n00b Question on RAID and HDD

**FLaCo** · 05-15-2002

hey guys...i'm another noob...and i might sound stupid...but you guys are prolly used to n00bs asking questions.:D Anyhow. my new setup is going to a be ABit KX7-333R w/ raid my question w/ two WD 80 gig HDD's with 8 mb buffer would that buffer be a conflict with RAID and the other question is that the ATA is 100 not 133 any conflicts with that...Recommendations also valued thanx guys and sorry if i insult you guys with my "n00bness".

**Darthtanion** · 05-15-2002

Welcome aboard! Hopefully you'll find that you don't have to worry too much about questions you have when trying something new. We'll help as much as we can. :)

The ATA rating is nothing more than the maximum theoretical throughput that you can expect to see. It is unlikely that you'll ever get in this range. That said, all of the ATA133 controllers are backwards compatible with earlier technologies. You'll be safe in this regard.

As for the large buffer, I can't say for sure because I've not used two WD drives in a RAID, but there should be no problems with it. The buffer is nothing more than a means holding extra data that you'll need soon so that it can have it ready to transfer to the system faster than searching for it on the drive platters. The benefit of a RAID 0 setup is that it can do this with two drives at the same time. I can't think of a reason that it would conflict with the array.

**FLaCo** · 05-15-2002

Thanks for your understanding and your reply...Greatly Appreciated :) Darth what would you recommend a Maxtor 133 ?

**Darthtanion** · 05-15-2002

Just because a drive is ATA133 doesn't mean it is faster. As of the last time I checked the speeds, the WD Special Edition drives have been smoking all competitors hands down. They should do extremely well in a RAID setup.

My second choice would be the Seagate drives. They're reasonably proced and manage to keep pretty close in the speed department when compared to the WD monsters.

**Morgan_Lander** · 05-15-2002

I guess I should add that the Seagates have had some trouble in RAID 0 configurations, but I hear there are gonna be some new ones shipping that have the problem fixed. The WD 8meg drives are supposed to have SCSI-like performance in certain areas.

**FLaCo** · 05-16-2002

Yea i know thats what got me hooked on those 8MB WD Hard Drives...thx guys...i guess i'll give them a try i found them for US$134 (80 GB 8MB) each. Anyone found anything cheaper (online)?:bounce:

**FLaCo** · 05-16-2002

One more thing...do you guys think...i should have some sort of cooling on these two WD drives...if so...what do you recommend?

**Morgan_Lander** · 05-16-2002

I've never had any cooling on any WD and they've never failed yet. If you feel the need to Vantec, among other companies, makes hard drive coolers that you screw onto the bottom of the drive.