(Veloci)Raptor 600GB

[jiffylube1024]

One thing that disappoints me about the 300 GB Raptor is the use of 2.5" platters. Maybe this drive will correct some of the losses that occur from shrinking platter diameter down so low?

At one point I couldn't figure why WD did this? I mean what advantage is spinning something 10,000 rpm if the circumference of the disk/platter is reduced? Wouldn't running a larger diameter platter @ slower speeds accomplish the same thing?

Believe it or not, I heard that every single WD Raptor made uses 2.5" platters, they just switched to a 2.5" enclosure for the VelociRaptor. This is not new - all 15K RPM drives use either 2.5" or 1.8" platters, and most 10k RPM drives are 2.5" as well. The reasoning, so I have read, is the physics of it. Spinning a larger disk faster takes more energy, and would be less reliable.

The second part of the equation is also true - seek times/access times are quicker on smaller disks, which is part of the point of a 10k and 15k rpm drive.

True, in an ideal world, we'd have 3.5" 15k rpm drives that are short-stroked to use only the outermost inch of the drive for maximum performance, but it's easier and more reliable to spin a smaller disk that fast.
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Part of the way you can tell that the old and the new Raptors are both 2.5" platters is by looking at sequential transfer speeds. Check this review for example:

http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/storage/1705-western-digital-velociraptor

The Velociraptor starts at 125MB/s on the outermost part of the disk and ends at 70MB/s.

The RaptorX 150GB starts at 83 MB/s and ends at about 50MB/s.

If the Raptor X used 3.5" platters, then that would compensate somewhat for the difference in areal density and the transfer speeds would not be so heavily in favour of the new VelociRaptor.

 

[jiffylube1024]

As for the new 600GB (Veloci)Raptor - it seems to be even more of a niche product now. With SSD's being orders of magnitude faster at random reads, the 600GB Raptor seems to have its market as people who need fast, large drives with high sequential transfer rates (and can't afford the premium for SSD).

For the typical consumer, a ~80GB SSD boot drive and a ~500GB+ secondary drive makes much more sense - this will make the system boot and "feel" much faster than just a 600GB 10k rpm drive, and applications will launch significantly faster than on the mechanical drive.

We've already reached a point where SSD's absolutely destroy mechanical drives in some ways, and are starting to pull away even on sequential reads (and the newer drives sequential writes). The next gen of SSD's, provided they keep improving performance and doubling storage capacity, will really be a kick in the pants to the makers of mechanical drives and their marketshare.

 

[Rubycon]

The inertia of having four 3.5" disks spinning at around 15K would be incredible. It would be nearly impossible to twist the drive in your hand while running.

 

[Old Hippie]

Believe it or not, I heard that every single WD Raptor made uses 2.5" platters, they just switched to a 2.5" enclosure for the VelociRaptor

I believe you heard it but the origional Raptors have 3.5" platters.

Just pick one up and you'll see.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I believe you heard it but the origional Raptors have 3.5" platters.

Just pick one up and you'll see.

Have you opened one up and measured? Perhaps the original Raptor was 3.5" but I've heard it's either 2.5" or somewhere in that neighborhood.

The RaptorX, for example, has a visible window where you can see that the platter is actually smaller than a traditional 3.5" drive. A 3.5" form factor doesn't require 3.5" platters.

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=566&pgno=3

 

[Rubycon]

Have you opened one up and measured? Perhaps the original Raptor was 3.5" but I've heard it's either 2.5" or somewhere in that neighborhood.

The RaptorX, for example, has a visible window where you can see that the platter is actually smaller than a traditional 3.5" drive. A 3.5" form factor doesn't require 3.5" platters.

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=566&pgno=3

The original Raptor had 3.5" platters.
You can pry it open or (in this case) drag it behind something that goes fast over rough ground!

 

[Anubis]

What I want is a fast SSD that can saturate SATA 3Gbps while costing less than $1/GB for a 300-500GB capacity. Obviously I'm being underserved by today's marketing fad and focus on tiny, expensive SSDs that can't even saturate the bus.

you arent alone in that, after reading everything i coudl find about SSDs they arnt worth it even tho i could more then afford it.

 

[SonicIce]

The original Raptor had 3.5" platters.
You can pry it open or (in this case) drag it behind something that goes fast over rough ground!

you kept the magnets right? :sneaky:

 

[Rubycon]

you kept the magnets right? :sneaky:

That wasn't my handywork. (there would have been rust hehe!)

I usually do keep magnets but now there are so many magnets stuck under tables around here you have to be careful NOT to put any keycards down or the strips get wiped!

 

[Old Hippie]

but I've heard it's either 2.5" or somewhere in that neighborhood.

Another case of don't believe anything ya hear and only half of what ya see?

 

[RussianSensation]

Uh, try actually finding a place having actual stock and selling for that price without using cashback or other tricks. :hmm:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...dlist=celebros

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...dlist=celebros

 

[vshah]

80GB would not come anywhere near holding all my applications. Okay... all my... games. ^_^ I'm not quite there yet but I know people who have Steam folders that are larger than 80GB. Seriously, why have only Windows boot quickly and not all the other stuff you do?

I've actually taken advantage of a few SSD hot deals lately so I'm soon to be going that route... however many of my games will still have to run off spindle drives, so I want those spindle drives to be a bit faster. I think the minimum I could live with for an SSD would be a 256GB size, but yeah, $700 is too much for my wallet.



Guess I was going by street price, LOL.

Still, how can I get new 600GB worth of 15K RPM drives for $300 with "free" controller?

seriously, with a storage server and gigabit ethernet, not having capacity for all my games at once is a non issue. i'm usually only ever playing 2-3 at one time, max. if I ever need to play another one, it takes under 5 mins to install. i backup steam games to the network and restore them when required.

 

[Rubycon]

You could always use stacker/doublespace.

 

[zerogear]

80GB would not come anywhere near holding all my applications. Okay... all my... games. ^_^ I'm not quite there yet but I know people who have Steam folders that are larger than 80GB. Seriously, why have only Windows boot quickly and not all the other stuff you do?

Well, that's why I'm running boot/applications on my SSD while i put all my games on my Velociraptor 300gb (as well as swap file).

 

[JSt0rm]

Do we know when these are releasing? all sites are showing oos

 

[Zap]

WD released a batch, but they all sold out. I know Newegg had them for a while.

Speaking of Newegg... seriously their reviews are hitting new lows. People who have not purchased the 600GB VelociRaptor are posting 1 Egg reviews that basically say how much the drive sucks. They totally need to directly tie the review system to people's invoices so that not only are the reviews from people who actually own the product, people won't be reviewing the wrong item. IIRC I saw some review of a keyboard or something like that for a power supply.

 

[allthatisman]

WD released a batch, but they all sold out. I know Newegg had them for a while.

Speaking of Newegg... seriously their reviews are hitting new lows. People who have not purchased the 600GB VelociRaptor are posting 1 Egg reviews that basically say how much the drive sucks. They totally need to directly tie the review system to people's invoices so that not only are the reviews from people who actually own the product, people won't be reviewing the wrong item. IIRC I saw some review of a keyboard or something like that for a power supply.

They identify who has bought it from newegg and who hasn't. I think you should be able to filter out the people who haven't... but every so often you will get a person who didn't buy the product from Newegg, but they leave a very thorough review. But I agree, all the negative posters lower the average score down, and it makes a good-decent product look worse than it really is... so now that I think about it, you are right. People shouldn't be allowed to post on things they haven't bought.