[rondocap]

I am thinking about a G5 with the following setups, which would be faster?

1). 2x 250gig HD's in Raid 0
2). 1 250gig HD for storage, and 1 10k 74gig raptor as the main and boot drive.

Would the raid 0 250 HD's offer faster performance over the one 10k drive? ( I am concerned more with performance, and not the danger of raid0 failures)

[cgc]

You should ask this question at www.barefeats.com and/or www.xlr8yourmac.com They have extensive databases of user tests alongside their own tests. I think if you want good RAID 0 performance you should use a RAID card as that will blow-away the built-in software RAID Apple includes with OS X.

[macaddict0001]

it depends how much you have on your hard drives, a hard drive that is fuller will be slower with access speeds. the 10k raptor will be faster but personally I would choose the 2 250 gig drives.

[OreoCookie]

RAID0 is a risky business. If you want to use it for a production machine, I would advise against it.

[BZ]

I think I read that the Raptor drive is pretty comparable to a RAID0.

Since the costs are not even close, I would suggest the Raptor. If it does not get you the speed you think you need, upgrade to an external Raid array and still use the Raptor for boot volume.

BZ

[JCT]

Rondocap,

What will you be using the machine for? I have Dual G5 2.5 that I use for heavy Photoshop and some video work and I have the following config:

Drive 1 (boot): Raptor 74GB
Drive 2 (/USER) and files: 250 GB Hitachi 7200 RPM

Drives 3 and 4 = 160 GB Maxtors in RAID0 using an external SATA box connecetd to a PCI card.

Drive 5 = FW backup.

The RAID0 is used for Photoshop scratch, intermediate saves of large files and video transfer. That's it ... no long term storage of anything that matters.

Works GREAT.

I've just taken delivery of 3 400GB Seagates to be setup as revolving backup in another external SATA box.

There are some excellent discussions about storage especially related to Photoshop over at MacGurus

Good luck,

JT

P.S. 18 months ago I was a 100% PC person ...talk about a switch!

[chris v]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

RAID0 is a risky business. If you want to use it for a production machine, I would advise against it.

Not entirely. you double your odds of drive failure, which is not that big a deal if you've got a backup strategy. I run a RAID 0 at work, and the RAID is backed up to a single drive the same size. Kind of a poor-man's RAID 0+1. I wouldn't recommend running a RAID 0 without a solid backup strategy, but then I wouldn't recommend running anything without a solid backup strategy.

That said, I have no clue whether a RAID 0 made of 7200 RPM drives would be any faster than a single 10,000 RPM drive.

[OreoCookie]

A raptor for sure is smaller than 2*250 gig, that's for sure.

RAID0 for scratch drives is not a bad idea. If you have a backup strategy, you're right, the harm should be limited. On the other hand, most people don't, especially since you couldn't mirror 500 gig onto a single drive.

But on the other hand, the latest 7.2k drives come close to the performance of 10k drives in throughput (the latest 2.5" Hitachi notebook drives max out at about 80 GB/s which is not that far from even 15k drives, access times are higher, obviously).

[chris v]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

(the latest 2.5" Hitachi notebook drives max out at about 80 GB/s which is not that far from even 15k drives, access times are higher, obviously).

I wish they would bring on the 80 & 100 giggers. I've been waiting since they were "announced" back in November to put one in my 15" Powerbook, but I don't want to downgrade to 60 GB.

My drive arrangement at work is 2 x 80 GB drives in a RAID 0, which is mirrored weekly by CCC to a third 160 gb. (all internal in a QS G4)

Doing something like this with 250 gb drives in a G5 tower would be considerably more expensive, because you'd have to buy some kind of external for storage, like the LaCie Big Disk Extreme, which is itself a RAID 0 device, in a firewire enclosure. In the end, that would be a pretty sweet setup, if you can afford it, but absolutely do not run a RAID 0 without some sort of serious backup plan.

[OreoCookie]

Yup, I agree. Unless the data is expandable (i. e. use it as a scratch disc), backups are a must.

rondocap on the other hand seems to plan to buy only one additional harddrive, i. e. no word of a backup strategy.

[ViviMaster]

i just picked up 2 raptor 34 gig. for the time being ive raided them and there are SUPER fast. took me 2 mins to copy a 4gig file. not sure how long i will leave them raided for. once i reformat it all to make it the boot drive it will be different

[chris v]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

rondocap on the other hand seems to plan to buy only one additional harddrive, i. e. no word of a backup strategy.

In which case, I will chuckle when in a year, I see his "Help!! *%$#@ drive won't mount! All Data LOST!" thread.