New Raptor Review

gary996 · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:25

Stonedofmoo said:
I'd do it as one big partition and have a seprate drive for files

Otherwise the when loading a game the head on the hard disk is having to race between the partition with the system files and page file and the partition with the game which slows it down.

That would be slow to defrag though

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:31

Patitions are a waste of time IMO, they were for days when you could not have 20+GB partitions and be stable (Windows 9x claims 4GB File size limit and 2TB Partition limit).

I run my HDD as 1 Partition unless I was dual booting, which ended with Vista Beta Testing.

My PC does not ake long to defrag and the fact it does it on the fly while Im not using PC is good (PerfectDisk 2008).

gary996 · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:34

got perfect disk 2008 myself. So you would not partition a Samsung F1 750gig drive (i have one of these)

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:37

gary996 said:
I dont usually put my games and progs/appz on the same partition as windows. I usually have a totally seperate partition just for the windows install. Is this not good then?

A lot of peeps do that claiming its faster to reinstall only Windows if it messes up.

In my own findings I have had to reinstall most App's/Programs as they need written to the Windows/System and Registry.

Some worked without a reinstall but obv some aspects of Registry cant be the same as if you install windows then properly install programs.

I just do a full install on a Partition and keep a weekly backup to my WD My Book.

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:39

gary996 said:
got perfect disk 2008 myself. So you would not partition a Samsung F1 750gig drive (i have one of these)

I would not but thats your choice, PerfectDisk will Smartplace all your Data in a pattern that makes it faster to AXX.

If Windows and all App's are on different Partitions the Head needs to jump backwards and forwards reading all different parts of the Platter just to do whatever you asked it to.

I feel it can actually make your PC slower.

clocka · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:42

having a partition of say 30gb with windows installed on with your games and appz is much faster than having a 300gb partition as all the files would be located towards the centre of the platter. HDtach tests and other tests show that it is much faster, even if you arent going to put anything on the other 270gb left on partition 2. Defragging just a single 30gb partition would be very quick too so you could defrag weekly very quickly and have your drive running fast all the time. You should install games on a different partition as windows is still needed when playing games so you will be reading and writing from 2 partitions, not advised.

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:46

1st of all it not a HD-Tach Bench, its real use.

Defraging aint an issue as above, it does it Auto while your not at PC.

If your going to put Windows and APP's on same Partition that defeats the purpose of the peeps claiming they do it to save a full install when Windows messes up.

30GB would not be very much for Vista+ (my Windows folder alone is 10GB with No system Restore on) new Games on DVD-9's and many new Programs (all in GB's)

gary996 · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:54

so helmut would you say its faster to install everything on one partition (i have a 750gig external drive for back up) than to segregate everything

clocka · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:56

As i said its not just hd-tach, other real life applications like extracting a 4.4gb .iso from winrar etc is faster, not just theoretical.

As for saving a full install im not bothered about that, when i do a full format i want a true full format, not having java 1.6.0.5 installed ontop of earlier versions with bits still left on when you upgrade applications i want a clean install, which is why i install appz on my partition with windows. I only need to format about once every 6months or so and i have all my settings for flashfxp, firefox etc all backed up to be able to restore very quickly. Its just a matter of putting windows, office back on and installing firefox, winamp etc etc, takes like 1hr for everything to be back to normal.

i dont use vista so 30gb is more than enough for my xp sp2 as i dont play games, choose whatever size you need. A small partition will always be faster as it is located towards the centre of the disk which is faster to access.

Try it and time real applications if you dont believe me

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:57

gary996 said:
so helmut would you say its faster to install everything on one partition (i have a 750gig external drive for back up) than to segregate everything

For clocka's Benefit :

IMO yes, but as someone said, if you Partitoned of a smaller section on the Centre of a fast modern 7.2k HDD and only used that space for everything it would be faster as the Head has to move less to read ALL Data. (waste of a bigger HDD IMO).

If this was really fast everyone would buy a 750+GB HDD and use a 100GB of it (example) to be faster than a Raptor X

.

I can only go by my own uses, apart from Dual Booting I do not use Partitions.

gary996 · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:03

ok thanks to you both will take the info you have given and use it. ( still might buy the velociRaptor and use this as my primary with no partitions and half my 750)

clocka · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:28

I'd like to see a review with 2 *320gb samsung f1 in raid0 and 2 *1tb samsung f1 in raid0 compared to a new raptor. As i reckon 2 samsung f1's in raid0 will be faster than a raptor and MILES cheaper, £10 cheaper if you use 2 * 1tb samsungs. Obviously the seek time wouldnt be as good but most of the other results should be faster.

Stonedofmoo · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:39

Yes but who buys just one raptor drive? If you're going to get the fastest drives you'd probably be tempted to get two like I would for RAID 0

Tute · 22 Apr 2008 at 15:50

clocka said:
New price is: £211.49 inc VAT

Slackworth said:
We will of course sort out customers who have pre-ordered already.

Get it under £200 and i'll most likely have one.

fobose · 22 Apr 2008 at 16:31

I use a 96GB partition for Vista/Games/Apps and 500GB for storage. I wouldn't want to have to find space for 500GB of stuff if I wanted to format! On my parents PC I didn't bother partitioning the 250GB HDD I bought as I doubt it will get even half full.

Slackworth · 22 Apr 2008 at 17:40

Tute said:
Get it under £200 and i'll most likely have one.

They are

WillSpengler · 22 Apr 2008 at 18:08

Two 160 Gb drives in Raid0 would have more capacity and be a fraction of the price.

Raptors arent that much faster IMO. Currently using a 34Gb one, and used to have a 74Gb one (before that bit the dust).

clocka · 22 Apr 2008 at 18:23

Slackworth said:
They are

£211 isnt less than £200

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 18:26

He means b4 VAT, which means nothing to most inc myself.

helmutcheese · 22 Apr 2008 at 18:31

WillSpengler said:
Two 160 Gb drives in Raid0 would have more capacity and be a fraction of the price.

Raptors arent that much faster IMO. Currently using a 34Gb one, and used to have a 74Gb one (before that bit the dust).

20GB more and the 16MB Raptors were fast at launch (the 8MB's are slow by todays standards).

Its still a fast HDD but a little late to the starting post with some 7.2K's not far behind and SSD now avail be it costly and smaller sizes, but there is some that can do a 120MB/Read and 100MB/Write (Average Sustained Speeds).

The 120MB/Sec WD claim is not the Average Sustained Read Speed, if you read the reviews (I go by HD-Tach).

They claim a Raptor X's does 88MB (used to be 84MB on their site lol), they actually do about 75MB/Sec-78MB/Sec (My Results in XP and Vista, different Mobo/Controlers).