New hard drive seup

bakes0310 · 1 Apr 2009 at 14:09

I have at the moment:
Western Digital 74gb- OS and dl files
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB - games

But im finding it hard to make space so im thinking of changing it, heres my two options:

1)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB- OS and dl Files
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- Games
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- More games

2)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB- OS and dl Files
1 big harddrive (please recommend)

Anyway what option should i go for?
I dont care about price as my machine is for games so i want the best for it.
So what option, 1 or 2?

death_looms · 1 Apr 2009 at 14:13

Personally, I'd stick the OS and games on the same disc, could RAID 0 two velociraptors to get a 600GB drive, and get a 1TB WD green for files and non essential programs if space on the raptors is tight. Just a thought.

Ben M · 1 Apr 2009 at 14:15

Why buy raptors? it's all about solid state.

how about buy SSD OS drive, and put programmes and games on the two raptors?

bakes0310 · 1 Apr 2009 at 14:24

umm dumb down the answers please, my knowledge with hard drives aint that good

Ben M · 1 Apr 2009 at 14:33

bakes0310 said:
umm dumb down the answers please, my knowledge with hard drives aint that good

Solid state hard drives (SSDs) are much better than velociraptors, the only downside is the price/ capacity. Have a quick google and browse this forum and the OCUK shop and find out about them.

Rabtech · 1 Apr 2009 at 15:17

Option 2, fast boot drives like a Raptor or SSD drive and 1/2 WD 1TB Green Power HD's for storage, depending on your budget (in RAID 1 if you buy 2).

death_looms · 1 Apr 2009 at 15:18

Ben M said:
only downside is the.

I'll assume you mean price? They are very expensive, wouldn't consider them myself atm just from the price, though if money's no object go for it

Ben M · 1 Apr 2009 at 16:08

death_looms said:
I'll assume you mean price? They are very expensive, wouldn't consider them myself atm just from the price, though if money's no object go for it

Oh, I meant price/ capacity. Whoops.

bakes0310 · 10 Apr 2009 at 16:09

How about this setup:

Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB-OS and internet dls
Western Digital RE3 1TB SATA-II 32MB- games etc
**************Or***********************
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB-OS and internet dls
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 32MB-Games etc

Bob Wya Jnr · 10 Apr 2009 at 16:22

bakes0310 said:
Anyway what option should i go for?
I dont care about price as my machine is for games so i want the best for it.
So what option, 1 or 2?

I would go definitely go for a OCZ Vertex at a lower capacity point (120Gb) for a gaming rig. You can always add in more for "RAID-0" or spillover fast storage at a later date. It will fly past the Raptors for game load times (the "akilies heel" of the Vertex and other SSDs is still small, frequent random writes). This also helps your FPS for the initial play through any game stage. The Vertex SSD is not subject to the Jmicron controller issues (system glitches due to variable random write access times reaching as high as 2000 milliseconds on occasion!!)

Check out this article before you decide (and read it all)!!
The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ

Plus you could add say a WD GP 1Tb for extra bulk storage.

Bob

Ben M · 10 Apr 2009 at 16:27

Don't get a caviar green to run games off, they are slow drives. and the 2tb is overpriced, and 2tb is a lot of data to put on one drive.

How about:

Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB-OS and internet dls
320gb spinpoint F1 games
1tb WD green storage etc

bakes0310 · 10 Apr 2009 at 16:30

Ben M said:
Don't get a caviar green to run games off, they are slow drives. and the 2tb is overpriced, and 2tb is a lot of data to put on one drive.

How about:

Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB-OS and internet dls
320gb spinpoint F1 games
1tb WD green storage etc

good advice thanks, but how about:
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB- OS and dl Files
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- Games
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- More games

Ben M · 10 Apr 2009 at 16:31

bakes0310 said:
good advice thanks, but how about:
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB- OS and dl Files
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- Games
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- More games

Well of course it'd be faster, but cost a lot more.... £600 of raptors

And two 300gb drives full of games are begging to be RAID0-ed

At the end of the day they're only games, so if a drive fails you can re-install

bakes0310 · 10 Apr 2009 at 16:35

Ben M said:
Well of course it'd be faster, but cost a lot more.... £600 of raptors

And two 300gb drives full of games are begging to be RAID0-ed At the end of the day they're only games, so if a drive fails you can re-install

Im gonna do it then

BTW whats all this RAID0 stuff

zia · 10 Apr 2009 at 17:02

I have two 150gb velociraptor is raid 0 for os and games.work quite well fairly quite and fast.
500 seagate for storage.
isn't there issue with ssd that you carn't defrag them a lot? as it reduce's thier life?

zia

Ben M · 10 Apr 2009 at 17:16

bakes0310 said:
Im gonna do it then

BTW whats all this RAID0 stuff

You aren't going to RAID0 your two games drives? whyyyy?!

zia said:
I have two 150gb velociraptor is raid 0 for os and games.work quite well fairly quite and fast.
500 seagate for storage.
isn't there issue with ssd that you carn't defrag them a lot? as it reduce's thier life?

zia

SSDs are complicated, amongst other things, they have limited numbers of writes (5/10k per cell). I'll get you a link to the most comprehensive article I've read about them, it's long but really good.

edit:
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531

FaceplantSi · 10 Apr 2009 at 18:34

bakes0310 said:
good advice thanks, but how about:
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB- OS and dl Files
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- Games
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB- More games

As others have said if you're looking to spend this kind of money then I'd be seriously considering getting an SSD for OS/Apps (and Games too if you can get a large enough one, or put 2 in RAID 0) and then a large data drive, say a 1Tb Samsung F1 - that'll beat any Raptor combination out there.

Read the Anand article that's been linked to, it's a very long read and a bit complex in areas but gives a great overview of the current state of play in the SSD world.