Hello, I’m looking to upgrade my computer. I currently have two WD RE2 drives, 250gb each in a RAID0. It’s a home computer, nothing enterprise and I want to buy two new Black edition, 750GB each. My question is would this be a good choice as far as reliability is concerned? The computer won’t be used 24/7 but I do play games and like to have a snappy system. RE2s have been great for almost 5 years now, and would like the same reliability from another pair of WDs but RE4 is kind of expensive for me.
I have a caviar black and am satisfied with it. are you planning to raid them? if so, I’d consider using velociraptors, they are fast. I’m using one in my pc, now and I really like it.
I have two RE2s in a RAID0 configuration so the blacks would be in RAID of course. Velociraptors are kind of pointless, they’re smaller capacity and more expensive, and let’s not forget about that noise. So, would two Black editions be suitable for a RAID0 configuration that would be consumer level reliable? (I also have a third HDD just for backups, but its external)
I want something blazing fast, wih a large capacity and not expensive, but not mainstream (i.e. Blues, and Greens - the RMA tops)
RaithK wrote:I want something blazing fast, wih a large capacity and not expensive,
You can’t have all three. 
Are you upgrading the whole computer or just the disks?
What is your budget?
How much fast storage do you need?
What hardware are you using now?
If you want all three at what I think is a good value: Intel Z68 chipset (for the Rapid Storage Technology) + 64GB SSD (caching) + single 7200RPM disk that meets your storage requirements.
I couldn’t be happier with my setup (built it 2 months ago):
i5-2500K, Z68 chipset
128 GB SSD (64GB caching, 55GB System and C: Windows + some programs)
WD 2002FAEX (D: programs, E: data)
The caching makes the 2TB HDD run like an SSD, keeping what I’m using at the ready. I have 205 games + programs installed (610 GB) and they launch instantly. Level loads take about a second (I never see a progress bar move); my online games are loaded/ready before the server is ready/still transferring zone data (25MB Internet connection). My wife said it feels like the program is run before she’s done clicking the mouse. I boot to an idle desktop faster than it takes the motherboard to POST.
With SSD caching, RAID0 is inconsequential. Using a non-SSD computer now feels like things take forever.
Well my setup is a bit old, I have a Core 2 Duo since 2007, and the MB is a nForce 7 with Nvidia RAID and two WD RE 250GB HDDs in RAID0.
How did you manage to setupt caching on the SSD? Is it a feature of Intel Rapid Storage, and do I need an Intel SSD? My budget is pretty low, but I could afford just the SSD and add it to my current array.
For SSD caching, you need the Z68 chipset, which means a new motherboard…which means a new CPU and memory as well. You do not need an Intel brand SSD; any brand will work.
I replaced the C2D P965 I built in 2005; it wasn’t cutting it for gaming anymore.
An inexpensive option available to you now is not unlike SSD caching: ReadyBoost. Get the largest flash drive you can find (up to 32 or 64 GB; I can’t remember what ReadyBoost’s max is) and set it to “make my system faster” at the AutoPlay prompt. Windows will preemptively cache based on your habits.
And, if you haven’t already, be sure your partitions are defragmented. Personally, I like MyDefrag (free) for 1) it’s tested as the fastest (up there with Diskeeper) and 2) you can modify/write your own scripts.
Other than that, I wouldn’t waste money on new disks as the performance gain would be imperceptible, unless your drives are faulting or you need more storage. I’d set those funds aside for buiding a Sandy or Ivy Bridge system in the future.
