problem

[naffers]

is it better to have 2 smaller hard drives in raid then 1 bigger, for example 2x 250GB compared to 1x 500GB would the 2x 250 be better?

 

[Beerbaron]

depends on the drives and what you will be using them for

 

[naffers]

well mainly gaming. and conisder that for example they are
2x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-133-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=768
VS
1x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-245-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940

 

[FaceplantSi]

If you are looking for speed then putting 2 drives in a RAID 0 (striping) array will give better performance than a single drive and you'll have the total capacity of both available to you. The striping bit is how the data is written, half to one drive and half to the other, hence it's faster as you are using two SATA channels simultaneously - but if you lose one drive to mechanical failure then the whole array is lost, so it's a higher risk of data loss.

A RAID 1 (mirroring) array will only give the capacity of a single drive as the same data is copied to both. This tends to be a little bit slower than a single drive but has the advantage that the data is secure, as even if a single drive failed you would still have a full copy on the other drive.

It's personal choice what you do really, based on your usage and what value you put on your data etc. Most people would go for a RAID 0 array of smaller drives for their OS, Apps & Games, and then either a single large drive for data or even a RAID 1 data array.

 

[naffers]

ok thanks for that faceplant i'l have to think wat i want, im thinking speed is mainly what im looking for thanks