Lets address the RAID 0 vs. RAID 1 question first. Do you want speed or
safety? RAID 0 gives you speed by distributing the data to two drives
instead of just one. RAID 1 is mirroring that saves the same data to both
drives - no speed advantage but you get a backup copy in case one drive
fails.

If you use RAID 0 for speed, then you should have a matched pair of drives.

For video, there is an additional consideration. Modern drives use RLL
recording techniques that require periodic recalibration of the head
position. During the recalibration process, the drive does not accept data
to be written. In a video stream, such an interruption would cause loss of
video information. To avoid this problem, you need a drive that can delay
its recalibration. Such drives are designed with video in mind and also cost
a lot more.

Heat can be a problem, but you might check to see how much heat a particular
drive produces. Some drives run a lot cooler than others. If you install
multiple drives, try to position them so that there is good air space
between them for circulation of cooling air.

This is as much information as I can share with you. Perhaps others may
contribute some more details.

Peter
-----------------------------------------------
The NoSpin Group
[log in to unmask]


> -----Original Message-----
> I'm considering adding a 2nd hard drive in a raid setup and
> have a couple
> questions.
> My system is a Soyo dragon 2 plus mobo, 3.2 Gh P4, ATI aiw
> 9800 pro vid card,
> Audigy 2 zs platinum pro, (2) 1 gig xms ram cards and a
> Seagate 160g 7200 rpm
> sata HD. The HD I'm looking at as the add-on is a WD Raptor
> 10,000 rpm sata.
>  question 1) Will the two different speed drives be compatible?
>               2) Do both drives have to be sata or can one be
> IDE (crazy
> question I guess but I'm just curious)
>               3) If drives are compatible, should I put
> system files (XP
> home) or program files (audio/video processing programs and
> some games) on the
> faster drive (I'm assuming the video files themselves need to
> be on the larger
> capacity drive)?
>               4) Would I be better off with raid-0 or raid-1
>   and lastly) Need I be concerned about extra cooling for the
> faster drive?
>
> Phillip Williams

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