Kuros said:
Bottom line for HDD performance: (my top 5)
1. SATA > IDE.
2. When possible RAID5. You get fast striping and parity all in one super nifty bundle. (Requires 3 drives and you get the space of the smallest drive x2).
3. Defragment often. It keeps big files together and helps the OS queue them in HDD cache.
4. Drives with larger caches are faster
5. More RPMs=much quicker read and write times.
So basically, a Raid5 array of 3 7200 (or more) rpm SATA drives with 16mb or better cache that you frequently defragment will give you about the best performance you are going to see from your drives. My computer scored 5.9 on Windows Experience Index for hard drives. See appropriate thread in Hardware for details.
Hmmm, i’m really just debating building a new computer; Not sure if I could justify quite yet. Still a better video card/dual core/bigger drivers would be nice.