Need a new one. 5 Year old Maxtor is an accident waiting to happen. Couple of questions
- What's good for ~£30? Spinpoint f4 looks good, want something that boots fast more than anything but not got the cash for an SSD, so what's got good random access then I guess?
- When I get a new HD can I just copy the image from the old HD? Don't really want a reinstall if I can avoid it.
F4, if you need storage the F3 1TB for under £40.
Kalniel: "Nice review Tarinder - would it be possible to get a picture of the case when the components are installed (with the side off obviously)?"
CAT-THE-FIFTH: "The Antec 300 is a case which has an understated and clean appearance which many people like. Not everyone is into e-peen looking computers which look like a cross between the imagination of a hyperactive 10 year old and a Frog."
TKPeters: "Off to AVForum better Deal - £20+Vat for Free Shipping @ Scan"
for all intents it seems to be the same card minus some gays name on it and a shielded cover ? with OEM added to it - GoNz0.
nibbler (05-11-2010)
Very little difference in the hard drive market, I wouldn't worry too much.
If you're looking at the Spinpoint F4, then that is one of the few exceptions. Instead of being a single 320GB platter, as other drives would be, it's half of a 640GB platter, so you get much higher density and hence a faster disk. At that price, and that capacity, nothing will be competing with it.
As for the rest of the market, it's all very similar, price is the only real differentiator.
nibbler (05-11-2010)
I have never managed to fill more than 100GB so that plus my existing disk will do nicely. What can you tell me about raid? 1+0 means backup and striping? So could I have 2 f4s in raid0 and a third backing it up? or is it possible to do say a 640GB RAID0 partition and back it up on a third disk?
On second thought's is it worth the hassle? Wouldn't improve boot times would it?
If your RAIDing your best just having it in '1' - you only get half-size with '1' (so 320GB if you were to use two drives) but the read speeds still increase and its mirrored.
As too improving boot times, i imagine it would but not by much and still nowhere near SSD territory but TBH you would be the one supplying us, or at least me, with times and speeds if you went that route
Kalniel: "Nice review Tarinder - would it be possible to get a picture of the case when the components are installed (with the side off obviously)?"
CAT-THE-FIFTH: "The Antec 300 is a case which has an understated and clean appearance which many people like. Not everyone is into e-peen looking computers which look like a cross between the imagination of a hyperactive 10 year old and a Frog."
TKPeters: "Off to AVForum better Deal - £20+Vat for Free Shipping @ Scan"
for all intents it seems to be the same card minus some gays name on it and a shielded cover ? with OEM added to it - GoNz0.
nibbler (05-11-2010)
So RAID 1 is a full backup on each disk but still uses simlutaneous access to increase speeds?
RAID 1 is not a backup strategy!
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nibbler (05-11-2010)
Explain it to me then? I would do an external backup too, but what is RAID 1 then?
Aye, a mirror copy on each disk so if one goes kaput you still have a copy on the other.Originally Posted by nibbler
And yes read speeds increase as the information get reads from both as per '0' but writes don't.
*Also, its not a backup - a self proclaimed Hexus.RAID monkey will be here soon to tell you off
Kalniel: "Nice review Tarinder - would it be possible to get a picture of the case when the components are installed (with the side off obviously)?"
CAT-THE-FIFTH: "The Antec 300 is a case which has an understated and clean appearance which many people like. Not everyone is into e-peen looking computers which look like a cross between the imagination of a hyperactive 10 year old and a Frog."
TKPeters: "Off to AVForum better Deal - £20+Vat for Free Shipping @ Scan"
for all intents it seems to be the same card minus some gays name on it and a shielded cover ? with OEM added to it - GoNz0.
nibbler (05-11-2010)
Oh all right I call it backup you know what I mean, a copy? I apologize in advance Steve! What is it that makes it not a backup then?
So is it possible to just copy the image onto a new disk when it comes or do I really need to reinstall?
If you use something like Acronis it should work fine and as it was before hand, but on your newer drive.
If you plan on RAID though i think you will need a clean install.
Backup usually means off-site, so in the cloud, separate building etc etc.
Kalniel: "Nice review Tarinder - would it be possible to get a picture of the case when the components are installed (with the side off obviously)?"
CAT-THE-FIFTH: "The Antec 300 is a case which has an understated and clean appearance which many people like. Not everyone is into e-peen looking computers which look like a cross between the imagination of a hyperactive 10 year old and a Frog."
TKPeters: "Off to AVForum better Deal - £20+Vat for Free Shipping @ Scan"
for all intents it seems to be the same card minus some gays name on it and a shielded cover ? with OEM added to it - GoNz0.
nibbler (05-11-2010)
Oh yeah that's right. Anyway, I think I'll maybe go for 1 drive for now and another if I feel like it - reinstall then. 1 Drive will be fast enough I would have thought.
Anyone seen my bunch of bananas? Someone must have raided them.Aye, a mirror copy on each disk so if one goes kaput you still have a copy on the other.
And yes read speeds increase as the information get reads from both as per '0' but writes don't.
*Also, its not a backup - a self proclaimed Hexus.RAID monkey will be here soon to tell you off
RAID 1 mirrors the data onto two drives - they are logically identical, and the two disks appears to the OS as a single disk system (in simple terms) as far as the disk write and reading process is concerned - it is a storage device - how the data is processed once it has been sent to store is irrelevant.
So, if corrupt data is sent to the disk system, the data is corrupt. If you delete a file - it is deleted on both, and if the disk controller fails, ... well, you get the picture.
However, if one disk in the disk subsystem, that disk can be removed (with the system live if it supports hot swapping) and the system will operate as if nothing had happened. The faulty drive can be replaced with a good one, and the system will replicate the new disk with the existing one, and then keep the two in sync.
It is all about system resilience and maintaining uptime - important for servers - as much as data integrity.
Backup is taking a snapshot of the system (data) state at a given point in time, and storing it offline, so in the event of a catastrophic failure, that data can be restored once the system has been rep[aired.
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Been helped or just 'Like' a post? Use the Thanks button!
My broadband speed - 750 Meganibbles/minute
In all honesty the very basic RAID controller on motherboards aren't all that good anyway. You'd be much better off with a seperate RAID card to do the job.
Just grab one single drive, have an external and make a backup image to that every so often, even better if you have another drive which is kept off site (and I don't mean in your shed !)
Bear in mind that the cheapy RAID cards are no better than the onboard, as both RAID in software. For decent RAID performance you're looking at something like a PERC 5/i, expect to spend £100+ for that.
I would say that RAID is a waste of time for situations like yours. It's all about uptime, not security of data.
nibbler (05-11-2010)
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