Hard Drive Options Please

ristac

ristac

ristac

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I am slowly working my way through my first self build PC. I have been buying parts when funds allow and when I spot a bargain either new or 2nd hand. So far I have the case which is a Bitfenix Colossus (bargain new boxed at £60), PSU Antec True Power 650 (£45.00), some case fans and a DVD drive.

The system will be built around a Z68 mobo and an i5 2500k which I shall purchase last due to them being the most likely to drop in price. My next purchase is going to be the hard drives but I am unsure which route to take.

I have considered An SSD boot drive and a couple of WD Black Sata 3 drives for storage but I keep reading of reliability issues with ssd drives. Would the WD Blacks be overkill, are they much quicker for storing data?

My second option is should I go for maybe two 1TB WD Blacks in RAID0 I am fairly much a novice when it comes to RAID I understand the bare basics, I don't know if it is easy to set up or a waste of time if things go wrong.

I guess if things go wrong with one drive it is no different to going wrong with two right?

Any advice regarding HD's would be appreciated. I like the odd game but we are talking more old fashioned Command and Conquer type and Championship Manager, I am not a big games player. I do a lot of basic web design, not graphic intense but I often find myself with lots of windows open switching betweem applications if that would or should influence my choice?

All opinions and any advice would be appreciated thanks.
 
Whether or not to get an SSD is a choice you need to make considering price and performance.

Personally I haven't gone down the SSD route yet as I don't have the need for it. My PC is on 24/7 so I don't really worry about boot times and I wouldn't excactly call my system slow at loading applications etc. Perhaps if I had an SSD I'd marvel at the difference but, as they say, what you haven't had you don't miss.

I'm sure there are others will come along and extoll the virtues of the SSD.

Whether or not you get an SSD you're almost certainly going to need a HDD for the larger storage capacity.

I wouldn't waste your money on the WD Blacks. The only real benefit they have over other HDD's is the 5 year warranty. In terms of performance the Samsung F3 is just as good a drive as you can see here:

7,200-RPM terabytes from Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, and WD face off

RAID 0 is a tricky one to advise on. Two Samsung F3's in RAID 0 do seem to offer quite an increase in speed though some people say they don't notice the real world difference.

Here are two 1TB Samsung F3's in RAID 0:


Compared to a single 1TB F3:


You also have to consider that if one drive fails in RAID 0 you lose all your data. If the RAID controller throws a wobbley you could lose all your data.

Backing up your data is always important but even more so if you're using a RAID 0 setup.

If all you need is 1TB of storage just get a Samsung 1TB F3.

If you need 2TB of storage you can look to RAID 0 two 1TB F3's, considering the advantages and disadvantages, or possibly just get a single Samsung F4 EcoGreen 2TB as they're no slouches.

This is a bench of one of my 2TB Samsung F4's:


Whatever you go for you should always have a back up of your data.

I use the Samsung 2TB F4's in an external dock to regularly back up my system drives.
 
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That is a very in depth and appreciated reply thank you. It has certainly given me something to think about. I guess I also wanted to hear someone else say it isn't a 'must' to go down the ssd route.

Again thanks for your thoughts...
 
Another point to remember about raid 1 is that it's not a replacement for a reliable backup, even though the data is mirrored between the drives accidentally deleting files or corruption by a virus ext will also be mirrored on both drives.
 
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