lennykravitz2004 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Speaking of hard drives... I'm trying to decide what is the best route for storage/performance/failsafe. In my current machine I have this: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer Backup is a big deal to me since we have a ton of family photos, videos etc on there. Right now my backup is an external hard drive, but it's too small to do a snapshot. I've also had folks recommend I run dual hard drives with one that holds my data & one with just the programs. Although I'm basically familiar with how RAID works, I'm a noob at getting it right and hesitant that I'll waste money on overkill and/or incompatible HDDs. If I can still get some use out of my old HDD, even as just as storage/backup that would be great. But I don't think it's a decent drive for my new system. The mobo had two 6Gb/s ports and SATA drive prices are definitely within the budget. Are you, and your entire family, and the entire Huddle forum, constantly accessing the HDD all at once? Point being, if all you are looking for is a solid backup plan, I would use RAID 0 (mirroring). Almost all new mobo's have some kind of RAID config built in. I use an old Gateway P4HT3.2Ghz with a RAID 0 config (Win 7 has it built in, I had to mess with some system files in Win XP Pro to get RAID 0 to work). Not really for performance, just for the sake of having the same data backed up twice (my theory is, what are the odds of both failing - knock on wood). IMHO, I would just stick with a Seagate, WD, or the like (i.e. name brand) and drop them in your machine. Unless you're doing hardcore data transfers, you should be more than OK. Or if you're completely paranoid like I am, you can run a network backup of the RAID to a separate machine for another layer of data backup. Also, I cannot stress enough the idea of separate HDD for OS and data. Case in point, all 8GB of RAM went bad at once - yeah, who'd thunk that would happen. In turn, during boot, my MBR became corrupt and I had to reinstall my OS. FML!!! However.... since I had my HDDs split w/ data on one and OS on the other, I wasn't completely hosed. Just my Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 Here's where I'm at right now: Purchased - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $39.98 Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950 $189.99 CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D $99.00 ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $194.00 Considering - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $59.99 MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $159.99 CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply 79.99 That entire setup will end up $814 total after rebates ($50). For the hard drive I'm just going to buy the one for now and back up my data on my old drive. I'll use the optical from my old PC & the monitor I'll get down the road when I find a steal at Best Buy (have a gift card to use there). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 Are you, and your entire family, and the entire Huddle forum, constantly accessing the HDD all at once? Point being, if all you are looking for is a solid backup plan, I would use RAID 0 (mirroring). Yeah, exactly what I don't want to do... overkill. After talking to a couple of IT friends I'll end up going this route after (if) I purchase the 2nd HDD. As mentioned, I'm mostly concerned with not losing family photos, video, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I went RAID 0 on my latest desktop for the data protection, but I still backup all those photos and special files to an external HD plugged into the wireless router. Been great peace of mind, and having the external HD on the wireless router has been awesome for conveniently backing up files from the laptops and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Ordered the final pieces today. Ended up missing the sale on the HD listed above, but ended up finding a 750 GB one for the same regular price as the one above. I wanted 10,000 RPMs, I wanted solid state, but the cost was just too much for a reputable manufacturer. the SATA III & 64 MB cache will still be much better than what I have now. I also ended up with a better 700w gaming series power supply that I found on sale at Best Buy. I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket & got it for the same price that I would have paid for the 650w at Newegg. I also bit the bullet and bought an OEM copy of 64 bit Windows 7. I really hate dropping coin on an OS, but at least I'll have it (that's what I told myself when I bout XP ) Provided everything goes well with putting it together, I'll be up & running by the weekend. Thanks again everyone on the input & advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Ordered the final pieces today. Ended up missing the sale on the HD listed above, but ended up finding a 750 GB one for the same regular price as the one above. I wanted 10,000 RPMs, I wanted solid state, but the cost was just too much for a reputable manufacturer. the SATA III & 64 MB cache will still be much better than what I have now. I also ended up with a better 700w gaming series power supply that I found on sale at Best Buy. I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket & got it for the same price that I would have paid for the 650w at Newegg. I also bit the bullet and bought an OEM copy of 64 bit Windows 7. I really hate dropping coin on an OS, but at least I'll have it (that's what I told myself when I bout XP ) Provided everything goes well with putting it together, I'll be up & running by the weekend. Thanks again everyone on the input & advice. Did you buy cables for the HDD? It's a bare drive & won't have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Did you buy cables for the HDD? It's a bare drive & won't have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Good man. I always seem to forget them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 Good man. I always seem to forget them. The motherboard comes with SATA cables as well, but I didn't have it with me, so I wasn't sure if they were SATA II or III. I know the SATA III cables are backward compatible, but don't know if it works the other way as well so I went ahead & bought me some purty red ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 All she awaits is an optical. Turns out my current one has an IDE & my new motherboard only supports SATA. Nerdgasm From the front Cable Management We have tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaman Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Good Job! Enjoy! and btw, very good work on cable management! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlanta Cracker Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Good Job! Enjoy! and btw, very good work on cable management! No kidding. I built my own a couple of years ago and I have crap going everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 (edited) Good Job! Enjoy! and btw, very good work on cable management! Last night I ended up rerouting everything. I'd decided I was more concerned about airflow with my PSU than having the pretty blue light (and subsequently the fan intake) shining into the case. It's actually much cleaner now inside the case and I re-wrapped my chassis wire bundle with a black loom vs the clear one I had. Full build: • ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard • Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor • CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit • MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Exp 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI • Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive • LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support • COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case • Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit • CORSAIR Gaming Series GS700 700W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply Edited July 14, 2011 by rajncajn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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