View Full Version : What's the fastest harddrive and interface?
Just looking to upgrade my IBM Deskstar 75gxp 60gig HD with a new and much faster drive. I am going to keep the IBM for extra storage but want a bigger and faster drive as my main drive. I have an Abit motherboard with SATA connections in case that's the fastest type of drive out. I heard something abuot the SATA II specification that is supposed to DOUBLE the speed of the SATA bus up to 3 mbs or something like that.
So if anybody could give me some advice on what drive to get, what manufacturer, what interface, if I should wait for something better, etc. that would be great.
Thanks
I.M.O.G.
09-26-03, 11:08 AM
This is the BEST option, if you got the ching-ching:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/WD360GD.asp
Some people around here have mentioned a 72GB raptor, but don't know if thats planned to be coming soon or if people would just like to see one?
I understand the two FASTEST interfaces are SATA and SCSI right now correct?
which one is faster? and which one is best for server machines? Like servers for high traffic web sites and online web applications and also high end file servers?
Can you daisy-chain SATA drives like you can with SCSI ?
Are there new versions of SATA or SCSI that are giong to be coming out soon that I should wait for? what is going to ultimately be the fastest?
Originally posted by squale
I understand the two FASTEST interfaces are SATA and SCSI right now correct?
which one is faster? and which one is best for server machines? Like servers for high traffic web sites and online web applications and also high end file servers?
Can you daisy-chain SATA drives like you can with SCSI ?
Are there new versions of SATA or SCSI that are giong to be coming out soon that I should wait for? what is going to ultimately be the fastest?
Yes, those are the fastest.
As to which is faster, it largely boils down to drives and usage patterns. The Raptors are a good choice for performance for less IO intensive uses and have excellent STR though higher seek times. For server usage, new high end SCSI is still better for IO intensive applications, like database and multiuser scenario operations. SCSI does have other advantages as well, particularly in data integrity, as CRC checks on written data can be implemented.
SATA specification requires serial connections, specifically one drive per channel. SCSI has multiple drives per channel.
SATA-2 and newer SCSI protocols are in the works, including serial attached SCSI, but probably not worth waiting for. Fiber channel SCSI is a current option for performance as well. Costs can truely become astronomical for high end storage.
jamespetts
09-26-03, 11:42 AM
Firstly, if you've got a 75GXP, make sure that you've got IBM's latest firmware for that drive, to stop it from failing suddenly (or at least make it less likely).
Secondly, in theory, the fastest interface is the latest version of SCSI, although note that, with hard drives, the interface is never the determiner of drive speed: a hard drive is almost always much slower than its interface.
The fastest ATA hard drive available at the moment is the Raptor: only the first version of the Raptor is currently available. The second generation, which will be slightly faster, and will have a 72Gb model, will be out in a month or two.
For a server setup, unless you are short of money, SCSI is by far the best choice, as, not only do most SCSI drives have a higher base speed than even the fastest ATA drives (the fastest SCSI drives, for example, have for some time now had a spindle speed of 15k RPM, whereas the latest, greatest SATA Raptor has a speed of 10k RPM), but their firmwares are optimised for server use.
For the desktop, except for some sepcialist applications, becuase of firmware optimisation, the Raptor can in some cases be faster than the SCSI - even where the SCSI equivalent is faster, it is not usually worth it for the gargantuan additional cost (although some enthusiasts - rich enthusiasts - would beg to differ).
There's no point in waiting for the latest, greatest new interface in any case: current hard drives can't produce data anywhere near as fast as current interfaces can handle it, let alone new ones. By the time that the hard drives have cought up, you'll be on to your next computer anyway.
okay so answer me this:
SCSI 320 is the fastest at 350 MB/s transfer rate... then second in like is SATA at 150 MB/s transfer rate...
what is the fastest a HD can put out? Can a HD even be as fast as 150 MB/s ? If not, what is the point in getting SCSI over SATA ?
Secondly, what is the fastest IDE interface? Is SATA much faster than that and worth the upgrade?
Finanlly, what is serial attached SCSI and what does it do? I understand that regular SATA can only have one drive per SATA connection on the motherboard therefore you CAN'T daisy chain the drives together. But doesn't SCSI allow you to Daisey CHain X number of drives all to one SCSI connection on the motherboard?
What do I need to buy if I want a SCSI harddrive to work with my Abit IS7 motherboard? Is it a good idea to do this or do they make actual SCSI motherboards that are better?
The fastest normal transfers close to 80MB/s. Bursts of cached data can go much faster.
The SCSI protocols have some added benefits in terms of data management and security. Reliability has normally been higher in SCSI drives as well. Disk access times can be significantly lower with high end SCSI drives. For a normal user, the benefits usually aren't worth the extra cost.
The fastest PATA interface is UDMA-6 or ATA133 and accepts bursts at up to 133MB/s. It largely has not been accepted by the drive manufacturers and Maxtor may be the only maker producing ATA133 drives. Some people have noticed significant improvements, even when using SATA adapters on PATA drives, in the behavior of their disk subsystems. I haven't experimented with SATA enough to say for sure.
Here's the association website to read about Serial Attached SCSI:
HTTP://www.serialattachedscsi.com/
Current SCSI modes allow up to 15 devices on each channel, with the exception of old narrow interfaces and fiber channel SCSI, which use differing architecture. In general, devices can be attached together, but bus saturation is a possibility as well.(both PCI and SCSI)
Speaking of bus saturation, another reason that SCSI tends to be overkill for end users is the limitation of the PCI 2.0 bus. It's limited to 32bits wide by 33Mhz, which gives a maximum throughput of 133MB/s. Clearly, with high end storage subsystems, the PCI bus will be your bottleneck. The workstation and server planars get around by using faster/wider busses. They range from 64bit 33Mhz at 266MB/s to PCI-X 64 bit by 133Mhz at above a GB/s theoretical transfer speeds.
If you want SCSI, you'll need a controller, cable, terminator, drive and if the drive is listed as SCA, a SCA adapter. Planars that have integrated SCSI are usually going to be either very expensive, lack features that end users want(AGP) or both. Controller cards are usually a better option, as they allow disks and data to be migrated more easily.
so the Abit IS7 only has PCI 2.0 on it right? So getting SCSI wouldn't make sense huh?
can somebody also explain serial interfaces versus parellel interfaces? Like what is the benefit, etc?
Because SCSI 320 and ATA100/133 I understand are all PARALLEL correct?
why is SCSI going over to serial?
Bragging rights and a bit snappier on the OS. Data transfers are a bit faster. I'd probably put the money into a Raptor for the OS on SATA, large IDE for storage and maybe some other toys, if I were building a nonwork system. Work systems, for me, are built on data integrity first. After all, without the data integrity, the system's worthless.
what good is it to put a raptor for the OS and then put a much slower IDE for the rest of your files? Everytime you go to access your files you will then be slowed down due to the slower drive correct?
when you say put the Raptor on the OS, do you also mean to make sure the Raptor drive contains all the installations of your programs too?
Like the only things to put on a spare IDE drive are like your video files, etc. Things like that?
Scott697
09-26-03, 02:11 PM
Heres a link to Maximum PC's October issue, an article called hard drive handbook that should be on the shelves anytime now. I,m a subscriber and have read it already and it answers all the questions you could ask about hard drives, including ten questions answered by the top HD venders.
http://www.maximumpc.com/mag/coming_soon.html
Originally posted by squale
what good is it to put a raptor for the OS and then put a much slower IDE for the rest of your files? Everytime you go to access your files you will then be slowed down due to the slower drive correct?
when you say put the Raptor on the OS, do you also mean to make sure the Raptor drive contains all the installations of your programs too?
Like the only things to put on a spare IDE drive are like your video files, etc. Things like that?
The idea of using PATA IDE for storage on a personal machine is simple economics. Most smaller frequently accessed files, OS and Programs, will reside on the faster disk. Larger and less frequently accessed files, requiring less seeks and more consistent sequential reads, can be placed on a cheaper drive without sacrificing much performance. 200GB IDE is about 165.00, 147GB 10K SCSI is 560.00. A good backup strategy is much less expensive than large SCSI disks.
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