apps drive(2 velociraptors). IN addition I have 5 1TB drives which I have earmarked to house my MediaData. This consist of Data, Movies, Music, and large video files. I was intending to run these in a raid 5 format.

My questions actually is about the controller part of the issue. I do not have raid hardward support on my mobo but I have the the space for the raid controllers. I am running Vista 64 Ultimate.

What setup would you recommend for me? Software solution for Raid 0 and a PCIe controller for the raid 5? Seperate controllers for each setup? etc.....hope this is clear enought to warrant an answer...

Thanks-