Quote:
Originally Posted by LoganSnake
I have optical drives, but they're IDE. Can I still use them in the new machine or do I need new ones? I might be able to swing $700. My b-day's next week and I'm expecting some money coming my way.
Also, I've never used RAID. What are the advantages of having 2 HDs in RAID 0? So they show up as a single 1TB hard drive? Also, if one fails, does the other fail too resulting in a massive loss of data?
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RAID 0 splits the data evenly between the two disks in order to double performance. The loss of data security is the trade-off; the MTBF is effectively halved. Even so, given that you already have an external hard drive, I think this might be your best option, as Raptors are crazy expensive and have had some major reliability issues in the past. Mission critical data should always be backed up anyway.
Most current motherboards have at least one PATA connector on-board, so if you don't do a lot of DVD burning you can keep your current optical drives. If you do plan on burning a lot of discs though, I'd recommend the upgrade for the speed benefit.
Lasereth's wish list is quite good, but I'd drop the optical drive (again, unless you really need it) and add in one or two
Western Digital 320 GB drives as budget allows.