HDD space dilemma, need your thoughts

[DoomUK]

OK, currently I have an 180GB ATA-100 HDD (Hitachi Deskstar 180GXP), as in sig. And I feel the need for more storage headroom.

Should I:-

a) Simply buy another PATA HDD, say a 200GB sized one for a bargain of around £60, and arrange both HDD's on RAID 0.

or

b) Buy a brand new SATA HDD as a single replacement, a 300GB+ one for around £150 (transfering all my data with Norton Ghost or whatever, haven't got to that stage yet ).

Money is an issue btw; I'm reluctant to spend silly amounts on a large 10,000 RPM SATA drive (or a server-quality SCSI drive, for that matter), even with the marginal performance I'd gain. Loading times aren't horrible attall with my current HDD, as long as I won't lose any performance with a second PATA on RAID 0.

 

[PZEROFGH]

i say buy another pata hdd and dont put them in raid and just use both as storage. cause raid will only let you use the size of the smaller drive which is 180 obviously

 

[TheMajor]

Forget about SCSI, since you are on a budget and need space. Get another PATA and put them in RAID0.

 

[DoomUK]

Hmmm... Opinions are somewhat divided on RAID 0, it seems .

 

[aj2003]

I use raid0 and it is faster but for storage its not really worth the time and effort of transferings your data accross. I would say get another 200 or 250 but keep it as a stand alone drive. Put all your data on the 250 and keep the 180 for your games, programs and windows.

 

[PZEROFGH]

yes just buy 2 hdd and just put them by themselves with no raid.

180GB should have the OS and IMPORTANT games. maybe some files

then the 250GB for just everything else

 

[EricB]

yes just buy 2 hdd and just put them by themselves with no raid.

180GB should have the OS and IMPORTANT games. maybe some files

then the 250GB for just everything else

I agree. you are trading speed for reliability. raid setup are more prone to crashing, even the mirror setup

 

[DoomUK]

Allright, thanks for the input guys. I'm pretty much settled on a second PATA for now, maybe when I put my second budget/back-up system together I'll invest in a nice big SATA for my primary system.