Introduction to hard drive technology - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 12th Mar 2007, 10:55

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...hnology/1.html

Mother-Goose · 12th Mar 2007, 11:34

Hmmm very interesting news bite BUT it would have been useful to see which makes/model have good firmware/overall performance because as it states, they all look the same on paper.

Also, can NCQ actually be turned off?

David_Fitzy · 12th Mar 2007, 11:34

Very interesting article, I didn't think that NCQ would actually be detrimental to my performance (when I get a system worth shouting about I hope I remember that)

On point of entirely flash based drives their relative speed/price/capacity will also have to out-do RAID setups, How long before Dell XPS (for example) has RAID as standard and you have to opt for a single disk

So it seems as ever RAID and defragmentation are the best way to have speedy HDD access and throughput.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser

Also, can NCQ actually be turned off?

Maybe with some manufacturers disk tools, maybe?

SteveyG · 12th Mar 2007, 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Article

eSATA and xSATA – External SATA specifications, with a longer cable lengths than internal SATA (2m and 8m respectively) and a different cable design.

Aren't those cable lengths the wrong way round?

Bindibadgi · 12th Mar 2007, 11:48

Nope: http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp

Rich_13 · 12th Mar 2007, 11:48

I have a esata drive and quite frankly mobo manufacturers are crap at supporting it tbh. It really should just replace usb where it can, it's so nice to use in the OS

ralph.pickering · 12th Mar 2007, 12:06

An interesting article, but I don't really feel any wiser should I need to select a new drive, or set of drives. I'll probably go for the lowest £ per Gb, maybe with a leaning towards Samsung because I like quiet, and hope for the best

I think a follow-on comparative review of a load of drives would be ideal.

Lazlow · 12th Mar 2007, 12:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralph.pickering

I think a follow-on comparative review of a load of drives would be ideal.

I agree - and the title of the article seems to suggest this.

ou7blaze · 12th Mar 2007, 12:10

I was actually just thinking about this. At the end of the article you say enthusiasts store information such as the O/S installation and other important things on a faster 10k RPM drive and other "stuff" on a slower drive.

I was thinking of a setup like this for my upgrade I'm planning since I have everything on a 40GB drive which obviously...is not enough seeing as game sizes are increasing. GTA itself was what 4GB? Company of Heoroes 4 or is it 5GB, that's a quarter of my harddrive that has disappeared.

Anyway to my original question. How exactly do I setup my harddrive storage. What do I store on the faster drive and what on the slower.

Faster: OS

Slower: MP3's for when I'm listening while gaming it doesn't affect game harddrive access performance?
Movies *cough* pr0n.

Any suggestions? thanks

Bindibadgi · 12th Mar 2007, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazlow

I agree - and the title of the article seems to suggest this.

Not really. It says "an introduction to hard drive technology". Not "hard drive performance round up".

I think you lot are getting too used to reviews with lots of numbers rather than just informative discussions :P

SteveyG · 12th Mar 2007, 12:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

Nope: http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp

Ah apologies, I didn't realise the cable lengths were referring to eSATA and xSATA - it reads like it's saying external SATA supports a cable length of up to 2m and internal SATA supports up to 8 meters.

Bindibadgi · 12th Mar 2007, 12:32

No, "x" is like extended in server apps I'd imagine, rather than "e" for external.

David_Fitzy · 12th Mar 2007, 12:35

When Hybrid Drives are the norm how will RAID setups use them (or won't they)

rupbert · 12th Mar 2007, 12:39

Great article, I agree though a 2nd part looking at drive performance based on these technologies would be very useful, in particular drive speed and platter size.

I'd love to see a feature on Raid as well.

Tim S · 12th Mar 2007, 13:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by rupbert

I'd love to see a feature on Raid as well.

Watch this space

Veles · 12th Mar 2007, 13:23

Great article, very informative

BlueMax · 12th Mar 2007, 13:55

This article is misnamed. It has a good overview of advanced hard drive technologies that can be hard to decipher if you are a novice, but is by no means an Introduction to Hard Drive Technology. It's also not up to par in the editing department (when compared to other Bit-Tech articles). I suggest another revision for the editing, and renaming the article.

For an introduction to hard drive technologies, I would expect terms such as IDE, PATA, SATA, ATA, ATA133, ATA100, SCSI, buffer, cache, RPM, response time, RAID (and 0, 1, 2, etc.), and Raptor to be quickly defined with user friendly descriptions. This would be a great article for Bit-Tech.net, as many users have no clue when it comes to hard drives and how their performance can affect every day tasks.

I usually don't comment on the articles, as they are 99% excellent, but my nerd-heart skipped a beat when I saw the hard drive article, and I expected to read up and be familiar with all the techie terms for hard drives afterwards - and it didn't deliver. Keep up the good work, though - this article just needs to be renamed and re-edited.

Tulatin · 12th Mar 2007, 14:37

IDE's heading off into the world; with more and more "enthusiast" setups throwing it to the dogs, you'd have to have a sod's brain to bother buying drives on it new.

Fozzy · 12th Mar 2007, 14:37

I wonder if I a hybrid drive could beat out my two raptors in raid 0?

DougEdey · 12th Mar 2007, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tulatin

IDE's heading off into the world; with more and more "enthusiast" setups throwing it to the dogs, you'd have to have a sod's brain to bother buying drives on it new.

Or an XBOX/older hardware as a NAS.

12th Mar 2007, 10:55	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	Introduction to hard drive technology http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...hnology/1.html __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

12th Mar 2007, 11:34	#2
Mother-Goose Tories ftw! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: England - Surrey Posts: 3,750	Hmmm very interesting news bite BUT it would have been useful to see which makes/model have good firmware/overall performance because as it states, they all look the same on paper. Also, can NCQ actually be turned off? __________________ Goose Q6600, Striker Extreme, 4GB 6400C4 Dominator DHX, Raptor X, 2x400GB spinpoints, BFG 8800GTX OC, Stacker 830 Evo, HX620, Nova T 500, Freezer 7 Pro

12th Mar 2007, 11:48	#5
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,281	Nope: http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

12th Mar 2007, 11:48	#6
Rich_13 Hypermodder Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: London /Essex Uni Posts: 716	I have a esata drive and quite frankly mobo manufacturers are crap at supporting it tbh. It really should just replace usb where it can, it's so nice to use in the OS __________________ [Gaming laptop:][Intel Cour Duo2 T7200 ] [Nvidia7900GS GO] [1920x1200 display] [2GB DDR][Creative 6.1's ] My blog

12th Mar 2007, 12:10	#9
ou7blaze sensational. Join Date: May 2003 Location: Kowloon, Hong Kong. Posts: 2,625	I was actually just thinking about this. At the end of the article you say enthusiasts store information such as the O/S installation and other important things on a faster 10k RPM drive and other "stuff" on a slower drive. I was thinking of a setup like this for my upgrade I'm planning since I have everything on a 40GB drive which obviously...is not enough seeing as game sizes are increasing. GTA itself was what 4GB? Company of Heoroes 4 or is it 5GB, that's a quarter of my harddrive that has disappeared. Anyway to my original question. How exactly do I setup my harddrive storage. What do I store on the faster drive and what on the slower. Faster: OS Slower: MP3's for when I'm listening while gaming it doesn't affect game harddrive access performance? Movies cough pr0n. Any suggestions? thanks __________________ █▓▒▒▓█▓▒▒▓█▓▒▒▓█▓▒▒▓ Originally Posted by Greeneyedguy advice to all u masturbators... its a good idea to keep a pringles can with the bottom cut out next to u so u can put it over ur wang when ur parents come and tell em u were enjoyong some delicious low-fat potato chips...

12th Mar 2007, 12:06	#7
ralph.pickering Supermodder Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London Posts: 321	An interesting article, but I don't really feel any wiser should I need to select a new drive, or set of drives. I'll probably go for the lowest £ per Gb, maybe with a leaning towards Samsung because I like quiet, and hope for the best I think a follow-on comparative review of a load of drives would be ideal.

12th Mar 2007, 12:32	#12
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,281	No, "x" is like extended in server apps I'd imagine, rather than "e" for external. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

12th Mar 2007, 12:35	#13
David_Fitzy Multimodder Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Kiwiland Posts: 197	When Hybrid Drives are the norm how will RAID setups use them (or won't they) __________________ Duel of the Duals! Athlon XP2400+ \| Generic FX5200 \| SOYO Platinum Dragon Ultra \| 1GB Crucial Ram \| Maxtor PATA 7200 HDDs: 2x40Gb (RAID0), 2x200Gb(RAID0) \| Jeantech Phong case \| Black DVD-everything \| Black Skythe Kama-meter \| dreaded blue LED fans (didn't read the description properly) At least it's all one colour scheme now

12th Mar 2007, 12:39	#14
rupbert Hypermodder Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 799	Great article, I agree though a 2nd part looking at drive performance based on these technologies would be very useful, in particular drive speed and platter size. I'd love to see a feature on Raid as well.

12th Mar 2007, 13:55	#17
BlueMax Modder Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 59	This article is misnamed. It has a good overview of advanced hard drive technologies that can be hard to decipher if you are a novice, but is by no means an Introduction to Hard Drive Technology. It's also not up to par in the editing department (when compared to other Bit-Tech articles). I suggest another revision for the editing, and renaming the article. For an introduction to hard drive technologies, I would expect terms such as IDE, PATA, SATA, ATA, ATA133, ATA100, SCSI, buffer, cache, RPM, response time, RAID (and 0, 1, 2, etc.), and Raptor to be quickly defined with user friendly descriptions. This would be a great article for Bit-Tech.net, as many users have no clue when it comes to hard drives and how their performance can affect every day tasks. I usually don't comment on the articles, as they are 99% excellent, but my nerd-heart skipped a beat when I saw the hard drive article, and I expected to read up and be familiar with all the techie terms for hard drives afterwards - and it didn't deliver. Keep up the good work, though - this article just needs to be renamed and re-edited. __________________ Athlon XP Barton 2500+; 2 GB Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR RAM; Sony Dual Layer DVD-RW; GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB; IBM 80 GB 7200 RPM; Seagate 120 GB 7200 RPM; Maxtor 160 GB 7200 RPM X 3, Abit NF7-S

12th Mar 2007, 14:37	#18
Tulatin The Froggy Poster Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 2,942	IDE's heading off into the world; with more and more "enthusiast" setups throwing it to the dogs, you'd have to have a sod's brain to bother buying drives on it new. __________________ Desky E8400 @ 4.0 1.42v; P5K-E WiFi; 4x1 Kingmax Mars 1066 @ 1129 CAS 5; 2x [TOO CHEAP TO SPONSOR] 4850 @ 675/1050; Enermax Liberty; WCing in a CM690

12th Mar 2007, 14:37	#19
Fozzy Ultramodder Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Olympia, WA Posts: 1,386	I wonder if I a hybrid drive could beat out my two raptors in raid 0? __________________ Sponsors: http://www.koolance.com/images/homeimage01.jpg http://www.dangerden.com/templates/r...eader-wide.jpg http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...age00001-2.jpg