Looking for a speedy HDD.

[Krynj]

Just finished the new build (specs in info), and right now, the slowest component in my machine is/are the HDDs. I currently have 2 200GB SATA Maxtor drives, and a WD greenpower 1tb drive.

The plan from the start was to get another HDD a couple months after finished building, and that time could be approaching sooner than anticipated.

So yes. Looking for a fast HDD to install OS on. $300 is the highest I can possibly go, and I'd like it to be at least 200gb. More is always better.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nbowman]

Velociraptor
[/thread]

 

[Krynj]

Are those the best? I've been reading some mixed things about them. That's what I was going to go with in the first place, but, yeah, the mixed feelings about them.

 

[DSF]

Mixed things in what way? In terms of consumer desktop hard drives, that's as fast as it gets.

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: nbowman
Velociraptor
[/thread]

SAS owns all, especiallyl if you are willing to pay $300 for a hard drive

 

[nbowman]

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Originally posted by: nbowman
Velociraptor
[/thread]

SAS owns all, especiallyl if you are willing to pay $300 for a hard drive

aren't those generally quite a bit more than 300 bucks for 200GB+ capacity like the OP wants?

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Originally posted by: nbowman
Velociraptor
[/thread]

SAS owns all, especiallyl if you are willing to pay $300 for a hard drive

Not for single-user apps anymore.

 

[geofelt]

Velociraptor. I installed one, and it DOES make a difference.
It is also quiet, and has been trouble-free.

 

[Keitero]

SAS drives are by far the fastest for around $300. The issue is that you'd need a SAS controller card which will put you over budget. Velociraptors are by far the fastest SATA drives out on the market and they are at $300 a pop ATM.

 

[geofelt]

15k SAS drives are good for servers with lots of random activity. For the typical single user desktop, the velociraptor is much better. The storagereview.com benchmark database shows that the 15k Maxtor-SAS underperforms even the older raptor150 in the Office drivemark 2006 benchmark. The difference, I think, is that the desktop drives have algorithms that recognize typical desktop access patterns.

 

[jkresh]

I went from a raptor x to a velociraptor and the speed difference was noticeable, outside of an ssd it is as fast as you can go (sas drives are faster but cost gets prohibitive and you probalby would want a good sas controller which can be quite expensive)

 

[GeordieLife]

I love my spinpoint F1s...they're fast enough for me! £87.50 for 1Tb I paid yesterday. Bargain!

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: Keitero
SAS drives are by far the fastest for around $300. The issue is that you'd need a SAS controller card which will put you over budget. Velociraptors are by far the fastest SATA drives out on the market and they are at $300 a pop ATM.

This isn't true. Today's SAS/SCSI drives are meant for servers, and have been optimized as such. Using them in a "regular" PC with only one user will not help.

Here is a comparison of the Vraptor, WD Black and Samsung 1Tb drives, and the most recent SCSI and SAS drives.

SR Link

Note the VRaptor is faster then the SAS/SCSI drives in 4 of the 5 single user tests (the 5th it lost by ~5%, which isn't even noticeable). Even the 1Tb drives win 3 of 5 tests over the SCSI/SAS drives.

Looking at how SCSI drives are being optimized for servers, look at this compassion between the 15k.4 and 15k.5. STR and access time have both gotten better with the 15k.5. But notice the multi-user scores have improved, but hte single user scores have gotten *worse*. This is an example of how newer SCSI/SAS drives are *not* good for single users.

SR link

If you want to pay $300 for a SAS drive, then pay ~$200 for a good controller, go right ahead. But you will have spent $500 or so for a drive that will be louder and draw more power then the Vraptor, and still be slower than the Vraptor.

Even the ~$180 1tb Samsung will give you about equal performance to that SAS drive, and you get 3X the storage at 1/3 of the cost.

 

[T9D]

Originally posted by: nbowman
Velociraptor
[/thread]

Thread should have ended here. It's exactly what he wants.

 

[Cutthroat]

Just get the VR, you won't be disappointed. I'm not sure what you heard, but there are no bad things about the drive other than the price.

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: GarfieldtheCat
This is an example of how newer SCSI/SAS drives are *not* good for single users.

How about in a raid setup in single use? I would be wiling to bet SAS will scale helluva alot better than a Vraptor.

I feel if you are willing to spend $300 on a single drive in Sata, you should psosible look at enterprise setups.

You can get 150GB 15k SAS for under $160, pic up a Perc5 card off ebay for around $100 or cheaper if used. You will gain in the end better than a Raptor and the technology and speed won't be totally outdated next year.

I would go smaller for an OS setup though, and just use a f1 for storage. In your setup you want to use a Muscle car for a DD.