Western Digital Raptors versus RAID Arrays - The Comparison
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The Comparison
Throughout this chapter we will discuss the pros and cons of these two setups. Three kinds of home users are going to be able to find answers to their dilemmas. First, the user that aims for ultimate speed gains and neglects fault tolerance because s/he won't be planning to store critical data long-term. Second, the user that wants improved fault tolerance sacrificing the speed gains. Third, the user that is willing to afford the best bang for the buck on both fields.
We want performance! We want speed! "How does a WD Raptor perform versus a RAID 0 built for performance (via striping scheme) by, say, 2x 7200 RPM Seagate Barracudas?" Keep in mind that here we do not focus on competition between Seagate and Western Digital; instead, we are emphasizing the different storage solutions. You could pretty much build the RAID 0 with WD, Samsung or Fujitsu drives, too.
The most crucial downside to RAID 0 is, once again, fault tolerance. Because the data is striped between the identical drives in the array, if one of them fails, the data that was stored on the "whole array" (both drives) will become unrecoverable.
Nothing beats the random access time of Raptors. Booting an operating system (e.g., Windows) becomes enjoyable (if the OS is not extremely tweaked to minimize seek times). Also, don't forget that most of the latest games use compressed data files and, therefore, iwhen loading new levels or maps, chances are that the data is sequential. In addition, the CPU must uncompress the files and ultimately other factors get involved (RAM speed, latencies, CPU speed, etc.).
Furthermore, in pure throughput, it is quite understandable that a RAID 0 built up by 2x 7,200 RPM modern HDDs may outperform 1x 10,000 RPM WD Raptor, but that should not let you down. Unfortunately, it is very rare that the data is so linearly stored that this potential can be exploited to the fullest. This is true even though copying, moving and accessing "medium to larger chunks of data" will be faster on RAID 0 due to its "striping," if the data is not intensively fragmented (remember: use defrag apps!).
In real-world daily computer usage, a user rarely benefits from a RAID 0 set up. How often do you work on few gigabytes of data that are linear and sequential? Rarely, if ever! That's why in daily computing I'd recommend the WD Raptor. It spins on 10,000 RPM, so as a result of this and firmware optimizations, its random access time and seek time are way lower; it is excellent quality and offers the ultimate in performance. Chances are also far lower that one drive (WD Raptor) will die than two (2x 7,200 RPM modern drives).
As a side note I want to point out that to get the most out of a RAID array, you'd need a high end RAID controller. Onboard just won't cut it. You may gain up to a twofold performance increase by using a dedicated high-end RAID controller. I'd suggest PCIe controllers marketed under the name Promise Technology and Adaptec et cetera.
Another note of warning: if you were to choose a RAID array setup, then by all means, don't forget to watch the temperature of the drives on a frequent basis. During intensive and extended usage a RAID tends to get hotter than a WD Raptor drive. If this is the case, then it is advisable to buy aftermarket HDD cooling or improve airflow.
Next: Final Words >>
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