Time to retire my 74gb Raptor?

KnightStalker

KnightStalker

KnightStalker

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Right, after upgrading my system bit by bit, i havent noticed much difference in loading times etc..Now im thinking its down to the drives ive got.

My main drive is the 74gb Raptor with the OS and drivers installed no games.
Next is a 250gb WD drive of some sort i cant remember, and a 500GB WD drive again i cant remember what type All my games are on the 500GB and all apps etc are on the 250gb...Should i think about ditching all 3 in favour of a 1tb?
 
Yes but no.

A modern 1TB 7,200RPM drive, e.g. the Samsung F3, is probably faster than your old drives and it's certainly faster than the 74GB Raptor.

However HDD prices have risen by up to 50% in the last few days so it may be worth waiting a few months when, hopefully, prices will come down again.
 
If it is the original raptor it is only running at sata 150 speeds. As mentioned above HD prices are shooting through the roof now so maybe pick one up second hand? The 500Gb drive you have is possibly the quickest of the 3 can you get a model number for it?
 
Right here we go, totally lost what all that means but hopefully you can shed some light on it.
74gb Raptor WD740GD-00FLA2
250gb WD2500JD-00HBB0
500gb WD5000AAKS-00M9A0
 
The 74GB Raptor is old and slow compared to modern 7,200RPM drives.

The 250gb WD2500JD-00HBB0 is a fairly old design of Caviar drive pre-dating the Greens, Blues and Blacks. A modern 7,200RPM drive will be better.

The 500gb WD5000AAKS-00M9A0 is a pretty decent 500GB single platter drive and not far off the pace of current 7,200 RPM drives.

I'd keep the 500GB and get rid of the others if you're upgrading.

But as I said earlier I'd wait a while.

The Samsung F3 1TB would be a good upgrade but at the moment it's £70. Not many days ago it was nearer £40.

Hopefully in a few months, when supplies are back to normal, HDD prices will fall again.
 
Eeek i was hoping you wouldnt say that actually - So really i need to ditch the OS from the Raptor and retire it, ive got enough space on the 500GB to put the OS and games on it.
 
The average read speed of the 74GB Raptor is around 65MB/s.

A modern 7,200RPM drive, such as the 1TB Samsung F3, will be close to twice that speed.

The Raptor has lower access times which may make it OK for an OS drive.

Only you can judge how it feels to you.
 
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For an OS drive they should be fine.

The sequential speed may be almost half the speed a new 7200 RPM Drive can achieve today, but sequential speed was never the reason to by a raptor in the first place.

Your raptor should have an access time around 8 ms, most 7200 Drives will be in the 12ms - 15ms range.

On os/heavy io usage the performance will probably match a fast 7200 drive.

If I was in your shoes, I'd only replace the raptor with a SSD, unless the raptor is starting to fail.

Have you benched it with HD tune or similar?

Edit: Crystal Disk Mark is a good program to Benchmark it with.
 
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I'd say around about now you could look into getting a 64gb Crucial M4 as a replacement for your raptor - They're now often down to less than £1/gb on offer.

I'd then wait a couple of months and buy a nice 1TB drive once the prices fall again

kd
 
KnightStalker said:
My thoughts also, my only conclusion its the short version of 'for the win' yet doesnt really help lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was for the win.

The 500GB as already stated is a pretty modern single platter drive.

Either use this, by reimaging your OS from your current raptor to this, or install an SSD and do a fresh install.
 
The only reason i asked mainly, is because the system does feel a little sluggish at times, and with everything else on my system been changed the HDD's are the only thing i dont mess with.
As for the SSD its on my list and a 1-2TB drive in the future. Also re-imaging not sure what that entails to be honest but sounds easier than reinstalling the OS lol.
 
KnightStalker said:
Also re-imaging not sure what that entails to be honest but sounds easier than reinstalling the OS lol.
Click to expand...

Sure to be a lot easier with the right imaging software which leaves me posing this question, what's the best hdd imaging software at the moment from price/performance pov? what would you guys recommend?
 
Replace the raptor with a Crucial M4 SSD

It will be screamingly fast. Do a fresh install

What motherboard do you have?

Set the SATA to AHCI mode before installing with the M4
 
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