Fast reliable disk?

Sandmaster500 · 12 Apr 2006 at 14:17

Hi, looking to get a new main hard drive. My idea at the moment is to run a 74gb raptor and a 200gb spinny (already got). But am contemplating saving a little and getting a 150gb raptor. Is the new raptor much faster and will it have the same reliability as the older ones. Or i could get a WD Caviar 250GB SATA II 16mb cache. Whats the best overall? Main thing for me in getting a new drive is reliability as i've had two drives fail recently which has really really annoyed me.

Any help would be very useful as i'm a bit stuck as to what to do.

Sandmaster500 · 12 Apr 2006 at 15:14

Oops, sorry i only have the 200gb spinny at the moment not it and a 74gb raptor.

When you say "spend the £200 on a 74gig raptor" do you mean a 150gb raptor or 2 74gb ones?

Thanks

Sandmaster500 · 12 Apr 2006 at 16:04

lol. At £110 are they a good price point? Only other option is looking at either a second hand 74 or 150gb.

How much performance difference in both loading times and general use is there between:
150gb raptor
74gb raptor
WD 250gb SATA II 16mb cache

Thanks

ps - no fighting you two you have the same post count so you both have to be right

Sandmaster500 · 16 Apr 2006 at 15:26

Thinking about it i am not sure if i "need" the speed of a raptor so am thinking of going for a 7,200 250gb drive as i believe these are the best performance/size/value.

What is the fastest/best manufacturer?

Thanks

Sandmaster500 · 16 Apr 2006 at 22:46

Cheers

I very much agree with the maxtor thing, had two go myself which out of the 6 HDDs i've had in my life and only one of which was more than 2 years old!

Rambaud - how much difference speed difference do you find between the drives?

Sandmaster500 · 18 Apr 2006 at 10:22

People seem to be of very mixed opinions about RAID 0. I think i might have to give it a go one day just to decide for myself.

Am pretty much set on a 74gb raptor after looking at some benchies and seeing it beat my samsung (which isn't a slouch) by 20-50% :eek:

Also as its been out for a long time i think it should be very reliable and isn't a huge amount slower than the 150gb which is quite a bit more expensive (ie i want one but close to £200 is just too much for me to spend on a hard drive)

Between the 7,200 drives it was too hard to choose!

Thanks for your help guys

Sandmaster500 · 27 Apr 2006 at 21:25

Got a 74gb raptor in the end. Is such an amazingly fast drive! Load windows in 17 "elephants"! and thats with an extended bios! Games and files load so fast

Am glad i spent the extra as i now feel more as though my data is safe aswel.

Thanks for help guys