Is one 74GB Raptor better than two 36GB Raptors in Raid0?

[Rubescen]

Still waiting for the 3700 SD so for now I'm looking for other things to upgrade, been hearing lots of good things about the 74GB Raptor, budget is about $200 and I have the option to get one 74GB Raptor, or get two slightly used 36GB Raptors to run in Raid-0, I have two WD 250GB HDD for storage so disk capacity is no concern. When I get the 3700 SD I'll be OC'ed the bejesus out of it so maybe it's not a good idea to risk corrupting data on RAID array afterall?

[z-design]

You should get 2 36gb raptors. 2 10,000rpm drives working as one in raid 0 is better than just one, also, you would end up with the same amount of space if you were to get the single 74gig drive. Raptors don't cause much heat, so extra fans wouldn't be a necessity. The are no drawbacks that I can think of.

[Major]

I ran my 74g with the OS on it (not in raid) while the other was sent back for rma. I can tell the difference with them in raid, but not by much. I was concerned about running raid for the OS just like you are, but I've not had any problems. I've run alot of raid configs b4 and the only issue I have is when it comes time to put them over into a different system. You never know if the raid array is going to work or not after the change to a different controller.

I'd say go for the two 36g raptors myself. As with any raid 0 setup you should get in the habit of backing up anything you can't afford to lose.

[masterofpuppets]

It's not worth the extra cost for 2 36GB disks. The 74GB Raptor has tons of improvements over the old 36GB model, even in RAID. It's a lot of extra hassle when installing Windows/Linux/BSD/whatever. Plus, if a single disk dies, there is a chance to recover some of it. But if a RAID0 setup dies, you've got no chance of recovery.