Choosing hard drive setup

[Guest]

I am building a new computer, and i am having a hard time choosing what i want for hard drives. i initially wanted to go with a single raptor 150gb for the os and essential software with a 1tb storage drive, then i changed my mind to two Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 in RAID 0. Now i am beginning to feel like 1.5tb in raid 0 is not worth it due to possible drive failure. I'm just curious what everyone thinks would be the best setup for speed and total capacity. (the more the better)

Thanks,
and here are my specs,
q6700
evga 9800 gtx
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
evga 780i
CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB)
RAIDMAX Smilodon Extreme Black
XP Pro

thanks again and any other suggestions are welcome.
FYI this comp is going to be a school computer in my dorm room that will also be used for gaming.

 

[Wolfshadw]

I've always been a fan of the dual hard drive setup: 1 smallish drive (80-160GB) for the OS and Applications, 1 large hard drive (500 - 1000GB) for data.

For my HTPC, I'm looking at a similar setup with 1 smallish drive (current 120GB) for the OS and applications and a 4x750GB RAID5 (2.1 TB) setup for my media.

-Wolf sends

 

[pcgamer12]

one word: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
mind blowing speed, at an affordable price. plenty of storage. its rated over 90MB/sec read and write speeds

 

[geofelt]

For speed, look at the new WD 300gb velociraptor. When it starts to get full, just add a storage drive later.

 

[Andrius]

If budget is not a primary concern I'd go with something like Wolfshadw said.
1x or (2x RAID0) 74GB/150GB WD Raptor (system drive)
1xVelociraptor (depending on how much performance you want)

2x1TB drives (RAID1)
3x750GB/4x640GB (both setups cost around $400) drives (RAID5) or more if needed

 

[Guest]

thanks, after looking at what pcgamer12 said i saw that the Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB was cheaper on newegg per gb than the 750 caviar i was looking at.

What do you guys think about getting 3 Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GBs and put 2 in raid 0 for the os and progs while use the other for storage of essential files.

 

[bobbknight]

Get 2 of the smallest 32MB cache hard drives that you can find and do raid 0 for the os.

Then raid 1 for data and backup.

 

[Andrius]

@sept298901
Aside from the fact that there's no redundancy in case of drive failure it's a great setup. I've got 2 WD6400AAKS and they are great.