Since my mb doesnt support SATA Raid, how do i combine 2 drives

[CandymanCan]

I just got my Raptor in and the 36gb isnt enough space for me, I need something around 60GB, but since the 120gb HDD's are pretty cheap nowadays i was thinking of getting a WD 120gb SATA drive and using it for storage and the raptor for speed.

How do i go about in doing this ? Do i need to reformatt my Raptor with the WD and split the partitions into 2 section one with 36gb and the other with 120gb or is thier another way aof doing this? .

How do i do make my 120gb a dump for installing games and stuff without affecting the speed of my Raptor?

[fabulouscoops]

That is my exact setup. Just use the raptor as C: for OS and a few programs and put everything else on the 120 GB drive formated as Drive D:
You should not RAID the drives anyway since you will waste 85 GB of the larger drive.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

just use the raptor as a C (for OS/games) and the 120 as a D (for storage/other games). When installing windows, just format the raptor, install windows, then seperately install the 120 and format it through windows, no partitioning/fancy stuff needed

[CandymanCan]

Ok so sincei just installed Windows on my raptor when i get the 120gig just hook it up and formatt it through windows? How do i formatt in windows sorry iv never done this before.

If i install games on the bigger HDD will it then affect the speed on my raptor cuss it has to load the game from that hdd ?

[fabulouscoops]

After you install the drive boot up and right click on the drive icon and click "format..."

Game loading will be slightly slower on the 7200 rmp drive than it would be on the 10,000rpm raptor. But the raptor itself will not be slowed down at all. If you are worried about that extra 5 or 6 seconds of load time on bigger games, then install your latest games on the raptor and play from there. When you move on to another game uninstall and reinstall on the slower drive.

[CandymanCan]

Ok i c now so whatever is installed or on the slower 120gig will run on that HDD's speed, and whatever is installed or on the Raptor will run on the raptors speed right ? Sounds easy enough to me.

Btw does it matter which HDD i buy it doesnt have to be a WD 120gig does it, cuss thier are others like the Hitachi or maxtor that are faster and cheaper. If mixing brands isnt good then Ill buy a WD to match my raptor

[hafa]

Btw does it matter which HDD i buy it doesnt have to be a WD 120gig does it, cuss thier are others like the Hitachi or maxtor that are faster and cheaper. If mixing brands isnt good then Ill buy a WD to match my raptor

You can mix/match drives any way you please. Doing so will not cause any problems. And BTW, congrats on finding miss Kitty! :bday:

[CandymanCan]

Thx


Actually do you think, if i buy another 36gb raptor and buy a SATA Raid PCI device so i can raid them would be a better idea?. Keep in mind i really only need around 60gb of HDD space.

Would i notice any real loading time and install time diff with raid ?

[hafa]

I think that you'd be better off saving your money and buying a 74G Raptor. A better drive all around than the 36G and then you'd avoid the latency and reliability issues inherent in RAID 0.

[CandymanCan]

Well i just orderd this 36gb and got it like 3 days ago if i had known iwas ganan get more money in the last 2 days i would have waited and gotten a 74gb Raptor but oh well. Or do you mean just buy the 73gb Raptor and just use both for the storring stuff ect instead of getting a 120gb 7200rpm drive ?

[hafa]

...Or do you mean just buy the 73gb Raptor and just use both for the storring stuff ect instead of getting a 120gb 7200rpm drive ?

That would work; you may wish to install your OS on the 74G and keep the 36G for excess storage. This would provide you with the fastest access to all files and programs.

Alternately, you could keep your 36 and just get a 120G (I'd get a 200G; a better value right now) if you don't need extremely fast access times for the files on the larger drive.This would provide you with the "biggest bang for the buck"

[CandymanCan]

Ok man thanx ALOT for help, and thx to everyone else, I will decide later on what i'll get, and yea i noticed ur right about the 200Gb, but i just hate when u buy a 200gb drive iwill actually only have around 140-150i think, cuss a friend of mine just got his 160gb HDD and he was shocked that it only reports as 125gb

[hafa]

...i just hate when u buy a 200gb drive iwill actually only have around 140-150i think, cuss a friend of mine just got his 160gb HDD and he was shocked that it only reports as 125gb

Your friend probably needs to ensure that the drive is set properly in the bios. 200G drives should report in windows at or near 190G, while a 120 will report at or near 111G

[CandymanCan]

One more question have u had any experiance with Newegg's refurb's, i was looking at the HDD's on that and the 120gb Seagate SATA 7200 8mb cache is only $67, It runs @ a 8.5ms time which is better then all the other drives like maxtor WD ect, and price is awsome.

Should i try a refurb or is that a bad idea for a HDD?

[lithker]

i bought two 160gb SATA hds refurb seagates at newegg for $90 each. i am very happy with them and they both have the full 5 year warrenty. the only thing i dont like is they have a lot louder seek noise then my 80gb PATA seagate.

btw newegg has some spec wrong all seagate sata are 8.5ms

[CandymanCan]

whats the diff btween the 2 120gb SATA seagate's that have the same model number cept the last letters and numbers on one is A and the other is AS and another is AS-RK

[lithker]

A = IDE, AS = SATA, RK = retail kit

[CandymanCan]

oh ok