Raptor WD740 vs Samsung Raid!?

[Sean]

Hi,
I currently have a raid-0 system consisting of two Samsung 160gig SATA
drives (well, technically one of them is PATA and I've converted it to SATA
but isn't that what samsung does anyway!? )

I was reading pages about the Raptor WD740 drive and constantly wiping the
drool from my keyboard while looking at the benchmarks..
I do not have the money to splash out on two Raptors just yet, but was
thinking of getting one just for the moment (and using the samsungs as extra
storage)

my question... for general use, gaming, etc etc .. will the Raptor run
faster on its own compared to the Raided Samsungs!?

thanks for any helpful advice!

Sean

 

[Wayne Youngman]

my question... for general use, gaming, etc etc .. will the Raptor run
faster on its own compared to the Raided Samsungs!?

Hi,
one 74GB Raptor will be plenty fast, but the Raided drives will offer better
STR. For general use (surfing etc ) the single Raptor should be a tad
faster with less risk. I use 2x 36GB Raptors in ICH5R RAID-0 and thats fast
enough for me, benchmarks are only so useful!

 

[Sean]

Hey, since you're talking about the 36gb raptors... are they really as loud
as the review sites make them out to be!?

Sean

 

[Shailesh Humbad]

Hey, since you're talking about the 36gb raptors... are they really as loud
as the review sites make them out to be!?

Sean

I have two 36gb drives (raid-0) in my computer, and I can't hear them
idling under the din of the seven case fans, two psu fans, cpu fan,
and video card fan. I have to strain to hear them when they are
active. I don't notice any meaningful difference between them and
many other drives I had in there.

BTW, to the OP, I'd go with a dual 160GB raid-0 over a single WD740.
I think you'll have an overall better experience (just make sure to
backup your data regularly).

 

[Wayne Youngman]

Hey, since you're talking about the 36gb raptors... are they really as loud
as the review sites make them out to be!?

I have two 36gb drives (raid-0) in my computer, and I can't hear them
idling under the din of the seven case fans, two psu fans, cpu fan,
and video card fan.

LOL!

Ain't that the truth
But for anyone considering buying a Raptor I must say they do make a
constant high-pitched *whine* from the moment they are powered on. It's
very high-frequency so it may not be noticeable by all people. The noise
the drives make when reading/writing data is cool! sounds like a deep
*growl*.

I will get my hands on a 74GB version at some point, as I am reading allot
of positive feedback on how they perform. For my uses 2x 36GB Raid-0 is
faster then a single 74Gb version. If you don't need massive STR then a
single 74GB Raptor should keep you happy, very fast access times and a
little more safe than RAID-0. . .