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If you build a new PC, make sure you get 2 HDs: One fast and one big

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mouser:
From a recent experience I want to try to argue that when you build your next PC, you do not just go buy a giant Hard Drive for it.

Instead, buy TWO hard drives:

* One pricey but fast for your C drive (operating system and program files) - The Western Digital 10,000 RPM, 150gb drives are about $180.
* One cheap but big for your Data and for Backup and Scratch use - Lots of 500gb-750gb, 7200rpm drives to be had for $200 and under.
The reason for this approach is several-fold:

* The super fast C drive really does make a difference.  I think it's probably one of the most cost-effective ways to speed up your computer in terms of real world use.
* Having two drives lets you backup from C to D and from D to C, so that your task of performing regular backups is really easy and fast and you can protect yourself in the case that one drive fails.

cranioscopical:
I'd prefer two fast; one for the system, one for the program files.
Then something large for data etc.

f0dder:
Be sure to get two large drives and set them up in a RAID mirror... the larger your drives, the more data you lose when it goes down. You'll also want a 80mm or 120mm intake fan located right in front of your drives, and obviously you'll want to do backups as well, because RAID isn't a replacement for backup.

The Raptor drives are pricey, but I sure do like my 73gig model (if I get the (relatively small sum of) money that I'm expecting, I'm buying one more next week). You might argue that other not as spendy drives have reached (and perhaps even beaten, if ever so slightly) Raptors in raw transfer rate, but not seek time... and that does matter.

When I finally get money for a new box, I'll run two raptor drives and use Intel's RAID MATRIX to have both RAID-MIRROR and RAID-STRIPE, without needing four drives...

PS: backing up to another drive in the same computer is not good enough, even if it's two physical drives. You'll want to backup to a fileserver, external usb/firewire/esata disk, etc. And if you really want to be safe, to a remote location as well.

</rant>

cranioscopical:

vegas:
From a recent experience I want to try to argue that when you build your next PC, you do not just go buy a giant Hard Drive for it.

Instead, buy TWO hard drives:

* One pricey but fast for your C drive (operating system and program files) - The Western Digital 10,000 RPM, 150gb drives are about $180.
* One cheap but big for your Data and for Backup and Scratch use - Lots of 500gb-750gb, 7200rpm drives to be had for $200 and under.
The reason for this approach is several-fold:

* The super fast C drive really does make a difference.  I think it's probably one of the most cost-effective ways to speed up your computer in terms of real world use.
* Having two drives lets you backup from C to D and from D to C, so that your task of performing regular backups is really easy and fast and you can protect yourself in the case that one drive fails.-mouser (December 04, 2007, 04:08 PM)
--- End quote ---

I couldn't agree more.  I built my last main system using a 76gig 10,000 RPM WD Raptor, no regrets. Only way to go, barring a steep investment in SCSI.  I am about to build again and I am going to remove my second hard drive (200gb Seagate) which I've used for overflow storage (as it just creates more heat inside the computer) and move it externally.  I too, plan on buying the 150gb Raptor this time, and may sacrifice internal case heat and get a second WD Raptor to run in the RAID that uses only 2 drives, but includes parity for some performance increase (can't remember which that is).

I believe myself and others have saved much drive life keeping documents that arent accessed more than a couple times a week on an external drive.  Best way is to buy the drive & enclosure separately.  I recommend Seagate because of their 5-year warranty, also because they aren't any worse than anyone else out there.  All manufacturers have some failures at some point.  I also recommend staying away from 750gb+ drives as their failure rate is much higher than 120-500gb drives, to date.   Build your own external drive even though the retail enclosed drives sell so cheaply now, for one reason because the drive inside only comes with a 1-year warranty.  AMS Venus DS3 Series of drive enclosures, as seen here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332012) or here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817145656) have been extremely reliable.   I have built over 20 computers in the last 3 years, and have put together more than 35 externals for people, including myself to store music, video collections, ebooks, scanned documents and various other files.   For anyone that says the warranty means nothing because the drive is worthless if it crashes and loses data, so I'll just buy the cheaper drive:  9 out of 10 failed disks can be recovered with software and are not a crippling mechanical failure,  plus 5 years is a long time to be covered for.

Oh yeah and don't forget your <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017">Quad Core Processor</a> baby! The only way to go for multi-tasking whores like everyone here. ;)

edit: grammar

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