2x74GB Raided Raptors, worth it?

Scott Salisbury · 24 Feb 2006 at 16:24

Ok I don't know anything about raiding but I've heard a lot about the 2xRaptor configs.

I bought my rig earlier last year (sig) and I already have a 74GB Raptor as my boot drive, but my system has got bogged down with junk as usual so I thought it was about time for a fresh format and start again. But I thought if I'm going to format it, maybe I should invest in another 74GB raptor and stick it in.

Is it Raid0 that allows you to raid two hard drives together to effectively increase performance? (but still only have 74gb of space?).

My question is, is it worth doing this? Or will it be another waste of £100+ just to put it in raid0 to "supposedly" increase performance?

Has anybody ever compared the performance with and without raid on these drives?

The raptors are fairly loud hard drives, would adding a second one make it unbearable?

mattup · 24 Feb 2006 at 17:17

Have a look at this.
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TaKeN · 24 Feb 2006 at 17:40

They arnt loud.

It was also a great boost when i added my second drive

darreny · 24 Feb 2006 at 18:34

never raided but from what i know raid0 will give you 148gig of space and files get split between drives which is why its quicker, the problem is if 1 drive fails you lose all your data

jbloggs · 24 Feb 2006 at 23:14

Scott Salisbury:

I had 2 x 74GB Raptors in RAID0 for a year, gave an Average read of over 130MB/s and Burst Speed in excess of 200MB/s in HD Tach, with an a Random access of 7.6 secs. It is worthwhile IF you are working with very large files, like video files.

Because there is no redundancy, if you loose one HDD the whole RAID0 setup goes pear-shaped, ie you loose everything, so if you go this route it is best to have another HDD to backup ALL your vital data that you don't want to loose.

There are differnet opinions on RAID0 and its worth, have a look Here

Will I setup another RAID0 setup? I certainly would if I thought I needed it.

jhmaeng · 25 Feb 2006 at 15:32

I'd suggest selling the 74GB and going with a single 150GB. The 1500GD is supposedly a marked improvement in all aspects over a single 74GB, whereas RAID only really improves sustained file read/writes which account for only part of the performance stats. Oh, and if you already think 1x74GB is loud, having two will more or less multiply the noise by 2...

You can go to StorageReview for their rather glowing review. I'd get one if I wasn't so broke :-/

DaveBennett · 25 Feb 2006 at 18:49

I backup what jhmaeng says.

Rambaud · 26 Feb 2006 at 12:50

I did not find 2 x 74Gb Raptors in a RAID0 array gave any speed improvement over a single Raptor in my system (could be down to the mobo), so I sold one and bought a 300Gb drive instead.

I am considering getting a 150Gb Raptor - if I can justify the expense.

lay-z-boy · 26 Feb 2006 at 15:48

I was going to buy 2*74gb raptors, then decided on a 150gb raptor.
Then i put my brain back in my head and purchased 4 80gb hitachi sata II drives.

there isnt a word to describe how fast they are, even with 2/3 drives its blazeing fast.

On games, im always onto the map first, theres about 7 seconds till others start to join :eek:

So its cheaper, faster, quieter and has more space, no loss there at all.

Scott Salisbury · 9 Mar 2006 at 00:14

Thanks for the replies and sorry for my late response.

I decided to go all out and buy the 150GB raptor. Just arrived today but haven't got it running yet