Upgrading my storage situation

[kaiweiler]

Not sure what I should do...
I currently have 2x250gb drives running in a Raid-0 array and I want some more storage.
I want to move up to at least 1TB, but I'm not sure if I should get a 500gb drive and run all the drives with no Raid, or keep my boot on 2 250gb and have the 500gb just storage.
Or try and sell my two 250gb drives and get a single 1tb drive or something...
The other option I guess is to get two more 250gb drives and run them all in Raid, which is definitely the most dangerous way for risk of losing my data, although I have never had a drive fail on me before knowing my luck it would happen when I have all 4 drives in an array..
So what should I do? I like the idea of having fewer drives because I aim to make my PC as quiet as possible.

 

[jdraughn]

I would get 2 500GB drives or 1 1TB drive for your storage, and sell 1 of your 250s or raid them both and boot of it.

newegg has an external 1TB drive for 240 with 20 rebate. That makes it not a whole lot more expensive then 2 500GB drives.

If you were to get the 1TB external drive you can put one of your 250s in it for an external harddrive.

so, 240.00 =
1. 250GB drive to boot off and install programs.
2. 1TB drive to store data on.
3. 1 250GB external drive so you can easily move large amounts of data between computers.

Only problem is no data redundancy, but that would at least double the cost.

 

[kaiweiler]

Nice idea, I don't really have a use for external though.
I found a Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 750gb drive for $169 Canadian, which seems like a very good deal and it seems to get really good reviews everywhere I've read.
There's only a few left in stock though.
Think I should order one of these or maybe wait until the 640gb drives come out I've heard of...due sometime in February?
the Hitachi has a 32mb cache as well...

 

[DonDon]

The problem with having this hobby, is that there is always something newer and faster and shinier just around the corner. When you are ready to buy, just shop for the best deal you can get then, otherwise you put off the upgrade forever waiting for the next better thing.

As far as your current situation, many of the newer large capacity drives are very fast too, thanks to the increased storage density of the platters. To meet all of your parameters, I would pick up the Hitachi 750, make a 100 gig or so partition for your OS and programs, and use the rest as a single Data partition. That way, if your OS gets hosed (not as big a problem as it used to be,) you can easily reinstall it without moving massive amounts of data around. Get rid of the 2 smaller drives to save heat and noise.

Don