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Western Digital 74GB Raptors setup RAID 0 Vs. some form of SSD?
I have two of the older 74GB SATA Raptors, setup Raid 0 for my OS/Gaming drive. All I use them for is Windows 7 x64 and my installed computer games. All my storage (porn!) is done on multiple 1.5TB and 2.0TB WD SATA drives.
I'm a Western Digital fan btw. I've had tons of drives over the year and I've NEVER had a single WD fail on me. I've had Seagates, Maxtors, IBM's etc all crap out on me. Hell, I still have a 320meg, yes MEG WD sitting in basement in a box that is 100% working. I always end up retiring my WD drives, passing them on to friends or tossing them in a box.
Anyhoo, I've had these Raptors a few years now and they have served me well. My only complaint is that they are noise as all hell, they sound like a damn coffee grinder when they access or defrag. Just the way they came.
These Raptors have been with me for the past two computer upgrades, well actually three if you count my current computer I built last week. This new motherboard supports SATA III though and I'm thinking it might be time to upgrade but I want to see if it's worth the cash before I do it.
I'm thinking SSD.
I was thinking about doing RAID 0 on a couple SSD drives but even if I go with the Crucial 64GB or another flavor of drive roughly the same size, I'm still looking at around $275.00~300.00 dollars for the upgrade. I thought about maybe getting a single (1) 60~80GB SSD drive now and running a single, non-RAID until they come down a little more in price then picking up a second one and RAID'ing but would a single still have THAT much more of a performance gain over what I have now to even be worth it?
I don't want it to just be a little faster like something I would have to do a bench mark to even notice. I want my OS and games to load quicker. If not, I might as well wait til they drop a little more in price before I do it.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Personal experience? Thank you!
OH and one last thing... Yes I've done some research. I know that on paper and in benchmarks even the single SSD wins out but I'm looking more for real world personal feedback here before I drop the cash.