help with HDD configuration

[hardc0re_tid]

i currently have a 80GB WD SE caviar SATA drive, i have ordered 2 brand spanking new 250GB seagate 7200.10's which shoule be here by friday

few things id like to know:

1. if i put the seagates in along with the WD will they operate at a slower speed as the WD is only SATA 1 as far as i know. (or does SATA work completely different to IDE)

2. can i have the Seagates in RAID 0 and have the WD as my C drive.

3. would i be better to have the 2 seagates in RAID 0 to quicken things up (the rig is primaraly used for gaming)

4. if i have the drives in RAID 0 will there only be one drive shown in My computer? :S

 

[semi-pro waster]

1. Assuming your motherboard supports SATA II (and I'd be pretty sure it does) then you can run both SATA I and SATA II separately without them impacting on each other. SATA has each device on a separate channel (as an aside with IDE it hasn't mattered about the speeds of each device on the chain for a long time now which is why you could run optical drives on the same chain as hard drives with no ill effects).

2. Yes.

3. I probably wouldn't bother, the 7200.10s are quick enough as it is and Raid0 doesn't tend to benefit games hugely but it does increase the risk of data loss.

4. If you have the Seagates as a Raid0 drive then you will only see one drive in My Computer + of course the original WD.

 

[hardc0re_tid]

would i see a difference in performance if i was to use one of the seagates as my c drive rather than the WD? eg load times in windows and in games

truthfully id rather have my wd as my c as it is smaller and be able to have the other seagates as storage but im willing to make the WD a storage drive if i would see a boost im performance.

 

[squiffy]

Could do what I've done, I use the 80GB WD for Windows & applications, plus temporary "to burn off" storage, and other two drives for games and music. That way the two drives are seperate to the OS drive.