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Question about HD setup

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Benji

Registered
Joined
Mar 2, 2005
Location
Louisiana
I am considering buying (2) WD 74GB Raptors...I would use one Raptor to boot up Windows XP Pro. The left over space on that HD, I would use for my games I play. On my second Raptor, I would put all of my software/programs (Photoshop CS / Fruityloops ...and so on). I have a ton of music and pictures, and was wondering if it was a good idea to get a 120GB SATA HD for storage.
 
Welcome to the forums!

It depends on your budget and need for space and speed. There's no harm in having more drives, unless your power supply is overstressed. I run configs from a single HDD to 9 HDDs depending on usage and excluding external arrays. The second Raptor may be overkill in some people's eyes, but I have similarly set up SCSI systems.
 
Well....In my computer right now, I have a 120 GB Seagate SCSI... is there any way for me to hook up a raptor and the SCSI in raid 0? It would save me $.
 
Cross interface RAIDs are usually impossible. The controllers are simply not meant to translate communication protocols. Performance would be exceptionally adversely affected.

Which model is the Seagate? The size seems a bit off for the models I'm familiar with. Normally, there are 73 and 146GB drives in SCSI. The 120GB Seagate sounds more like an IDE interface. If it's a PATA or SATA IDE drive, then matching the drive and either using an onboard or PCI RAID controller would be a less expensive alternative. Please post the model of the HDD and the motherboard as well. This will allow a clearer view of the alternatives.
 
Well, I know that I have onboard Raid controller. I also have onboard SCSI crap. All I know is that its FIC. I don't hvae the model for anything, but my mobo is fried... Let me tell you the story!

I was at a friends...we formated my comp. SCSI is a pain in the butt to format, because of drivers, and whatnot. Well, he had to open my case to put another HD in for some reason...One of my fan wires had a crack in it, and it touched my mobo, and fried it... For like 6 months the whole PC wouldn't get power, then one day my dad suggested that I try to boot it up... I pushed the power button, and it worked...I know its amazing, but ever since then, my comp has gone to crap. I am getting a summer job, and all the $ from that will go to my new computer.
 
That may be the source of confusion. FIC has models with onboard RAID controllers. These are, as far as I've ever seen, IDE. The situation becomes easily confused when Device Manager considers the RAID controller as a SCSI device. The driver for the RAID controller typically needs to be installed by hitting F6 during the install and this perpetuates the confusion. Likely, the drive is actually IDE, but Windows has confused the issue.

Since you've had intermittent problems with the computer, I'd recommend opening the case and verifying that all of the connectors are tight and that there is no other exposed wiring. While inside, get the model number of the HDD to check it's performance. It may be fine to use as a secondary drive, if you go to the Raptor for a boot drive.

Decent speed storage can be done on a budget. Just read some threads and compare people's experiences(search is a good tool for finding information as well). From that, decide what you need in a system. Assess what you have and what you need, then fine tune the requirements or work towards them.
 
Thanks for your help man. I am really surprised that theres isn't a lot of flaming going on in here. GJ to OC staff for moderating the forums! :D
 
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