Old Raptor vs New Drives?

[Phil3]

I have an old 74GB WD Raptor drive from about 2005 - 2006. I can still use, but wondered how it might fare performance wise to something like a WD Caviar Black? Has the old Raptor fallen behind the times or can I get better performance with something like the Caviar Black? The drive will be used for some applications and storage, the OS is on an SSD.



- Phil

 

[cherrytwist]

I'd suggest researching it on storagereview.com. Also, the power consumption would be a factor (if you give a sh!t). You would have much more efficiency using the newer drives. BTW I'm no expert on the subject, this just seems like common sense.

 

[FishAk]

The first 75GB of a modern 1TB 7200 RPM drive is faster than that Raptor's top speed.

 

[Aikouka]

If I remember correctly, they are not as fast as current drives anymore. I believe I saw it in some hard drive or SSD review that I read awhile ago, but I can't be 100% certain.

One thing to consider is that they're also really loud. I have a 74GB raptor lying around, and I decided to use it in a system. I ended up replacing it, because it was much louder than I wanted it to be... especially since said system was a HTPC.

 

[taltamir]

the sequential speed of a modern large drive is much higher then that of the 75GB raptor. Roughly 1.5x to 2x.
However, the raptor has a similar advantage in random access times.

Both pale in comparison to a modern SSD which delivers 2x sequential and 100x random speeds of a modern drive.

 

[greenhawk]

Still using mine, but more as a dump drive. Have a WD back for a download drive/editing/extraction drive. Have a 600GB v-raptor for programs/games and a intel G2 for OS/current game (NTFS linking).

Under load it feels like the Black is slower than any of the raptors, for flat out speed, the two seem similar. As the OS is on the SSD, telling weather the v-raptor or black is better is hard to say. For the cost of each, I would take just the black if I did it again. Though due to usage patterns, the black's fragmentation kills it quickly.

Current plan on my next upgrade (IB hopefully) is to ditch the 74GB raptor. just too small when I have the OS drive of a similar size. Though currently looking for a suitable 60GB SSD to SRT on the v-raptor. Not many that look like winers (sustained incompressable data that is near v-raptor write speeds).

 

[Blitz KriegeR]

currently looking for a suitable 60GB SSD to SRT on the v-raptor. Not many that look like winers (sustained incompressable data that is near v-raptor write speeds).

I doubt that very much, even a vertex 3 on SATA3 should write at over 150mbps, closer to 220 actually. An M4/Intel 500 which handles incompressable data a bit better should do up to 300mbps. I doubt the Vraptor has that kind of throughput. No HDD does.

See 2nd chart here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4341/ocz-vertex-3-max-iops-patriot-wildfire-ssds-reviewed/7

 

[Phil3]

Given responses here, I decided to order a Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB. For $79.99, I figured I could hardly go wrong. It will replace the 74GB Raptor.

- Phil