Hard drive advice....

xirokx · 20 Mar 2006 at 16:43

Hi,

Why do ppl have 1 sata drive at 36gb or slightly bigger for windows etc and then 1 or 2 IDE drives?

Is it because SATA drives are read faster than IDE?

I am building a new rig and have never played with SATA drives so just wondered if I should follow this trend if that is what it is?

Is there really that much of a noticeable difference?

Please help?

If yes, do manu brands matter? I mean does it matter if its from hitachi or seagate? does it come down to performance???

Thanks in advance for any replies I recieve....

smids · 20 Mar 2006 at 17:04

The 36GB drive you refer to is the WD Raptor 36.7GB drive. This is 10,000rpm as opposed to 7,200rpm of a normal drive. Obviously this means much better performance.

With regards to SATA and PATA (IDE), there is no difference. PATA has a max of 133MB/s transfer rate and SATA 150MB/s or 300MB/s.

A normal 7200rpm drive maxes out at about 60MB/s transfer rate. Thus, the maximum bandwidth of either SATA nor PATA is reached. The only way to reach this would be a RAID array of some sort (see sticky on RAIDs).

Thus, SATA and PATA are no different really. SATA uses a tiny cable so is neater but IDE is much cheaper and easier to setup (often Windows requires SATA drivers when installing which can be a pain without a floppy drive) and PATA needs none.

So, people have fast Raptor as the windows drive and a normal storage drive.

With regards to manufacturers, Seagate are the most reliable (renowned for this) and have a 5 yr warranty as standard. Hitachi are one of the best all rounders in terms of speed and reliability and WD just behind. Samsung's are apparently quiet and Maxtors none of the above in their Desktop range

. I jest, Maxtor's are ok but their build quality and failure rate is always in question however their SCSI range of drives (server) is very good with the Altas.

xirokx · 20 Mar 2006 at 18:43

The 36GB drive you refer to is the WD Raptor 36.7GB drive. This is 10,000rpm as opposed to 7,200rpm of a normal drive. Obviously this means much better performance

Is the above SATA or IDE?

So If used this drive for windows only it will speed things up? Would I install any programs to this drive or just keep it for windows only?

What happens when some programs need to be installed into c: ??? Is there a bigger option than 36GB??

Will I honestly see that much of a diff between 7,200rpm and 10,000?

smids · 20 Mar 2006 at 18:45

That is SATA.

People often use it for windows/games/programs but if space is at a premium, there is a 74GB and 150GB model. They are very costly, but well worth it. You would notice a difference over a 7200rpm drive.

A windows install uses only about 3-4GB of a disk.

xirokx · 20 Mar 2006 at 19:16

can u suggest a few good ones please? I may just buy one and see how it goes :-)

Can you partition them?

thanks mate

smids · 20 Mar 2006 at 20:32

xirokx said:
can u suggest a few good ones please? I may just buy one and see how it goes Can you partition them?

thanks mate

Only Western Digital make these drives. They are called Western Digital Raptors. 36GB, 74GB and 150GB all come with 5 year warranties. Yes, you partition them like any other drive should you so wish.

xirokx · 20 Mar 2006 at 21:01

if you dont have a floppy drive when setting up the SATA then how can u load the drivers?

Lets say u have just reformatted and you need to install the SATA? Are you stuffed then?

lumocolor · 20 Mar 2006 at 21:48

xirokx said:
if you dont have a floppy drive when setting up the SATA then how can u load the drivers?

Lets say u have just reformatted and you need to install the SATA? Are you stuffed then?

Well if you don't have access to another PC/laptop that has a cd burner then you are a bit stuffed!! If you do have access to another rig then you can simply slipstream the SATA drivers (along with all your other hardware drivers if you like) using an excellent program called nLite. You can also input the serial so that the XP disc it creates is 100% automatic once you have told it where you want it installed

You can also change windows default install directory so that you can keep OS and Programs/games files on seperate partitions for ultimate performance.