Best drive(s) set up for a new build?

[Bob]

I'm shopping for parts for a new build to include one of the AMD 64 x2
cpu's and probably one of the Asus 939 PCIe MBs.

I need advice on the best way to set up the hard drive(s)and what
drives are recommended for the best speed. I see a lot of posts about
Raid with 0, 1, etc and SATA so that seems to be the trend. Are these
difficult to set up?

My use will be a mix of business work on Excel with small to medium
size files and no large data base work, and also playing some of the
newer games that I hope the new system will be able to meet the minimum
specs on for a change compared to my old system (P3 500 Mhz).

I'm running XP home edition, but could upgrade to professional if
needed.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[John Doe]

I need advice on the best way to set up the hard drive(s)and what
drives are recommended for the best speed.

The Western Digital Raptor is the only 10,000 rpm SATA drive (36 GB
and 72 GB), as far as I know. I wouldn't mess with RAID. But I might
add a 7200 rpm secondary hard drive. Good luck.

 

[sbb78247]

I'm shopping for parts for a new build to include one of the AMD 64 x2
cpu's and probably one of the Asus 939 PCIe MBs.

I need advice on the best way to set up the hard drive(s)and what
drives are recommended for the best speed. I see a lot of posts about
Raid with 0, 1, etc and SATA so that seems to be the trend. Are these
difficult to set up?

My use will be a mix of business work on Excel with small to medium
size files and no large data base work, and also playing some of the
newer games that I hope the new system will be able to meet the
minimum specs on for a change compared to my old system (P3 500 Mhz).

I'm running XP home edition, but could upgrade to professional if
needed.

Thanks for any advice.

how much do you want to spend? RAID 0 is fast and dangerous, RAID 1 is more
secure since the drives mirror each other. If you go RAID 0 Be sure and
make images of your array on a regular basis to help prevent data loss. You
can use Ghost, Acronis, etc and be up and running in a matter of minutes if
something goes wongo.

Also, if you do have a drive fail in a RAID 1 setup, then the other drive
can take over while you replace and rebuild the array.

i use Raid 0 for the speed/capacity and keep current images. One of the
drives did fail, but I was able to restore to a single drive and keep
operating until the warranty replacement came in. Then I imaged the drive,
rebuilt the array and restored the image to the array. Just like nothing
ever happened.

YMMV

 

[ruel24]

I'm shopping for parts for a new build to include one of the AMD 64 x2
cpu's and probably one of the Asus 939 PCIe MBs.
Suweeet!

I need advice on the best way to set up the hard drive(s)and what
drives are recommended for the best speed. I see a lot of posts about
Raid with 0, 1, etc and SATA so that seems to be the trend. Are these
difficult to set up?

No. You have to setup the BIOS for it, create a stripe at the BIOS
screen for the disk controller chip, and install the correct driver in
Windows. I had to hit F6 when the Windows installer asked me to for
3rd party drivers, insert a disk with the drivers in the root
directory, and choose the correct one. After that, it installed
perfectly.

I've run RAID for about 4 years now, and I setup my brother's computer
to run RAID and they absolutely kick arse. It's definitely faster
during lots of drive access. Of course, minimal access isn't enough to
see a difference.

My use will be a mix of business work on Excel with small to medium
size files and no large data base work, and also playing some of the
newer games that I hope the new system will be able to meet the minimum
specs on for a change compared to my old system (P3 500 Mhz).

Newer games can be large, and that means lots of disk access to load
them up. RAID 0 will help you speed it up. As far as small file sizes,
you probably won't see much, if any gains, but medium files sizes you
should see some. If you put Windows on the RAID setup, it should load
faster too.

I'm running XP home edition, but could upgrade to professional if
needed.

No need for the RAID, but you will need it to use the dual core
processor. Home edition only works with a single core, from what I
understand. I believe you have to have the Pro version for dual cores
to use SMP (symmetrical multi-processing) and take advantage of it.

 

[ruel24]

how much do you want to spend? RAID 0 is fast and dangerous, RAID 1 is more
secure since the drives mirror each other. If you go RAID 0 Be sure and
make images of your array on a regular basis to help prevent data loss. You
can use Ghost, Acronis, etc and be up and running in a matter of minutes if
something goes wongo.

I agree. I have a 3rd hard drive to backup my files to. I could care
less about backing up my software, as I feel a complete reinstall is
best to get rid of any quirks in the system, though it is a bit more
tedious.

BTW, if you use Nero for burning CD/DVD, they have a great backup tool
as part of that suite, and I believe they've improved it in version 7.

Also, if you do have a drive fail in a RAID 1 setup, then the other drive
can take over while you replace and rebuild the array.

But RAID 1 slows the system tremendously.

 

[sbb78247]

I agree. I have a 3rd hard drive to backup my files to. I could care
less about backing up my software, as I feel a complete reinstall is
best to get rid of any quirks in the system, though it is a bit more
tedious.

BTW, if you use Nero for burning CD/DVD, they have a great backup tool
as part of that suite, and I believe they've improved it in version 7.


But RAID 1 slows the system tremendously.

agreed, but it is safer.

I have not tried the Nero stuff, but TrueImage saved my ass when a drive
failed in the RAID 0 stripe set. Luckily I got a little advance warning,
imaged everything and all was wonderful.

Also if you keep multiple images, you can restore back to a point in time
you knew all was well without having to do a complete reinstall.