RAID explained.

Well, first let's start with RAID 0, or data striping. What it does is it distributes the data that you write to it, or read from it, over two separate HDDs effectively boosting both read and write speeds. Take for example you are writing a 100MB file to your HDD. With a RAID 0 configuration, your system will write 50MB to one HDD and the other 50MB to the second HDD. The one problem with this is data security. Should one disk fail, you will lose all your data.

RAID 1 is for redundancy and is also called data mirroring. Unlike RAID 0, it offers no performance boosts. What it does instead is it will write the theoretical 100MB file I mentioned above to both your HDDs. This means that even if there is a failure of a single HDD, you still have a perfect back-up in the form of your second, mirrored drive.

RAID 10, or 1+0, does what its name suggests. It will first mirror data, then stripe it to two HDDs. Mind you this requires a grand total of four HDDs but affords you the performance of a RAID 0 configuration and the redundancy of RAID 1.

RAID 0+1 or RAID 01 practically does the same thing, with it striping data before mirroring, as the name suggests.

RAID 5 and 6 are called data striping with parity and frankly they are quite complicated to understand. But the performance you can gain here is minimal as compared to the aforementioned four other RAID arrays. One thing they do offer above all else is good read speeds, lousy writes and somewhat decent redundancy.

You are judging a company that caters to millions worldwide on a single malfunction? Magnificent deduction.

But I do agree that personal experience does tend to shape the way we view the world. For example, I've been using a Samsung 80GB HDD for close to five years now. Not bad eh?

Yes. But those are usually people with cash to burn, literally.

The Samsung F3 1TB would be a good option seeing as it uses two 500GB platters and affords extremely good sequential read/write performances. On par with the Raptor and faster as well as cooler than the WD Caviar Black. The only difference is seek times in which both WD HDDs have the edge.

No, the Samsung F3 would be better actually. Also, the WD Caviar Black 500GB isn't currently available in Malaysia. About the only way you are gonna lay your hands on a Samsung F3 or 500GB Caviar Black is if you are in the US.

Most of the 5400RPM 2.5" 500GB drives are similarly priced at RM280 or thereabouts. Just pick any brand that suits your fancy. Personally, I'd recommend either a WD or Samsung drive. Have had good prior experience with both of 'em.

2GB? or 2TB? I'm pretty sure you mean the latter.

In any case, pretty much every notable HDD manufacturer out there has a 2TB model for sale.

Size. The numbers should be pretty self explanatory in which is the bigger drive.

Generally, 3.5" external drives offer better price per capacity ratio at the expense of mobility.

Internal or external? 2.5" or 3.5"?

Those range in prices from RM260 to RM330 or thereabouts for consumer grade products.

Yeah. About the only reason for Sata 6.0Gbps connectivity would be if you are using a reasonably speedy SSD.

True. But with a few more die shrinks and revisions, we'll likely see that happening very soon.

Actually SSDs can barely saturate the bandwidth of SATA 3.0Gbps as is. We will still have to wait for perhaps a year or two to finally purchase an affordable SSD that can actually make full use of the latest SATA revision.

That should be common knowledge for anyone about to buy an SSD. However, Windows 7 does support the TRIM command and thus SSD performance degradation shouldn't be a worry.

Though there are other alternatives out there to TRIM, such as the Indilinx Wiper Tool that does essentially the same job.

Or as a last resort to restore performance, you can completely wipe the SSD clean with tools available from Intel

Internal 3.5" drive? Go for the Samsung F3 models.

Those links are rarely updated. Try here instead.

RAID explained.

Well, first let's start with RAID 0, or data striping. What it does is it distributes the data that you write to it, or read from it, over two separate HDDs effectively boosting both read and write speeds. Take for example you are writing a 100MB file to your HDD. With a RAID 0 configuration, your system will write 50MB to one HDD and the other 50MB to the second HDD. The one problem with this is data security. Should one disk fail, you will lose all your data.

RAID 1 is for redundancy and is also called data mirroring. Unlike RAID 0, it offers no performance boosts. What it does instead is it will write the theoretical 100MB file I mentioned above to both your HDDs. This means that even if there is a failure of a single HDD, you still have a perfect back-up in the form of your second, mirrored drive.

RAID 10, or 1+0, does what its name suggests. It will first mirror data, then stripe it to two HDDs. Mind you this requires a grand total of four HDDs but affords you the performance of a RAID 0 configuration and the redundancy of RAID 1.

RAID 0+1 or RAID 01 practically does the same thing, with it striping data before mirroring, as the name suggests.

And using any RAID setup wont void your warranty, so don't worry.

Yes it does. But it only boosts the sequential read/write performance and that rarely boosts a game's performance, if that is what you were asking after.

Other, more important details, such as access times and random read/write speeds become worse, if anything. And those are the stuff that make a SSD superior/speedier than any HDD.

Disadvantages? I listed some above. For RAID 0, losing one HDD means potentially losing all your data. And the other is price. Set up a RAID 10 array of 1TB hard drives and you will be better off buying a SSD instead.

There are many detailed guides on this out there. And I suggest reading those if you are truly interested.