Originally Posted By: tanstaafl.
Is there an advantage to the 64MB cache drives other than read/write speed?

They're a half generation newer than the older 32MB/cache drives, with bugs fixed and theoretical reliability improved. Apparently they are variable spin-speed, too.

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pretty much streaming contiguous data both writing and reading. With that in mind, would the 8-second head park default be a problem worth fixing?

I use my 2nd-gen 1.5TB drive exclusively for streaming (MythTV recording / playback), and bumping the 8-second park time up to 30 seconds was very worthwhile for it. I suppose it may depend upon the I/O pattern of the specific software being used, but an 8-second default seems almost brain-dead to me.

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somewhere I have gotten it in mind that the 64MB cache drives are primarily set up for RAID operation

Nope. There are special firmware drives just for RAID, with something like "RE" in the name.

Cheers