| Hard Drives and Screaming Arses | |
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Trebizond - ex-Student  |
Alright, this post doesn't really have anything to do with Screaming Arses. Not that I even know what they are. Possibly a German death metal outfit. But anyway.
I'm looking for some advice and some opinions. I do so love my 'puter, but its being let down a bit by the hard-drive. Let me give a run-down on it; Abit BW-7 Raid MoBo P4 1.7 gHz 640Mb SDRAM Ati Radeon 9000Pro 128Mb Audigy1 Cable Broadband 12.1Gb IBM DJSA HDD I'm running Windows ME; have tried XP but didn't really take to it. May try it again the future 
See what I mean? Anyway, I've decided to splash out on a new HDD. Considering I can't afford to change the Mobo at the moment, ATA133 or Serial ATA drives would be redundant. So its going to be an ATA100 drive, in the 40GB range, with 7200rpm spin. Anyway, I'm wanting people's opinions on drives - basically, Maxtor, Western Digital or Seagate? Right, next bit of the question. My BW-7 has got RAID capability. I know exactly what RAID does, but I've read a few things about it which seem to dismiss it slightly. Most importantly, it seems you really need two very similar HDs to make it work well, and an ATA66 12.1gig and a ATA100 40gb aren't exactly the same. I have heard that it is sometimes just as good to use the two drives separately, and put all the system files on one and all game/data etc files on the other. Opinions? Which would I do well to put the system on? I'd be thinking the 12.1 because Windows can pretty much load up into my 640mb RAM. Am I a deluded fool? Advice appreciated
Take it easy Treb _______________ "He asked us 'Be you angels?' and we said 'Nay! We are but Men!'" |
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| Comments |
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Trebizond - Ex-Student 
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Thanks people. . . . I'm thinking that the drives may be too different to RAID them up, and I don't want to lose everything if one drive goes down. I'm going to put Windows and my applications (Office etc.) on my 12.1gb drive (not too concerned about fast accesses for Word). I'm going to buy a Maxtor DiamondMac Plus 8 40gb and put all my games, music and videos on that one.
Thanks for the advice, (even if I'm not following it :p) take it easy Treb _______________ "He asked us 'Be you angels?' and we said 'Nay! We are but Men!'" |
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DJ Sith - Jedi Council 
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You don't need to use the RAID controller. I use Maxtor and western Digital drives. _______________ My car is made of Nerf. |
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Battlin' Billy - Student 
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I believe with the RAID array, the drives MUST be identical. I forget exactly what RAID level you would use to use them as 1 HD. If your MB has another regular IDE channel, you can hook the 12G drive to that and use it for data(unless the drive is failing). You'll increase drive access speed with the 2 HDs on the RAID (great for gaming).
As far as brand, I've alway gone with Western Digital and have no complaints. Just avoid getting an "Uncle Joe's Hard Drive Company" type of drive and you should be OK. I'm a PC Tech, so if you have any other questions, you can email me or catch me on AIM. _______________ Midbie Council Member #2 - Profile ID 2073 | Member of B@rtM@ulS@ar | Owner of Monty's 2000th comment & D@RtHM@UL's 8100th comment | Former Padawan of SilkMonkey & Arcuss JA Goaltender & NHL Fan | Fellow Rush fan to Axion|Plo Koon is my oldest JA friend Post your RL pics HERE! | Post you JK2/JK3 screenies HERE! |
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Kalheka - Student 
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Just get the ata100 dude, you will be glad you did I think. Simply replace the 12 gig drive. That's my advice. _______________ Death is only the beginning. This comment was edited by Kalheka on Mar 08 2003 03:03pm. |
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Oppo - Ex-Student 
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How did u afford that graphics card? How much did it cost, cuz i'd love to get that! |
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