New Desktop - recommendations please

[M.R. Dien]

RAID Arrays can be set up in various ways .... that article lists 9 separate types of raid array ....... I can only speak from personal experience and have used RAID 1 on several different systems and have had occasion to be thankful for it.

RAID 1 is often called mirroring and is basically using one (or more) hard drives to make a duplicate of the primary data drive.

As I've never had a problem with raid array set ups and have even been thankful they were in place my position is obviously coloured by that experience as is Guy's with the opposite experience.

A good backup regime with suitable software can cover most of the RAID advantages with few, if any, of the added technology "risks".

[M.R. Dien]

I'm still not sure what the advantages of RAID are/is 

If I have a 640GB main disk (maybe, partitioned) and an external for backups, what is the advantage of this configuration over a more 'normal' one?

Gadget

the theoretical advantage of mirroring your disks in a raid array is that multiple copies of the same information are created at the same time but in different places. (ie on different drives).

Stripe arrays are different and with these the simplistic answer is that you are using the drives independently to store different pieces of the data and therefore the read/write operation is faster.


Some of it is a throwback to earlier computing times but with increased reliability of drives these days a good back up regime should cover most of the bases without the added "risk factor"

[Gadget]

Thanks, I do remember some of the olden days of computing and don't want to go back to them 

I still, however, do the grandparent generation backups that were instilled in me then and keeping copies in different physical locations. I have my image and data files on CDs/flash disks and on the external as well as the internal HD.

Interestingly, no one has defended Vista 

Gadget

[M.R. Dien]

Interestingly, no one has defended Vista

again I can only speak from personal experience but I have found Vista to be an excellent Operating system and the only piece of equipment which failed to operate properly after the changeover was my scanner but that is not the fault of Vista but rather the hardware manufacturer refusing to provide up to date drivers for older equipment.

In your case as SPSS is one of your primary roles for your new machine and the home page for that program does not mention Vista, this could have been a possible problem.

[Gadget]

Thanks for everyone's advice and contributions.

I'll take all this on board. I'm still a Dell fan though 

Gadget

[M.R. Dien]

I'm still a Dell fan though

I'm a great believer in sticking with what you are happy with.

[Gadget]

Incidentally, as you have contrubuted to the NOF thread in the past, does NOF 9 and 10 work on Vista?

Gadget

[Guy Etchells]

If you are worried about Vista I would suggest buying a Vista installed computer and adding XP as a dual boot operating system.
One of my computers uses Vista and Windows 2000 in a dual boot configuration due to a problem with a scanner interface card.

That way you have all the advantages of a modern Vista compatible computer, allowing you to upgrade easily at a later date but still run an operating system you are familiar with.
Cheers
Guy

[M.R. Dien]

Incidentally, as you have contrubuted to the NOF thread in the past, does NOF 9 and 10 work on Vista?

Gadget

I'm not sure about NOF 9 but my version of 10 does work although it is only there as an afterthought (after I bought it  I thought it was rubbish  )