Recommended Hard drives for FRAPS recording

Western Digital Scorpio Black # WD5000BPKT, 500GB, 7200RPM

laptop, internal:
Sequential Read : 88.3 MB/s
Sequential Write : 85.3 MB/s

external, via USB 3.0 adapter:
Sequential Read : 85.5 MB/s
Sequential Write : 65.7 MB/s

UPDATE: internal, dedicated Fraps partition

C: 80 GB (Windows, Program Files)

D: 127 GB (Fraps)

E: 257 GB (Other)

Sequential Read : 105.2 MB/s
Sequential Write : 101.9 MB/s

Western Digital Caviar Black 640gb 7200RPM x2 RAID-0 (onboard intel ich10r)
Sequential Read : 217.423 MB/s
Sequential Write : 214.982 MB/s

HITACHI Deskstar HD32000 IDK/7K (0S00164) 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Sequential Read : 94.898 MB/s

Sequential Write : 95.399 MB/s

Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2 TB 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $149.00 12/30/11
http://www.amuras.com/ssproduct.asp?pf_id=1021001190

Seq Read: 154.56
Seq Write: 141.55

Date: 12/30/11

Side Note: Did some recording the other night with battlefield3. This drive will easily record @ 60fps 1080p on all High Settings. I'm extremely pleased with the performance and will try recording @ even high fps for kicks.

Hello there and sorry for the late response back. In regards to your asking of the lossless setting. The drive yielded the results as followed.

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
450, 12651, 34, 37, 35.570

Do keep in mind the this was a very populated server with a lot going on. The map and it's environments obviously play a huge contributing factor. All setting were left on High @ 1080p. Without the lossless feature, you can pretty much roam around with the same insanity going on @ 60fps. The drive is absolutely fantastic. My only concern (which time will tell), is the longevity and it's reliability. Do helps this clears the mutter of wonders. Hopefully soon I'll be cranking up the speed of this machine along with some major players. CpuNB /HT Link. Just waiting on a the right time for a water cooler and hit the charts @ 5Ghz. Take care and Happy New years everyone.

Mike / Rockk

These are my results.

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                          Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
          Sequential Read :    50.952 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    49.272 MB/s
 
  Test : 4000 MB [C: 46.8% (69.6/148.9 GB)] (x3)
  Date : 2012/01/20 8:58:48
    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
  

Here is my CDM info. The Sequential Read/Write is likely to be low as there are still several fraps videos I haven't rendered or deleted sitting on the PC and various other apps were running at the same time as this test was happening.

HDD Model: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1 ATA Device

Laptop* I have 2 500gb Internal Hard Drives, OS, Programs, & games on 1st, Fraps on 2nd.

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ ATA Channel 0 (0) [ATA]
- ST9500423AS ATA Device
+ ATA Channel 1 (1) [ATA]
- ST9500423AS ATA Device
+ ATA Channel 2 (2) [ATA]
- HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GT34N ATA Device
+ Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 1C03 [ATA]
- ATA Channel 0 (0)
- ATA Channel 1 (1)
- ATA Channel 2 (2)

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST9500423AS : 500.1 GB [0-0-0, pd1]
(2) ST9500423AS : 500.1 GB [1-1-0, pd1]



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) ST9500423AS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : ST9500423AS
Firmware : 0002SDM1
Serial Number : 5WR0C3H7
Disk Size : 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1)
Buffer Size : 16384 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 976773168
Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 4
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 99.812 MB/s
Sequential Write : 94.330 MB/s


Test : 4000 MB [D: 22.4% (93.1/415.6 GB)] (x3)
Date : 2012/02/08 21:06:31
OS : Windows 7 SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)


________________________________________

OS : Windows 7 [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)
Date : 2012/03/14 0:16:20
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) WDC WD5000AAKS-55V0A0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : WDC WD5000AAKS-55V0A0
Firmware : 05.01D05
Serial Number : WD-WCAWF8718406
Disk Size : 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1)
Buffer Size : 16384 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 976773168
Rotation Rate : Unbekannt
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ----
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 4141 Std.
Power On Count : 454 mal
Temparature : 33 C (91 F)
Health Status : Gut
Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : ----
AAM Level : 8080h [ON]

* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 116.784 MB/s
Sequential Write : 113.852 MB/s

Test : 4000 MB [H: 9.5% (44.1/465.8 GB)] (x3)
Date : 2012/03/14 0:15:42
OS : Windows 7 [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)

Seems good enough.

I have a very similar model, WDC WD10EARS-22Y (that's WD Caviar Green). I have it as a separate disk from my OS, formatted as one huge NTFS with the highest allowed block size. I tested it with very few background processes (nearly clean Windows install). My results are:

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :   103.272 MB/s
          Sequential Write :   101.979 MB/s

  Test : 4000 MB [D: 13.1% (122.0/931.5 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/01/23 1:49:50
    OS : Windows 7 SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

My monitoring suggests that it's enough for at least 30FPS 1080p recording.

I also tested my main drive, WDC WD6401AALS-0 (WD Caviar Black), just to see how it compares. This is just a normal Windows partition, without optimisations and with a running system, so it could obviously perform somewhat better, but the results are really close regardless:

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :   112.069 MB/s
          Sequential Write :   109.986 MB/s

  Test : 4000 MB [C: 9.6% (14.0/146.5 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/01/23 1:33:51
    OS : Windows 7 SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Here is my CDM info for FRAPS directory:

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                          Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]
 
          Sequential Read :    90.406 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    89.393 MB/s
     
  Test : 4000 MB [E: 34.1% (99.8/293.0 GB)] (x3)
  Date : 2012/04/13 20:17:06
    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
  

HighPoint RocketRAID 2300 SATA Controller (cheap, ~$114 or something like that)
2x 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS - SATA 6.0Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache
RAID-0

Sequential Read : 200.081 MB/s
Sequential Write : 177.417 MB/s

Here's the copy/paste info:

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                          Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]
 
          Sequential Read :  200.081 MB/s
          Sequential Write :  177.417 MB/s
        Random Read 512KB :    0.000 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    0.000 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    0.000 MB/s [    0.0 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    0.000 MB/s [    0.0 IOPS]
  Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :    0.000 MB/s [    0.0 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :    0.000 MB/s [    0.0 IOPS]
 
  Test : 4000 MB [E: 8.5% (157.7/1862.7 GB)] (x3)
  Date : 2012/04/16 18:11:49
    OS : Windows 7  SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

*edit*

Something I would like to note is that this is a soft RAID. My OS drive is also a RAID on this controller, so unfortunately, this doesn't do what I want. When I try to capture at a high res and framerate, my CPU bottlenecks because of all of these things being on the same soft RAID controller. >.< So I'm going to have to take my OS off this controller leaving my capture drive the only RAID on this controller and test the capture that way. I'll connect all other disks to a different controller and see if I can get the high res and framerate capture. Otherwise, I'll need to drop $300 for a Hardware RAID for my system. :|

Anyone have any info on the samsung spinpoint f3 by seagate? $80 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Im on a budget and the next cheapest spinpoint i have found is $110 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

I remember reading somewhere that spinpoint by seagates werent as good but there was no evidence posted or anything like that. So my question is will it be pretty close in performance and longevity? i know there is a 500gb diff which is a factor but not a huge one for me.

I have a Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 500GB, 7200RPM internal HDD. It's SATA 3.0GB/s with a 16MB cache, and looking at the facts list it really does not seem all that impressive.

Yet, amazingly, it produced the following results in the test:

For an $80 drive that came as standard with my computer, I am quite pleased with the results. I was expecting far worse. I suppose it helps that this HDD holds Fraps footage, and nothing else. If I am not recording anything, it is completely empty and clean.

However, it is only 500GB and because I tend to record in 1080p, it fills up quite quickly. Therefore, I would like to upgrade. Looking at the recommended drives listed in the first post of this topic, I think the Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black 1TB could be the way to go.

I have a Asus P67 rev. 3.0 motherboard, which comes with 2x SATA 6.0GB/s ports and 4x SATA 3.0GB/s ports. One of those 6.0Gb/s ports is holding an OCZ Agility3 120GB SSD, leaving just the second slot for a 6.0Gb/s internal HDD. This gives me two possible ways to go:

1. Remove my current Hitachi HDD from the 6.0Gb/s slot and put in that Western Digital HDD instead.
2. Get me a second one of those Hitachi HDDs, plug them both in the 3.0GB/s slots and set up a RAID-0 configuration.

Now, that presents me with a problem. You see, I don't know the first thing about hard drives, or computer hardware in general. If I do upgrade, I would look to see a noticeable increase in performance. Given that the WD model's cache is 4 times bigger than that of my current drive, and that it makes full use of the SATA 6.0Gb/s slot, I assume it would produce a very nice performance increase.

However, could a RAID-0 setup with two of those Hitachi HDDs be even faster, at a lower price? After all, the WD drive is $140, whereas another Hitachi would set me back only $80.

I am really quite stumped here.. if anyone could shed some light on this problem, I would be very grateful!

Interesting, Rensje. I am on the fence about RAID. It sounds like a tempting proposition for your situation.
About HDD cache though:

At 1920x1080 and 30 fps, the data rate is much more than any HDD cache: about 45MB/sec ¹

Each individual write operation is much less than any HDD cache: 512 KB each ²

So cache doesn't matter for Fraps - it's about raw sustained speed.

¹ 45 MB/sec calculated, but it seems you need about 100 MB/s real world performance...

² 512 KB write deduced from Sysinternals Process Monitor logs
(not shown: WriteFile is called with I/O flag 'non-cached')

Ah, right. Now it is all starting to make some sense to me.

In this chart it says that recording at 60fps in 1920x1080 takes a data transfer rate of 95 MiB/s with RGB turned off, and 135 MiB/s with RGB turned on. I did some testing with this and I found that..

• with RGB turned off, I could play and record at 60fps without any hitches or dropped frames.
• with RGB turned on, my fps during gameplay would drop to ~45fps and some stuttering was noticeable in the output.

That makes perfect sense, because my sequential writing speed topped at ~136 MiB/s, meaning that I still had plenty of headroom while recording with RGB turned off, but that my HDD was starting to struggle when recording at 60fps with RGB turned on.

I then repeated the test, this time recording at 30fps in 1920x1080 resolution, and now I could record with RGB turned on no problem at all. 30fps in 1920x1080 with RGB only takes about 65 MiB/s, according to your chart, so that would be why.

This testing was all done in Legend of Grimrock, by the way. Other games I have tested include TESV: Skyrim and Diablo III, and both proved to be a bit of a bigger problem at 60fps in 1080p. I would get framerate drops while recording in both cases.

However, 136 MB/s is still a good result for what I consider to be a 'budget' HDD. And looking at this..

If a RAID-o setup can reach speeds like that, I should be able to achieve similar speeds with two of those Hitachi HDDs and record at 60fps in any game, with RGB turned on. It would produce some seriously large videos, but hey.. that's another matter entirely!