Best data read performance

[kalniel]

What are peoples suggestions on possible hdd configurations for obtaining the best read speed?

Do things like Raid 0 and NCQ have much effect, or is raw spindle speed (raptor) more likely to make a difference?

[cadlon]

A Pair (or more) of SATA II NCQ 7200RPM 16MB Cache all stripped up (RAID 0) should give the best performace...

or SCSI even better - RAID 0 again but 15000 rpm Ultra320's should do the trick

[OmarSantiago]

I tried running 2 Maxtor SATA with 16MB cache drives in a RAID 0 array on my old P4C800E-Deluxe and found it slower, much slower than 2 Raptors on the same controller. Despite having twice the cache they were beaten hands down by my old Raptor drives and while that's a purely subjective observation I will say that the 10k spindle speed really does give these things a really good response time. I wouldn't recommend SCSI unless you have a need for it these days as well as a good 64bit PCI card and slot on your motherboard to take full advantage of it. Get two Raptors in RAID for speed and two SATA II with NCQ (if your motherboard will handle it) for storage and improved responsiveness over single drives.