Need advice on storage and performance

[rz8168]

I am a storage master for my company which I provide backups on very large capacities of softwares and data. Sometimes I even work with video editing.

Here's my current specs:
Athlon XP 2800+ Barton @ 2301Ghz
Abit NF70S v2.0 BIOS 1.4b
2x 512MB PC3200 CAS2
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro at AGP8X 9800PRO Softmod
2x Maxtor 120GB SATA on SIL 3112 onboard RAID
2x Maxtor 160GB 8MB on RAID 133 (ISO Storage)
1x WD 120GB 8MB external USB 2.0 (Data Storage)
NEC DVD1100A DVD+RW (Data Backups)
Lite-On 52246S 52x24x52x (Audio CD)
Plextor Premium 52x32x52x (Data CD)

I have 2 Maxtor 120GB SATA drive and 2 Maxtor 160GB 8MB ATA133 drives. I wonder if 160GB SATA x 2 would be faster than 120GB SATA x 2, or is it only different between them are about their capacities?

If I get dual 160GB SATA, I will have to get rid of 2 Maxtor 160GB ATA133 and 2 Maxtor 120GB SATA because 2x160GB SATA would cost about $380 for me.

It would be nice if anyone can gimme an advise or answer to my question. Thanks!
_________________
Athlon XP 2800+ Barton @ 2301Ghz
Abit NF70S v2.0 BIOS 1.4b
2x 512MB PC3200 CAS2
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro at AGP8X 9800PRO Softmod
2x Maxtor 6Y120M0 onboard RAID
2x Maxtor 6Y160P0 on RAID 133
1x WD1200JB 8MB external USB 2.0
NEC DVD1100A DVD+RW
Lite-On 52246S 52x24x52x
Plextor Premium 52x32x52x

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by rz8168
I have 2 Maxtor 120GB SATA drive and 2 Maxtor 160GB 8MB ATA133 drives. I wonder if 160GB SATA x 2 would be faster than 120GB SATA x 2, or is it only different between them are about their capacities?
It's all about size.

You didn't tell us what your aim is. Is it faster perfomance or more space?

[Midknyte]

The 160s wouldn't be significantly faster than 120s, all other things being equal.

since you have raid, I would do mirroring (raid1). Don't use raid0 for critical data.

[rz8168]

Performance is my aim, storage I can use DVD+RW for storage. I was think of raptors but nooooooooooo.... raptors is fast like hell but capacity is limited for me. Dual raptors for about $300 and offer 72GB...

[BipolarBill]

I would stick with what you have. Anything else will cost you dearly for limited performance increases.

Naturally, large SCSI drives on RAID 5 would be fastest.

[rz8168]

I went for 160GB SATA and compared to 120GB, I have a bit improve performance, and best of all 80 more gig storage.

Dual SATA 160GB RAID really give you amazing performance.

Thanks for your advice guys!