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For HDD - How do you define "Storage"?

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How do you define "storage" for hard drives?

Total: 5 votes

  • Backing up files periodically or on a schedule
  • 0 %
  • Saving files for everyday operations (artwork, documents, etc)
  • 40 %
  • Other
  • 60 %

I'm trying to figure out what drive to buy, and I've realized, after some research, that I may be using "Storage" in a different way than everyone else--at least when it comes to evaluating what drive to buy.

So, the first question--the poll--is, how do you define "storage" when it comes to hard drives?

I have an OS drive (C: ) for boot and running apps, then a "storage" drive(s) (D: ) in RAID 1 for my working files. This is where I'm wondering if I'm defining storage differently than others.

When I'm running an application, it's loading from the C: drive--say Adobe Illustrator. When I'm saving a file, I'm saving it to my RAID storage setup--my D: drive. Sometimes these files are large, so I'm interested in speed, but to what point?

I store everything on my D: drive--word documents, bills, excel spreadsheets, pics, music, videos, artwork files (Illustrator and Photoshop), custom development files (web, desktop, mobile), eBooks, etc. Everything!

My next question--will 5400 vs. 7200 vs. IntelliSeek (WD Caviar Green drive) make much or any bit of a difference for me, considering the way I use the storage drive?


My RAID 1 configuration has been very disappointing, because it has bogged down my system in various ways. I'll spare the details (that's in another thread). So, I'm going to move away from that, and I'm guessing just about anything would be faster, but right now I have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s.

What would you recommend?

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thephatp said:
When I'm running an application, it's loading from the C: drive--say Adobe Illustrator. When I'm saving a file, I'm saving it to my RAID storage setup--my D: drive. Sometimes these files are large, so I'm interested in speed, but to what point?

I store everything on my D: drive--word documents, bills, excel spreadsheets, pics, music, videos, artwork files (Illustrator and Photoshop), custom development files (web, desktop, mobile), eBooks, etc. Everything!


I have a similar "mindset" as yours when it comes to my setup.

I have 2 60GB SSDs in RAID-0 for my O/S drive (C: ) for boot and running apps.
My D: drive is 2 1TB HDDs in RAID-0 which I store everything.
My E: drive is a 2TB HDD which I use to backup my D: drive.


[b said:
My next question--will 5400 vs. 7200 vs. IntelliSeek (WD Caviar Green drive) make much or any bit of a difference for me, considering the way I use the storage drive?]My next question--will 5400 vs. 7200 vs. IntelliSeek (WD Caviar Green drive) make much or any bit of a difference for me, considering the way I use the storage drive?


I would go for the 7200rpm drive, but it might not make much of a difference.

Two of my systems have a WD Black for boot drives and WD Greens for storage (4.6 TB and 2.6 TB).

The Greens are a little slower, especially because they spin down after being idle for a while.
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Do you have 2 different RAID controllers on your MB? Some MB's have 2 different controllers onboard using different SATA ports. If you were to split the drives between 2 controllers you could significantly speed up the writing to the drives.

jsc said:
Two of my systems have a WD Black for boot drives and WD Greens for storage (4.6 TB and 2.6 TB).

The Greens are a little slower, especially because they spin down after being idle for a while.


I've been so frustrated with the slowness of the RAID setup, that I'm worried I'll be frustrated with the speed of anything other than a performance drive. For example, power settings are for computer to never sleep, but when I way a while, like when the monitor turns off, it takes at least 20 seconds after accessing a file on the RAID drive to get a response from it.

That said, I don't want something too noisy. I have a pretty quiet rig right now.

runswindows95 said:
To me, a storage drive is any hard drive that has no OS or program files on it. Far as 5400 versus 7200, I would suggest a 7200 for it will help with larger files, such as Adobe.


What is considered "larger files"? My Illustrator and Photoshop files range from 2MB to about 100MB max.

DelroyMonjo said:
Do you have 2 different RAID controllers on your MB? Some MB's have 2 different controllers onboard using different SATA ports. If you were to split the drives between 2 controllers you could significantly speed up the writing to the drives.


I'm not sure. I have the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Rev 1.0. Can you explain more on how I would do this?

Thanks, DelroyMonjo. I'll take a look.

I decided to order a WD Caviar Green to try it out. I figured I still have one good Seagate 7200 drive that I can compare reads and writes against to see if there is much of a noticeable difference. I also happened to slip in an SDD for my OS drive, too. Not needed, but obviously, I'm pumped about it!

I'll report back what I experience. If any of you know of any good software you'd recommend for benchmarking the drives, let me know.
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