Two 80GB vs One 160BB

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Guest

Guest
For the same money I could buy two 80GB 5,400 drives or one 160GB 5,400. Providing I can free up the IDE channels, I understand I could use Win2000 to Stripe the two 80's. Would this give me superior performance? Are there any down sides? Or for a little more I could get a promise RAID card, would this be any better?
What are the pros and cons?
Thanks in advance
Adamb
 

FatBurger

Illustrious
<b>160GB</b>
Pros:
Single drive, easy to manage

Cons:
If it dies, it dies
5,400RPM isn't very fast

<b>2x 80GB</b>
Pros:
Can put in RAID to be faster/more data security
If one dies, you still have the other

Cons:
Two drives, harder to manage

<b>Software RAID</b>
Pros:
No other hardware to buy

Cons:
Cannot install Windows on the RAID, so you need a third drive

<b>Hardware RAID</b>
Pros:
Can install Windows on the RAID, so you don't need a third drive

Cons:
Need to buy the controller

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G

Guest

Guest
Fatburger
Thanks for the info.
Would a software RAID be as quick as a hardware solution?
Would the hardware solution still take up 2 channels?
 

FatBurger

Illustrious
Software and hardware has similar performance. Read about it <A HREF="http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/01q3/010906/index.html" target="_new">here</A>

Both solutions would take up 1 or 2 channels (depending on how you set it up), but with hardware RAID it would be on the RAID controller.

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