My review of Western Digital 320GB RE3 and 2 in raid0 :)

Well,

received my drives today, but the box wasnt even sealed on one end!!! :eek:
also taken a batteering.

Have sent the shop a web note to have a word with their packers, they could have gone walkies at any point. If i was dis-honest i could have said the box arrived with a brick in it lol :D

Anyways canna test the drives until i get in from work. so fingers crossed their fine.
 
Guys,

Looking to get some of these drives for RAID 0 to supplement my Velociraptor and uncertain in what combination so I had a couple of questions from people who own these.

What would be best?

2x320Gb @ £95
3x250Gb @ £125
2x500Gb @ £120

I was first going to get 2x 320Gb but StonedMoos review seems to make 3x250Gb irrestible. But that then makes me wonder if the 500Gb are built the same (2 320Gb platters short-stroked to 250Gb) which would mean for the same cost I could get some more storage and the same benefit as the 250Gb drive...

The thing is that these are for plain media/data storage so I dont know if its all worthwhile since Ive got a Velociraptor - I was just going to go and get a 1Tb Caviar Black :p...

Cheers

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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I considered doing raid 0 but I don't see the point for games as whats the point loading so fast if you still have to wait for others.
 
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bradders2000 said:
So if people are saying the 250GB drive uses *part* of a 320GB platter, do you think that means the 500GB drive will use 2 x *part* of a 320GB platter?
Click to expand...
Did you ever get confirmation of this?

EDIT: http://www.wdc.com/en/library/spec/2879-701281.pdf

Looks like its not based on 320Gb platters but 250Gb looking at the differences in sustained speed - maybe Im reading more into this but the 250Gb and 320Gb HDDs are the same but the others arent (except 1Tb)...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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Just few things to add:

I've about to go through my 4th RE3 for a 2x320GB RE3 RAID0 setup. The first one that arrived was faulty, and another one died yesterday :( is there a known problem with these drives? They have been kept super cool and well ventilated :|
 
When I was looking around I didnt hear of anything (1 month ago) - be quite surprised for HDDs built specifically for the enterprise/server market - assume the QA would be much more thorough due to the intended end market...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Might have been a batch problem, the two that have went faulty had serial numbers within close proximity of each other.

Ruled out other problems (power, cables, ports etc) as well, didn't make a difference.

Doesn't tarnish my view of RAID0, the problems I have had with HDs either surfaced very early (like this case) or never.
 
Hi,

Has anyone had any experience in comparing this raid set up with say a single velociraptor?

I'm more interested in the perceived response during use, does it feel as quick for example?

I'm slightly torn between both. I dont really need the space as it will be used as a system drive.

Would be interesting to hear anyone thoughts.

Cheers
 
Stimpy_7,

I cant offer you any results but I was in exactly the same circumstances, but I decided to return a new VR and replaced it with 2x250Gb RE3s because it meant that I could get similar performance for half the cost...

I dont really need to save the money but wanted speed, other than maybe not being the first in a map Im happy...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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