HDD question

[apsoul]

I'm looking for a HDD for my computer, and I was originally planning on getting the WD Black 640GB 64MB cache, but while looking on newegg i noticed the WD RE4 250GB 64MB cache. I understand the RE4 drives were designed primarily for server use, but with the smaller capacity, same cache size and rpm shouldn't the RE4 have better performance? I couldn't find anything other than user reviews for the RE4. I will not be needing a lot of storage space, but if i did in the future then i could always buy another (maybe a blue/green series). The drive i buy now will be my only drive, therefor OS, programs, etc. will all be on there.

 

[brinks]

I think the RE4 will perform similar to the Black in terms of speed. However the RE4 should be more reliable, than the Black.

 

[apsoul]

do you think this drive is greatly overpriced? It is the same cost as the WD 500gb black that i linked in original post. Does anyone know if that 500gb drive is single platter?

when running a raid 5 setup (if i recall correctly that is pretty much 2 drives in raid 0 and a third drive as backup) will i see a significant performance drop as compared to a raid 0 setup or does the computer handle the data transfer to/from the third drive separately?

 

[kmote]

It's not overpriced for a server drive, but I don't see any good reason you would put one in your desktop. RAID 5 is not a RAID 0 with a backup drive.