Which HDD Configuration offers better performance?

[ckunkle]

So I have the choice between purchasing a laptop with either upgrading to one 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) for $37. Or I could get a second 640GB 5400RPM 8MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) in RAID 0 for $39. My question is which will be faster? The amount of storage doesn't matter as much to me as speed and performance. And there is a $2 difference so that isn't a problem either. Any help on this would be much appreciated. Here is the link to the laptop configuration page: FORCE 16F2-012 / MSI 16F2

[JRS]

Originally Posted by ckunkle

... My question is which will be faster?...

Depends. The 2x640gb 5400rpm drives will have a better transfer rate and the transfer rate will not fall off as rapidly as a single drive, so it will probably boot faster and load large programs faster. But I'd bet the single 750gb 7200rpm drive would have better access times, especially in the "meatier" part of the drive, the first 1/3 of it. This means the drive will be more responsive in multi-tasking and executing many tasks within a program.

I've benchmarked 2.5" 750gb 7200rpm single drives and 2.5" 640gb 5400rpm single drives and the difference is notable. The only 2.5" Raid0 benchmark I've done was with a pair of 320gb 7200rpm drives and the difference over a single one was a little disappointing when compared to a similiar comparison with desktop drives. This single test has made me wonder if Raid0 arrays with laptop drives do not provide near as big of a jump as one with desktop drives.

The performance difference between these two setups is not going to be enough to really say which is definitively better, however other factors should be considered. Raid0 does bring some risk, how much is always debated in internet-land. I'm a big fan of Raid0/stripped setups, but I am a back-up fiend, so I don't worry about any increased risk of a drive failing in a Raid0 array. But I am not a fan of Raid in any kind in any scenario that doesn't really accomplish much. The additional complexity/headaches are not worth it for a small performance improvement, it is worth it for a noticeable improvement. I don't know if you'll see that with a Raid0 array with 5400rpm drives in a laptop.

Getting the single drive allows you in the future to add a 2nd 7200rpm drive or an SSD making it your boot drive and using the single 750gb as additional storage. This alone imho makes it the wisest choice. Just make sure you get the additional internal parts (screws/brackets/cable/connector) when you purchase to add a 2nd drive later. When I bought a 2 bay hp dv7 3+ years ago, I had to track down a 2nd bracket to add a 2nd drive which was inconvienent.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

JRS is spot-on. The 750GB 7200RPM drive is going to be faster for all-around use and be twice (literally, twice) as reliable as the 5400RPM drive RAID 0 setup.

RAID 0 stripes data across the drives which can effectively double your data transfer rate but also means that if one drive fails, you lose all of your data. It's not fun.
Those maximum transfer rates will only come into play if you transfer large, sequential files. For smaller files I also believe the 750GB 7200RPM setup would indeed be faster (at the very least, the same speed).

Consider using an SSD as your primary drive, then using the other drive bay for a large storage hard drive. So maybe get it with the 750GB, buy an SSD, and install that for use as your primary drive. I have that going in my EliteBook and it works wonderfully well. I mapped all my documents/music/pictures over to the hard drive as not to waste space on the SSD (SSD is reserved for the OS and essential programs).