Best 1Tb 6.0 HDD for RAID 0

[pjmoses]

Hello Everyone, I have been upgrading my new build since day one and am going with the Vertex 3 120Gb for my OS and a couple games. My question is that I already have a Toshiba 2Tb 6.0 HDD and would like to get rid of my WD 500Gb 3.0 and get all my drives to 6.0. What brand of HDD is best in RAID 0 for 2 1TB HDD's? I will be using my Toshiba as the backup drive for the whole system. I need some speed for data to keep up with the Vertex 3 as close as possible. And 2 HDD's in RAID 0 is plenty, I think. Should I even consider the 10,000rpm drives? Or stick with the 7200rpm ones? Just want everything at 6.0GB. All my music, photos, basic programs and video will be on the RAID setup. I have had good luck with WD in the past, but the newer 6.0 HDD's are different than the 3.0's I have used in the past. What are your opinions?

 

[Ubrales]

The 7200 RPM drives are proven drives, and they are less expensive.

This one will do the job for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
Also, it has 64 MB cache.

However, I personally prefer RAID 1 over RAID 0 - RAID 1 has fault tolerance, not RAID 0. (Of course two 1 TB HDDs in RAID 1 will give you a total of 1 TB, not 2 TBs)

 

[pjmoses]

I am looking for a speed boost in using the RAID is why I am trying 0.

 

[Ubrales]

I am looking for a speed boost in using the RAID is why I am trying 0.

That's fine, as long as you are aware of the downsides of RAID 0 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels

 

[pjmoses]

I have a Toshiba 2Tb 6.0 weekly backup to save ALL data on. It will have a two week save as in write over every 2 weeks one backup then the other. That way I can always go back two weeks incase of a virus slips by one week. That should keep the number of drives to a maxium of 5, with 2 being SSD's in RAID 0 and 2 1Tb in RAID 0. That is a plan to last for 3 years, which by then it will be time for a whole new build. I never let a drive go past 50% capacity anyhow. Just a safety and speed control measure I picked up. I read all of that RAID report. Thanks! I know more about RAID than I knew was to learn. lol

 

[Ubrales]

I have a Toshiba 2Tb 6.0 weekly backup to save ALL data on. It will have a two week save as in write over every 2 weeks one backup then the other. That way I can always go back two weeks incase of a virus slips by one week. That should keep the number of drives to a maxium of 5, with 2 being SSD's in RAID 0 and 2 1Tb in RAID 0. That is a plan to last for 3 years, which by then it will be time for a whole new build. I never let a drive go past 50% capacity anyhow. Just a safety and speed control measure I picked up. I read all of that RAID report. Thanks! I know more about RAID than I knew was to learn. lol

Good conservative and safe practices! I like the part about not filling up a drive to max capacity. Personally, I try not to exceed the 70% drive capacity limit. This helps in defrag (a drive filled to capacity cannot be defragged).

You will do fine!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I just built a system with a Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB and a Vertex 3. Haven't had a chance to do much testing (my son's box .... built for his B'day) but what i was able to get done is this:

Vertex 3 boot to windows: 15.6 seconds
Barracuda XT boot to windows: 21.2 seconds.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=708&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=10

In the age of solid state drives, it's hard to find the good in mechanical storage. Fortunately, the Seagate Barracuda XT series has enough perk going for it to still earn high marks from us .... For a hard drive, the Barracuda XT series offers the best performance available from a 7200 RPM mechanical storage device. It's not quite as fast as the Seagate Momentus-XT Solid State Hybrid Drive, but then again that product series doesn't offer storage capacities beyond 500GB.

But smallest size is 2TB

 

[pjmoses]

Will RAID 1 fetch files faster than RAID 0?

 

[Ubrales]

Will RAID 1 fetch files faster than RAID 0?

You should take all aspects into consideration. This will help explain better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID