HDD Upgrade Options and Questions

[booger007]

So Basically my current config is a Gigabyte ex58 UD4p, Core I7 920 (Stock Speeds), 12 Gigs GSkill DDR3 1333, Evga Superclocked GTX-570, Zalman 850 Watt PS, ASUS VE278Q. Current drives are as follows

1 WD 640G Black Boot Drive
1 WD Black 1TB data drive
1 Seagate 750G Data Drive

I just upgraded the ram from 6 to 12, the video card from a GTX260 core 216 and my display. i would like to get some more performance out of my Storage devices. I was thinking of the following options. And I am not quite ready to go to SSD as I just need to much space. My machine is a Photo processing/gaming/blu-ray encoding/home office/combo machine that has to be good at everything.LOL

1. Using another 640 WD Black(Already Have) and booting to a stripe set. (Cheapest Idea)
2. Buying a WD 600 Raptor for my boot drive

I do liike the simplicity of the single drive a lot, plus it frees up a HDD slot in my case.

What would the performance differences?

Also would the Raptor still be fast on my Sata II controller

I am also going to upgrade my data situation as i will keep the 1 TB Black byut will replace the seagate with either the WD Black 2TB or the samsung 2TB Spinrite F3

 

[WyomingKnott]

I would lean towards the Raptor. First of all, because that's what I did. Second, it's less vulnerable to bad things happening than a RAID0.

How much space do your OS and installed programs take up, if that's what's keeping you from using an SSD? It sounds like you are certainly willing to spend money on your system.

 

[booger007]

I agree on the vulnerability issue as that is why i am willing to spend the money if necessary.

Currently Have 200 Gigs free on my 640 and yes it is space, and the fact that if i went SSD I would have to get a nice one and a SATA 3 card.

If I could get 600 Gigs in SSD for close to 300.00 I would do it. lol

What did you upgrade from and what were your observations?

 

[WyomingKnott]

I upgraded first from a Seagate 7200.12 to a 150 GB Velociraptor under Windows XP. I did see a boost, escpecially in startup time, but the old system had been fairly snappy once it started.

Now that I'm playing with 7 I have an SSD, but I can't do a fair comparison. I haven't finished building out 7, so I'm comparing an XP with tons of stuff installed to a fairly lean 7.