Personally I am not convinced by reports of raptors + raid 0 being a poor option. I run 4 x Raptor 150's in Raid 0 with a 500GB Sata Seagate as a back-up/storage drive, and the transfer rate and seek time is extremely good as measured by HDTach. FSX is on the 4 raptor stripe along with all scenery including Gen-X photo scenery and no stuttering or pauses. Load times are also very fast.

I think we all agree that on a "drive for drive" basis, a Raptor raid 0 remains the optimum brute-performance setup. Even a single raptor compared to a 2 drive, 7200 RPM raid 0 mIghT retain a SliGHt advantage. The real questions are, well, the other real questions! How much does it cost in reduced capacity, decreased redundancy and actual dollars-out-of-pocket to get this last little bit? In any performance equation, that last 5% is alway s the most expensive. Speed costs. How fast do you want to go? What does that last 5% really cost and is worth it? I'm still liking the balance a 7200 RPM raid provides.For instance, how about this: Fry's has SATA II, 160 gig Seagates for $40 a pop (5 year warranty, just like the 10K WDs). How about raid 0-ing 3 of these and providing a positive external backup with a $100, 400 giger-biter. $225. That's 400 gigs of fully redundant, triple raid 0 at the price of a single, (fully) retail 10K 150 giga-biter. The performance argument boils down to the same considerations: Transfer rates and access times. The raid will provide 3 times the transfer rate of a raptor. Further, if you set it up right with Ultimate Defrag, the simultaneous seeks coming off the outer edges via the 6 platter's read heads (the raid's 3, 160s) might help close the gap in access time. We see that a raptor Still provides quicker load times verses a 2 drive raid 0 . . . but not by huge amounts. These comparisons are really getting close. Here we have a 300% increase in capacity, 100% increase in redundancy that is costing a 5% (if that) loss in performance. All this, for a 5% performance hit? Sold! How much additional cost might a builder want to endure to gain those marginal seconds in load times? Bragging rights included, there's no contest. That raptor's the clear winner. However bragging rights aside, the raid is still making more sense (as always, imHo ;))

That last 5% is called THE MONEY PIT.If you built lots o' pc's then you are well acquainted with the money pit.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

Greg can i ask what software you recommend for backup purposes of your data, both from doing a drive image and also just file backup.I presently backup most of my data manualy to my NAS linkstation but want to configure it so i can do scheduled backps to it.Thanks in advance James Carr(EGBB ATCO)

I currently use Acronis TrueImage for my drive images.I currently use ViceVersa for my day-to-day data backups.TrueImage Methods:I take a snapshot of my installation drive in a clean, activated state. With Windows XP, for example, I perform a clean installation from scratch, loading all of the newest drivers for everything but my video card, I run all Windows Updates, and I perform some cleanup and customization tasks. These include setting File Explorer settings, turning off the screen savers, adjusting the page file to my preferences, turning off unneeded services, etc. etc. I install only programs that I would need immediately upon a refresh, such as WinRAR, my anti-virus, ViceVersa, and other slow-to-change utilities. Then, when all is said and done and I am happy with my setup, I activate with Microsoft. Once that is sucessful, I use TrueImage to take a full image. Voila! Now, if ever I need to restore this computer, all I have to do is recover from the image and I have a fully activated, well constructed *CLEAN* WinXP install! All I have to do is copy over my data from it's backup, as well as install the few programs I use on my PC. I do the same thing with FSX - From the *clean* OS build, I install *clean* FSX and activate it with no customizations, and take another snapshot! Boom! Now I've got a fully clean system with FSX installed and activated, ready for whatever I throw at it. :) (When SP1 releases, I'll install it on my FSX build and take YET ANOTHER image, replacing my old FSX one)ViceVersa Methods:ViceVersa is a schedule-enabled backup and syncronization program. It allows you to designate files or folders, and back them up to other drives or locations. What I like about ViceVersa is that it only copies changed or new files, and doesn't waste it's time on existing files. I have it set to run on login, so it doesn't inturrupt any day-to-day work. I have copious amounts of digital photos I've taken since my first digicam in 1999, as well as a LARGE library of Flight Sim downloads and download-only utilities in my archives. Add to that all my emails since 1997, and various other personal documents and items, and it works out to a full 60-70GB backup! (darn FSGenesis mesh!) Because ViceVersa only copies what has changed, my daily backup task is quick. I copy all my "My Documents" contents, all of my "Archives" (msfs downloads, etc)contents, and all of my "Internet" (email, unsorted downloads, etc.) contents to a backup external USB2 hard drive. (as well as an extra internal SATA drive that I had laying around for speed in restoration only). Another plus for ViceVersa is that it is simply copying files - it doesn't use a propriatery file format or anything - it just duplicates your files. If you need to restore something quick, just browse to your backup directories and copy it over. Keeping it simple! If I am planning to refresh from scratch, I run the backup manually to ensure syncronization, then I go ahead and plop in the fresh TrueImage snapshot. Following that, I run a ViceVersa job (aka: profile) to restore my data to a temporary location on the hard drive. Then I have to reinstall my email program, and copy the old folder over the new and voila! email's back... lather, rinse, repeat. In the event of an emergency, I use the portable USB2 drive in the event I had to evacuate. March 2006 my apartment complex was struck with a fire, and while I didn't lose everything in the apartment, I grabbed my USB2 drive on my way out for safekeeping. In the event of a LARGE emergency, I have an additional USB2 drive that I keep with me at work, but I run the ViceVersa backup process to it on a monthly basis - if my current apartment was ever destroyed and I wasn't there to grab stuff, I am no more than one month behind. I would use DVD's for offsite, but since I have so much stuff, it's much easier to have another hard drive. Yeah, I have a pretty lengthy and robust personal backup plan, and in reality I hope I never EVER need to use it again - but if you've lived through a major situation like a house or apartment fire, you understand how important it is to safeguard your memories... with all my photos digital, I would be gravely disappointed if they were lost because I didn't back them up appropriately. Sorry for the Tolstoy-esque length of this...-Greg

GregThanks for the very in-depth response, it was very helpful and i will take a look at the two programs that you mentioned.I like you have many digital photos, hence why i purchased the NAS 500gb drive, I wanted something that i could access the files both from my laptop and two networked PC's without having to always have the network on. I have a total of 4 Internal hardrives in the one PC, 2 in the other, and then the laptop, and have just purchased a usb drive aswell to take with me when using the laptop away from home.1st hardrive(125gb) in main pc is partitioned with XP and Vista Ultimate on a dual boot in each partition.2nd harddrive(125gb) is partioned with FS9 and FSX on respective partions.3rd Harddrive,(250gb) contains Horizon VFR scenerey and also all FS addons and utils etc.4th Harddrive (320gb) Is Digital photos, documents, and general backup drive. with most of this duplicated on the NAS(500gb) drive.USB (160gb) will be used as a backup and also for taking transferable work with me when using Laptop. so photos and work stuff.2nd PC drives contain other FS addons and stuff and is used networked to main PC when using fs, for running things like FSINN, Activesky, FSbuild and general internet browsing for charts and the like and information whislt flying, I often do around the world flights, often into places I not flown to before so comes in handy for looking up procedures and the relevant Vatsim pages for info. I have also backed up flightsim stuff to second drive in this pc.So you can see quite the need to have some more regimented form of backup system. There is 49gb of photos alone! So your advice and help is very much appreciated. Also you information on Raptor drives was a great help. as something i am considering having put into next PC that i'll get later in the year when FSX is mainstream again.Once again thanks alot.RegardsJames Carr(EGBB ATCO)