RAID and Gaming

I've finished my latest rig rebuild. I went from 2 36GB Raptors in RAID 0 to 2 150GB Raptors in RAID 0. I now have enough space on the resulting drive to install all my games and music - so I left out the 300GB Seagate drive I was using for storage and went from 3 total HD's to 2.

The speed of the drive array actually *feels* remarkably close to what I was used to with the 36GB Raptors. I built a system for a friend the same time I was building mine - his was a single SATA drive and I can again attest that for me there is no way I can go back to a single drive. I'll keep my data backed up on DVD and on external HD's and take my chances on having to do a rebuild.

The only thing I would really like now is to find a utility (Ghost or True Image) that can actually back up my RAID 0 array so that if I do lose a drive I can save some time on the rebuild.

Here's how: If you have/can get Ghost 8, download BartPE, put your RAID card drivers in BartPE\Drivers\SCSIAdapter folder, and build your BartPE image. If you put this on a USB stick it will be quite fast solution.
A bit slower way: Get Ghost 9 (10 should work as well) and ReatoGo, build a ReatoGo CD. This is SO SLOW (takes 10 minutes to run Ghost, as everything is non-cached ran from a CD)

You can backup to a normal HD, DVD, USB drive etc.

I like it! I'll check into both of those options because I know I have some Ghost disks laying around somewhere. I'd never heard of the other tools but will google them and maybe hit you back for some more details if I get stuck.

Just checked today - fully working: ReatoGo with Ghost ISO runs from a flash drive by running PE2USB (two VERY MINOR mods needed, but works).

Quick question: Can a newer Raptor 0ADFD drive be used in a RAID0 array with an older Raptor 00FLC0 (assuming both 74GB)? I'm considering it but wondering if I'd have to sell my current Raptor and buy 2 new ones....:confused:

It will work - it may be slower than two new ones, but I doubt you'd notice it.

HI - I just built a Raid 0 Array and wanted to know where to find the "Enable Read Caching" and "Enable Command Queing" options. ( I actually want to disable them)

I have an Asus P5W DH w/ 2 Raptor X 150GB drives and I am using the Intel onboard Raid controller IHC7 - in Windows XP Pro.....any ideas?

I heard disabling these functions gives a SPEED BOOST and I want to squeeze all the speed out of these I can.

Thanks for any help.

Wait... you think disabling read cache will BOOST performance? Not that such an option is available on ANY controller/disk ;-)
Write Caching Enabled will increase write performance exponentially.
NCQ/TCQ might give you some difference.
For ICH controllers all you can change is queueing - go to Device Manager-> Disk Drives, Properties for your RAID array, and check Disable Tagged Queueing on one of the tabs.

SO I am officially torn between getting:

Another 74GB Raptor.

Getting two Seagates 7200.10's and using RAID

I dont want a lot of noise and heat, I know Raptors can do both, then again I have been seeing that the Seagates are getting really warm too.

I want Sata, just not sure if I should get a controller card, or just rely on on board RAID/SATA ports a there are only 4 on the Ultra D.

Are the Seagates 7200.10's the new kids on the block? I see a lot of reviewers and enthusiasts using them.

I'm looking for a one HDD solution not including a raptor :( . Would the new Seagates have an increase of speed against the 7,200rpm WD HDD's? I'm asking because I have only been familiar with WD, and I have found small amounts of review information to be conclusive.

Raptors are not for home users. Frankly, I think without a very expensive RAID card they won't be much for a server user either.
7200.10 have surprisingly better reads than Raptors sometimes, so unless you do a lot of disk > same disk copy you'd be beter off with Seagates - they cannot generate more heat/noise than Raptors.