SSD vs HDD 6gbs vs VelociRaptor

[creyes3]

Ok I need some help to decide to start my build with hardrive
This is so far what I have

CPU (In-store Pickup): Intel i7 930 2.8GHz
MB: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
RAM: Gold XTC 6GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL8 Memory Kit
Video: Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Graphics Card
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V [newegg.com]V2.2


Ok here goes the question

a-Should I go with
2 Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s or
1 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s with one Caviar Black or
1 VelociRaptor WD3000GLFSRTL 300GB 10,000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
(I will be running most of the times photoshop some video editing software with HD videos and now and then Starcraft 2 Game
Which hard drive will have better performance ?
Is there going to be a big difference in performance between the SSD sata 6gbs and the Caviar Black HDD sata 6gbs?)

Thanks in advance

 

[RetiredChief]

For a starter, Sata 6 HHD are no big increase, more a marketing hype. It will only help in burst.

My choice would be for the SSD - operating system and programs. One HDD. When you have the money either add a 2nd SSD as a scratch disk, or as a cheaper alternative would be to get a 2nd wd HDD and put the pair in Raid0. HDDs in raid0 perform very well on sequencial files, ie you video files (large seq files). No HDD can even come close to an SSD in small file random read/writes.

 

[daship]

SSD, but 64G is not enough space. Get a 80+ or forget it.

2nd choice Caviar black.

 

[creyes3]

ok i got one already 64g
what will be best to get another 64g and raid it?
or just get a 128g?

Thanks once more

 

[RetiredChief]

If you place it in a Raid0 configuration you lose win 7 Trim command.

 

[jeroly]

I'm running W7 with an x25-M 80GB drive and have 45GB free of the 74.5 formatted GB left after installing a bunch of programs, albeit no games. I would think you'd be okay with the 64GB drive.

If you add a second SSD and run them in RAID0, while you do lose Trim you can apparently make up for that by partitioning the drives in such a way as to leave around 20GB of unused space so that the controllers can manage the disk without losing performance over time. With 128GB of space on the two drives, even after formatting and leaving the free space you'll have more than enough space and will have super-duper read and write speeds. Of course what you'll get from the single SSD will be pretty great on its own; perhaps you might check out the performance from what you have, and if it doesn't work for you then add the second drive after backing up your system.

 

[creyes3]

Thanks to all

Got just one more question

as my storage drive what will be better between 2 Caviar Black with sata 6gbs in raid o or 1 velociraptor?

Thanks in advance

Thanks

 

[jeroly]

For your storage drive I'd caution against using RAID0. If either drive fails then all of your data is toast.

If you use RAID1 then you get mirrored storage. If either drive fails then you have redundant storage on the good drive.

If you don't want to have protection against a drive failure then you will get better performance out of the velociraptor. You should, however, be able to use all three; maybe put your more important, permanent data like mp3 files on the WD drives in RAID 1, your program files on the v-raptor for faster access, and your system files and game program files on the SSD.

 

[creyes3]

For your storage drive I'd caution against using RAID0. If either drive fails then all of your data is toast.

If you use RAID1 then you get mirrored storage. If either drive fails then you have redundant storage on the good drive.

If you don't want to have protection against a drive failure then you will get better performance out of the velociraptor. You should, however, be able to use all three; maybe put your more important, permanent data like mp3 files on the WD drives in RAID 1, your program files on the v-raptor for faster access, and your system files and game program files on the SSD.

definably i am going with ssd for system and game files but i need to chose between 1 velociraptor or 2 Caviar Black 6gbs connection

Thanks again

 

[RetiredChief]

For performance, HDDs gain very little with SATA6. I would still recommend a raid0 with WD blacks for performance. While Raid0 does represent an increased risk of data loss, I find it exceptable - Just maintain a BU of your data, Which you SHOULD any way, raid0 or not.

I've run Raid0 since before SATA (using IDE) and only had one error message and that was not a failure, was able to BU and restore. - And that is over a 10 year period. My E6400 (Built system when E6400 first came out) and it currenly has 4 HDD (2 pair of Raid0, one with vista and on pair with XP).

Downside depends on controllers on MB. Cannot put a SSD, using AHCI and a pair of HDD in raid0 on same controller. But my I5-750 MB has two controllers. Two WD blks short stroked in raid0 will out perform the velociraptor.

 

[creyes3]

Best answer selected by creyes3.