Buying 2 new drives for RAID 0 - advice?

[atomicvai]

I have some money to burn and want to replace my current drives in my main system. I don't need large capacity, I just want speed. Money is not making this decision for me. Which is going to give me the fastest performance. Whatever I go with will be in RAID 0 config.

1. 2 x SEAGATE 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 SATA II w/ 16MB Cache
2. 2 x Western Digital 640GB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA II w/ 32MB Cache
3. 2 x Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA II w/ 16MB Cache

I get conflicting info when I try to find some solid reviews etc... so any advice/suggestions is welcomed.

 

[jitpublisher]

The Velociraptor's. 10,000rpm, sustained throughput may not be much better/on par with the other drives, but the their seek times are exceptional. You'll notice this more in everyday use than than anything else.

 

[maximiza]

I have heard raid is 50% the controller and 50% the drives. What raid controller are you using? For the drives I would go option 2, velociraptors are expensive.

 

[RiotSniperX]

I'd go for option 2, much better price for performance.

 

[atomicvai]

Basically if someone handed you 2 drives, which 2... don't factor price in. Regarding the controller its the P6T onboard.

 

[wimcle]

option #2

or for the price of the 2x raptors, get 4x #2

 

[atomicvai]

Still haven't seen anything to sway me off the raptors... grabbing them in the next hour unless someone has a better suggestion for performance... not price/performance.

 

[tecmo34]

Atomicvai... I would go for the Vraptors. I have one in my system and it is great. Running it in RAID0 will be even faster. I asked a similar question to RAID0 with two WD hard drives or one Vraptor and the overwelming feedback was go with the one Vraptor due to the risk of losing data with a RAID0.

If price isn't an option, I would go with option #3 with a WD 1TB Black in RAID1 for backup & security. Whatever you do just stay away from Seagate at this time. They are having way too much drive freezing issues with their hard drives.

 

[boulard83]

#2

any GOOD 7200RPM 32mb cache HDD is really fast. WD 640 is really nice.

10k are useless. My opinion.

 

[atomicvai]

I lied, I didnt have time to hit the store today on my way home. So still open to thoughts.

What are you basing 10k being useless? Just want more info.

As for data, all my important data is stored on an external mirrored drive, so not concerned about an internal data drive.

I wish I could find some direct benches between the raptors and the 640 blacks in Raid 0.

 

[MRFS]

> What are you basing 10k being useless?

The VRs don't use perpendicular magnetic recording (yet).

Get 2 x RE3 WD 750GB HDDs for a smoking fast RAID 0:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=504&language=en


If 1 drive in a 2-drive RAID 0 fails, you lose all the data.
If 1 drive NOT in a RAID array fails, you lose all the data.

Same difference!


MRFS

 

[MRFS]

p.s. and, format your RAID 0 array with one small partition (first drive letter)
and one or more larger partitions (second+ drive letters). This setup will
exploit the benefits of "short strokes" of the read/write heads,
resulting in shorter access times when accessing the first drive letter.


GOOD LUCK!



MRFS

 

[atomicvai]

Thanks for more info guys. I do already partition my current raid 0 setup that way, so I should be good there.... and completely don't care about data loss on the raid drives if something dies.

I thought the 750's weren't as fast as the 640's? The other side of this is I really only need a total size of maybe 200gb for my OS and software I run, so bigger for me is almost a hindrance... I think this is why I keep leaning towards the Raports.... I just won't use 1TB of space since all my data is stored externally.

 

[boulard83]

2x 7200rpm 32mb cache are cheaper VS a single 10ks.

Your choice

NEWEGG.COM :

WD640gb 7200rpm 32mb 79.99$
WD500gb 7200rpm 32mb 74.99$

WD150gb 10000rpm 16mb 179.99$
WD300gb 10000rpm 16mb 229.99$

Fujitsu 147gb 15000rpm 16mb 189.99$
Fujitsu 300gb 15000rpm 16mb 339.99$

My choice ..... RAID 0 WD500 or 640. if you have the MONEY .. Raid 0 10k ...

 

[atomicvai]

Yep, as I said, it's not about price.... so looks like I'm still leaning towards the raptors.

 

[boulard83]

SSD ? if money isnt an issue ... RAID-0 64gb SSD

 

[boulard83]

SRY dbl post ...

G.SKILL FM-25S2S-64GB 139.99$
SUPER TALENT FTM64GL25H 64GB 140$
OCZ Solid Series OCZSSD2-1SLD 60GB 140$

 

[atomicvai]

I would agree on the SSD, but to get quality ones would put it beyond what I want to spend... otherwise, yeah.

 

[MRFS]

FYI: Western Digital recommend their "RE" HDDs with
time-limited error recovery ("TLER"): HDDs without
that feature can cause some RAID controllers to "time-out"
particularly if the RAID array has little empty space.

"RE" = RAID Edition


Contact WD's Tech Support for further details:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/productcatalog.asp?language=en


MRFS

 

[atomicvai]

Aware of the RE's, but not in carried at the place I typically go, so not something I can get tomorrow... I am not patient. Think I've decided on 3x150gb raptors.

 

[MRFS]

You realize there are 150GB "Raptors" and 150GB "VelociRaptors" ("VR").

Former's interface is 150MB/second
(not being sold at Newegg any longer)

Here's the 74GB version of that Raptor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033


VR's interface is 300MB/second:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296


Latter 10,000 rpm VR has received excellent reviews.


GOOD LUCK!!


MRFS

 

[boulard83]

MRFS thats the drive ive listed

Ive never read about the 15ks, anything to say about it MRFS ?

 

[atomicvai]

when I say raptors, I am refering to the VR's, as I listed in my initial post.

 

[MRFS]

Copy that: I'm in the habit of using the term "Raptor"
to refer to the older versions of WD's 10,000 rpm SATA HDD,
and I've been using the term "VelociRaptor" abbreviated "VR"
to refer to the newest version of WD's 10,000 rpm SATA HDD.

Old habits die hard, I guess.


> Ive never read about the 15ks, anything to say about it MRFS ?

If you're considering 15,000 rpm HDDs, from my reading only
and not from direct experience, I would balance the storage
subsystem with full-blown SAS functionality i.e. wire the drives
to a SAS-capable RAID controller with hardware parity.

You may as well, because those are enterprise-class drives
that smoke tires e.g. see Seagate's 2 lines here
(Savvio and Cheetah):

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/servers/savvio/
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/servers/cheetah/


I also read somewhere -- recently -- that Seagate have
pre-announced 15,000 rpm SAS drives with a SATA/6G
interface. That series is worth looking into, for the near future.

Aha, here it is:

http://www.storagereview.com/newest_cheetahs

Cheetah ® 15K.7 Drive Specifications

* Capacity 600, 450, 300GB
* Interface 6Gb/s SAS-2.0, 4Gb/s FC
* Spindle Speed 15,000 RPM
* Seek Time 3.4 ms
* Reliability 0.55% AFR / 1.6M hours MTBF
* Cache 16MB
* Form factor 3.5-inch


SATA/6G is being discussed on the Internet now.

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=580


MRFS

 

[MRFS]

p.s. for rotating disks with outstanding performance,
a 15,000 rpm SAS drive with perpendicular magnetic
recording ("PMR") is about THE BEST you can buy,
presently. These drives are now moving raw binary digits
under the read/write heads at about 150MB/second!

Your mileage may vary.


MRFS