RAID or not?

[Jetboy55]

Im building a new Thunderbird 1.33. Im building for gaming and home video editing out to VCD's or SVCD's. Not sure yet between video capture devices, but maybe Dazzle DVC2 or Radeon AIW? Anyway, Im trying to decide between a single really good drive like the IBM Deskstar 75GXP (is GXP correct?) 75gb, or getting two Maxtor Diamond Max 40 40gb drives on sale at CompUSA for 99$ each and running them in a RAID 0 configuration. They are 5400RPM drives, ATA66. Ive read alot about RAID 0, but seem to get different impressions each time. First it seems RAID isnt all that helpfull, then it seems RAID 0 would be helpfull in situations like video editing and capture. Can anyone shed some light on this subject for me? How about your experiences with RAID 0, or using either solution in video capture and editing? Thanks.

 

[JPS]

RAID 0 would help by speeding up your overall acess time to the HDD's. Best bet, get 2 GXPs (whatever size you like) and set them up RAID 0.

Note: you are not improving data integrity by using RAID 0, just decreasing HDD access times.

HTH

 

[Jetboy55]

Thanks, anyone else have comments? I understand that RAID 1 or 0+1 is better for security, but Im just concerned with performance. Thanks.

 

[LeeBear]

You're better off getting the IBM 75GXP. A RAID 0 setup with two of the 5400rpm Maxtor drive would probably give you a slightly higher increase in sustained transfer rate, but not much more then the single IBM drive, but the IBM drive will give you much quicker access time because it's a 7200 rpm drive, and it's not in a RAID 0 configuration. In a RAID 0 configuration the access time is determined by the slowest drive. If you are thinking about getting a 75 GB IBM drive, why not instead buy two 30 or 45 GB IBM drives and put them in a RAID 0 configuration instead? Last time I checked two of the 30 GB drives cost less then one 75 GB, and two 45 GB doesn't cost much more. Besides Storage Review has tested the 75 GB IBM drive and it tested slower then it's smaller capicity siblings... probably due to the extra weight of the platters and actuators. My recommendation is to pick up two of the smaller IBM drives. That's what I've got in my system hooked up to a cheap $15 modified Promise Fasttrak66 controller.

-LeeBear