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raid setup, using different speed drives, will i loss performance? the right raid card?

hello,
i have a dell xps 400 with a 10,000 rpm WDC WD800GD-75FLC3 (74 gig) xp home edition. and i would like to add raid with a slower hard drive, will i lose performance? i really don't want to send the money for another 10,000 prm drive. i'm thinking if i use the right card that i'll be able to do this. I've never setup a raid pc before. I'd like to have a raid 1 setup. (mirroring) i would be using a 7,200 rpm for my 2nd drive. so, what kind of raid card do i need to do this? if you need more info. please ask.
thanks,
Dave

PUNKY

The link below is how to setup raid 1:
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=474240&seqNum=4&rl=1

I like the adaptec raid card, but there are many out there to choose from, like Highpoint is good one. You wont see any differ transfer rate between 10K and 7.2K rpm if you put them in raid array. I would not worry about that.

With 10K rpm drive, why would you like to have raid array? raid will not help better speed though. I suggest that use 2nd drive as data storage.

davekuhar

ASKER

i'm using a raid 1 for a backup. if my hard drive was to blow up i think it would be just great to have that 2nd drive! Also, i'm going to upgrade the computers at work to raid 1. if the drive where to blow up at work,it would be a disaster.

SOLUTION

PUNKY

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davekuhar

ASKER

i just want to make sure everybody understands this....i just love the speed of this 10,000 rpm drive i'm using. and i don't want to lose this wonderful performance. if i can put in a raid 1 WITHOUT losing speed, i'll do it. thanks,
Dave

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Gary Case

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Aaron Street

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davekuhar

ASKER

so far i understand,, please keep the reply s coming. what's a good raid card?
at work, i'll be using Seagate barracuda 72000.7 80 gig-7200 SATA 150, and Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB Hard Drive - 7200, 8MB, SATA-300, OEM. will i have any trouble using a SATA 150 and a SATA 300? I've been looking at these 3 cards
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1739472&Sku=P56-7010

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1431868&Sku=C250-2284

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1739474&Sku=P56-7012

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Aaron Street

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Gary Case

The very inexpensive RAID cards won't give you much in the way of administration; but they'll work okay for a simple RAID 1 mirror. As noted above, mixing the interface speeds is okay => most transfers are dependent on the drive's sustained rate anyway ... so the difference in SATA-I & SATA-II transfer rates is irrelevant.

davekuhar

ASKER

hello,
i'm going to ask another question about raid and dual booting. i think it would be best so i can give out more points. a separate question that is.