We all have to start somewhere... Actually you're not doing bad, I'd not heard of RAID when I was 14, and yet I've been using it for the past 6 months now...
can anyone explain to me the role of a raptor harddrive. How do u intall them what do they do, how do they work etc>>.....
I don't own one, so don't take my opinion as "expert" but RAPTOR is just the 10,000 RPM drive by Western Digital. It's just a fast HD.
Raptors are no different from any other S-ATA drive in terms of installation, but they're terrifically fast. All you do is screw them in, plug them in and off you go. They're fast because they use command queuing (an early form of NCQ which allowed for faster data access) and use a 10,000rpm spindle, with 4ms latency (versus 7200rpm and 8ms latency). This essentially makes them 50%+ faster than normal drives, but obviously the capacity isn't great, and they are expensive.
I've been lurking, and since the topic shifted towards raptors, I must throw in my opinion. Everything Sammorris and byron02 said is true, but its one of those things that you can read the numbers and specs, but dont appreciate the full value until used for a while. Like that first time (years ago to some) that you asked yourself, is there really that big of difference in 512mb vs 1GB of memory? Then you actually do it and say wow. Powers up in a blink of an eye, and I know some of these functions are processor based, but I swear theres less lag waiting for a program to open, opening stored files, all that good stuff.
Performance-wise the 150GB model is the best, but obviously hugely expensive. For ultimate performance you want 4 Raptor 150s in RAID0 or 0+1. That's some serious speed, but serious cash. In RAID0, you could be pushing 330MB/s, very close to the S-ATA2 boundary. However, for those on planet earth, the best option is to get a big storage hard disk like a 250GB Samsung Spinpoint, and a 36 or 74GB raptor to store windows and program files. Windows will load in the blink of an eye, practically, especially if you've a good processor and enough RAM. 2GB with a dual core CPU is as good as you get. 4GB is unnecessary atm, but will become more a necessity with Vista, 8GB becoming reasonable within a year of Vista's release.
