Raptor vs RAID

COOL^J · 14 Sep 2007 at 17:14

I am currently running a Western Digital 36GB Raptor but finding it too small for Windows XP and games. Would running 2x 250GB S-ATA2 drives in RAID be as good as the Western Digital Raptor?

What hard drives would you recommend for this?

My Spec: Abit IP35
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600
2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768MB GDDR3
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

helmutcheese · 14 Sep 2007 at 17:41

Yes 2 modern 7200rpm HDD's in Raid will be much faster than 1 Raptor (esp if old 8MB version) but the seeks on normal 7200rpm HDD's are far higher than Raptors and more so in Raid.

Mr Jack · 14 Sep 2007 at 17:56

Running 2 HDDs in RAID doesn't make much difference to the seek times, FWIS, it's only really an issue with larger arrays.

But yes, two HDDs in RAID 0 faster, and way more space.

helmutcheese · 14 Sep 2007 at 18:10

Actually it does, your 13ms will be nearer 26ms (example)

rpstewart · 14 Sep 2007 at 18:24

helmutcheese said:
Actualy it does, your 13ms will be nearer 26ms (example)

I don't know how many RAID0 benchmarks there are in the benchmark thread but none of them exhibit this.

helmutcheese · 14 Sep 2007 at 18:32

All I know is your already slowish SEEK gets slower in Raid (higher).

Shocky-FM · 14 Sep 2007 at 18:51

Raptors and raid are overrated, i've tried both, raptors and raptors in raid and theres no real world difference between them and a fast single 7200rpm sata 2 drive, they may benchmark better but it doesnt represent actual usage.

So I would suggest you sell the raptor and buy a 500gb seagate drive or if you must use raid 2x250gb.

COOL^J · 14 Sep 2007 at 19:12

thanks for the replies lads any brand you would recommend for just one drive

Shocky-FM · 14 Sep 2007 at 19:17

COOL^J said:
thanks for the replies lads any brand you would recommend for just one drive

Seagate or Western Digital.

helmutcheese · 14 Sep 2007 at 20:13

I have used both Single Raptor X and 2 in Raid0 with 16K Size, both ways are fast, outside benches PC boots up faster, Archives Unrar faster, Games load faster, so on and so forth.

Just my input.

enigmo · 14 Sep 2007 at 23:10

Shocky-FM said:
Raptors and raid are overrated, i've tried both, raptors and raptors in raid and theres no real world difference between them and a fast single 7200rpm sata 2 drive, they may benchmark better but it doesnt represent actual usage.

So I would suggest you sell the raptor and buy a 500gb seagate drive or if you must use raid 2x250gb.

I guess it depends on usage, but I've noticed my Raptor150 be noticably faster than any of my other PCs, in booting, loading games, level changes etc. But, it is true that striped WD Caviars will typically be just as fast for most users and be slightly cheaper with more storage space.

Shocky-FM · 15 Sep 2007 at 11:25

enigmo said:
I guess it depends on usage, but I've noticed my Raptor150 be noticably faster than any of my other PCs, in booting, loading games, level changes etc. But, it is true that striped WD Caviars will typically be just as fast for most users and be slightly cheaper with more storage space.

Loading times were no faster for me with raptors or raid, i've tried onboard raid and pci raid cards and results have always been disappointing.

helmutcheese · 15 Sep 2007 at 13:27

Something aint right then.

silversurfer · 15 Sep 2007 at 18:03

Raid increases seek times if it involves retrieving data from more then 1 drive. How long it takes is going to vary from 100-200%, I guess that'd make it an 50% increase on average