External drive for PB - 300GB or 2x150(RAID)?

[RedTomato]

Hello,

I am looking at buying more HD space for my 1.5 GHZ 15'' PB - to store rough edits, backups, and other junk I dont need while I'm on the road.

I have 2 options:

a. 1x 300GB Maxor DiamondMax 7200rpm, for £150

b. same drive, but in 2x 150GB config (£75 each), put into 2x cheapo enclosures, connected via firewire, and raided using Disk Utility.

Pros and cons:

Single 300GB: Easy and quick. Fewer wires/cables. Occupies less desk space.

2x 150GB: More complex. More wires and power cables. Higher risk of failure. (won't keep critical backups on it anyway). Expense of buying an extra enclosure. Higher speed. *Bonus geek points*

Questions:

1. Will 2x150 GB on 2 seperate cheapo firewire enclosures, raided with Disk Utility REALLY be any faster (noticeably faster?) than a single 300GB ?

the most demanding use is probably recording DV to disk and editing.

2. Firewire enclosure - Definitely better than USB 1.1, but what are the advantages over USB 2.0? (USB 2.0 enclosures are dirt cheap here, but firewire costs a fair bit more)

Many thanks

RedTomato

 

[26139]

Advice...

Just get the 300gb drive. The raid won't be TOO much of a performance increase, and it's a helluva lot more complicated.

Second, USB 2.0, while rated at 480mbps (compared to firewire's 400mbps) is slower at sustained data transfer (um, video capture) so firewire is THE choice for your situation.

Yes, the USB costs less, but you won't regret it.