which drive is better for OS

[flashmanandy]

hi i currently have my OS on 75gb raptor and wanted to know if i would see a major decrease in performance if i switched to a larger drive

1st WD 75gb Raptor - 1st gen 10,000rpm 8mb cache sata 150
sisoft sandra scores it at
57mbs
7ms access time
with speed varying 100-75% based on position

2nd WD 500gb sata 7,200rpm 16mb cache sata 300
sisoft sandra scores it at
63mbs
13ms access time
with speed varying 100-47% based on position

this info means nothing to me, my question... is there signifcant difference between the drives? i use my machine mainly for gaming but the 75gb fills so fast i end up with games on the 500gb regardless which im sure impacts read times.

thanks
flash

 

[tazeat]

TBH I doubt you will notice much of a real life difference, the sustained transfer rates are almost identical and the low seek time of the Raptor does not come in to play nearly enough for most users to see any noticeable differences in real life tasks.

I'm sure some smartass will come with some random out of the norm task where the Raptor will kill the 500gb, but imho its a pretty rare scenario...

Personally I put 2 cheaper 7200.10 320gb's in raid 0 for my OS drive (and back it up to my multiple storage 500gb drives weekly or so).

 

[flashmanandy]

thanks for reply

yeah thats what was flowing around in my mind

unfortuneately i dont have controllers to raid-0 until northbridge 700 arrives or i get myself a sata controller card

i have 3x500GB WD drives all brimming full which is why i would die for the extra space