I currently have a total of three complete machines. Two are completely suitable for my wants and desires. The third computer, however, seems to have very long boot times. The computer in question is Rig #2 (with the two Maxtor hdd's). i think what causes the problem is Symantec's NIS 2005. It takes a long time to finish loading, and blocks the use of internet and networking activity until its finished loading (can be as long as 3.5 minutes after logging onto the computer).

So, I want to buy a new hard drive. I really would like to get a Raptor since its so much faster (10K RPM) but I was looking at several drives and couldn't figure out which would actually ahve the best speed overall.

Do SATA drives all have faster speeds than IDE drives? I can't afford much (prefer <$100) and it doesn't need to store a huge amount since I have storage drives already.