Fastest 2.5" SATA Drive for RAID array

Soldato
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Hi Guys,

I'm looking for the above, currently I'm guessing the best option is a single platter 320GB HDD, I'm guessing that the WD Black is single platter.

Are there any other viable options other than Raptors? I would have liked to buy bigger drives but am concerned about performance as I need to get decent performance out of 4 or 8 of these in RAID10.

Regards, Jon
 
Just interested in regular 7200 RPM SATA's, no Raptors, 5400 RPM drives or SSD's please :)
 
The velociraptor is the fastest 2.5" mechanical drive iirc. Has a big heatsink to make it 3.5" though

Question is why RAID0 2.5" drives anyway?
 
I did specially say no raptors and I will be using RAID10, not 0 :)
Fair enough ;) question remains though, why 2.5" drives? The 3.5" Samsung F3/4s are near silent anyhow and if it's power consumption you're worried about just change 1 bulb in your house to energy saving ;)

I've found 2.5" drives to be somewhat less reliable from experiance. I have no numbers to back this up however...
 
Because they are going in a 1U server where I can fit either 4x 3.5" or 8x 2.5", as disk I/O is important to me, I would prefer 8 spindles over 4.
 
While I can see where your coming from, the disk platter density isn't high enough on 2.5" 7200pm drives to get great I/Os. It's why in the enterprise Market 10k and 15k SAS drives still rule the roost despite there lower capacities.

Your much better off with SAS or even SSD's if disk IO is that important. There's no getting round the fact that this gonna cost a lot if you want to do it properly in a 1U form factor.
 
I think I'll have to reach a compromise and go for the Velociraptors, 8 of those in RAID10 on a decent 3ware controller should be tasty, I hope :)
 
I think I'll have to reach a compromise and go for the Velociraptors, 8 of those in RAID10 on a decent 3ware controller should be tasty, I hope :)

For desktop level kit, yep, bout the best you'll get.

Don't forget you'll need some decent focused airflow for them, 10k on 2.5" can be toasty.
 
For desktop level kit, yep, bout the best you'll get.

Don't forget you'll need some decent focused airflow for them, 10k on 2.5" can be toasty.

And loud! I used to work at a workstation with 5 SAS 2.5" (Seagate 10k RPM iirc) in the front of it... When I got home each night I swear I could hear the buzzing still :) High RPM Delta fans too

Quiet drives for the win!
 
The kit will be going in a properly cooled 1U Supermicro server that's going in a air conditioned Data Centre, not in my office :P
 
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