Best drives for 2x RAID-0 ?

[jmphx]

I currently have a 2x 250GB SATA RAID-0 setup, but one drive is being reported as having issues by the intel matrix manager software..

I'm thinking of getting a pair of new drives. What are the fastest (non-Raptor) drives on the market right now? I hear the 640GB WD's have quite the rep for performance, but a 1.2TB volume just isn't necessary for me. I'm mainly into the RAID-0 game for performance (yes, I fully understand the increased data loss risk).

thanks

 

[Kaldskryke]

Judging by your signature, I'm assuming your RAID-0 array is in your gaming computer. Unfortunately, RAID-0 doesn't magically double gaming-related disc performance, although HDTach might lead you to think that way. The truth is that a single 640GB drive is likely faster than your current array. If you don't really need 640GB, then the 300GB VelociRaptor would be even better. Might I ask why you're opposed to raptors?

 

[jmphx]

This box is my general-purpose home computer and gaming computer, yes. I also work with a lot of large files (.rar's, iso's, etc) and a lot of vmware disk images. I understand the speed of raid-0 won't help during app load or game loading too much, but I like the aggregated throughput increase I get when working sequentially on large files.

I'm only opposed to the Raptors because of price.. My day job is IT, so I like to leave "getting raped on storage prices" at the office and get as close to commodity/COTS prices as possible at home =) While $1/gb would be phenomenal for some of my storage systems at work, I find it a little high for my home machine.

It seems to me that you can usually out-perform a Raptor with pretty much any 2xRAID-0 setup, in terms of throughput.. latency of course will always be better w/ a 10k raptor than a 7.2k generic drive.

.. hence, why I am leaning towards a 2x 7200rpm RAID-0 set..

Newegg sells the 640GB WD for $99, and the velociraptor for around $300, I think. I may go for 2x 640GB's, since I'm comfortable with my data protection strategy. $200 isn't too bad.