WD Velociraptor still worth the premium price?

[beginner99]

It's all about price. However the 600 GB is not the newest VR model (that comes in 1 TB , 500 Gb and 250 Gb versions). The newest one is a lot faster (in benches).

The 600 GB model here is way too expensive. it is more like $180-$200 and about the same price as a crucial m4 256 GB. The 500 GB (WD5000HHTZ) is actually a much better deal.

Still, only makes sense if you need more than 256 GB and less than 1 TB (WD1000DHTZ) of "fast" storage.

A 128 Gb ssd + 2 TB green drive is cheaper here than then 1 TB raptor so it makes it difficult to recommend it in most cases. Maybe if you are a hard core gamer that is annoyed by slow level load times. But if you play mutliplayer that hardly matters much you will either wait for the other player(s) (Starcraft) or wait a slot to become free BC, battlefield, etc. all of which make this irrelevant.

 

[groberts101]

Nice. This thread is about the same things I've been thinking about. :hmm:

I saw the deal for the 600 GB Veloci's, too. I was even thinking about doing something crazy like buying 3 of them and put them in RAID 0. Then I was thinking of doing something even more crazy and spendy like buying a $200 - $300 dedicated RAID controller to use with the drives.

I have an ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (not Gen 3) motherboard. However, I checked and noticed that if I use the board's second PCIE x16 slot to connect a RAID controller then I think I'll lose full x16 on the connector for the graphics card. I'm not sure how the board's third full sized PCIE slot is supposed to work. There's some confusing things in the motherboard's manual. I haven't figured out all of the details for this, yet. I'm just thinking.

I guess I should use the motherboard's built-in RAID controller. However, there's only two SATA III ports for the Intel chipset based controller. There's an integrated Marvel controller that provides two more SATA III ports but I have no idea what they support and I shouldn't be able to put two drives on the Intel SATA III ports and one drive on a Marvel port and have all three in RAID 0 anyway. Besides that, I also read there may be some limitations to the Marvel controllers throughput.

There's 4 Intel SATA II ports- 3 Gbps. However, I don't know if having 3 Veloci's in RAID 0 and connected to SATA II would result in a bottleneck. Can anybody tell me if that would work well?

I like the 5 year warranty of the Veloci's and if I buy them then I plan to have some kind of regular (and automated as much as possible) backup system so that the files that are important will be preserved if one of the Veloci's fails and breaks the array.

I was almost ready to get an SSD for caching my Western Digital Black 1 TB drive. However, I want to be able to dual boot with Linux and I have read that it may not be impossible to get Linux to work with SSD caching but I think it doesn't always work and I don't want to mess with setting it up. I thought about just getting a big SSD and using it as a primary drive but unless I partition it and install Linux on it too then a Linux based OS won't get any benefit from it and if I did partition the SSD and install Linux on it then the partition for Windows would be even smaller. I already have Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on my 1TB WD drive. I could set up redirections for certain Windows folders or maybe mount a slower spinning drive to a folder on the SSD but I'd rather not.

Originally when I bought the 1TB WD Black drive I was planning to get a few more of the same model (FAEX I think) later and use some kind of RAID setup with the chipset's RAID but then I found out that Western Digital had been messing around with the drive's TLER fearture and the drive's may no longer work reliably in a hardware based RAID setup.

I read and heard many times that the Samsung 830's were about as good of an SSD as you could get. Unfortunately those aren't made anymore. Perhaps the 840's will take the place of the 830's in the market and have the same good reputation.

I don't like TigerDirect. If their site tells you that an item is shipped from a third party warehouse and ships in about 2 days then don't believe them. I ordered something like that 3 weeks ago and it still hasn't shipped. I've tried contacting their customer support 3 different ways many times. I got through to somebody using the live chat service twice and both times were nonproductive. The rebate I was going to use for what I ordered from TigerDirect won't work now. I ordered the same item from Newegg and everything was ok. I doubt I'll never buy from TigerDirect ever again but I'm going to keep avoiding them.

Earlier I was comparing the specs of a few different hard drives. I saved the info as a table in a HTML file but I don't see a way for me to attach the file to this post so I'll try copying and pasting the text of the file. Save the text as an HTML file and then open the file in a web browser. There may be a better way for me to do this but I don't have to time to figure it out right now. I make no claims that the info is perfect and error free. Plus it is incomplete but I tried to get as many numbers as possible from the sites of the companies that make the drives. Unfortunately I didn't get as much information about the Veloci's as I wanted to.

Main points that I would make to save you all that trouble and cash.

I had 4 of those particular HDD's in R0 on my ICH10R chip and even that chip didn't bottleneck them. The 6 series chip you have has a max available bandwidth capability of more than 1GB/s, so even if you ran 6 of them(all of the Intel ports)?.. it would never become a bottleneck(aside from the aforementioned cache burst speeds). Only reason to need 6G ports for those drives would be for the cache's burst speeds.. which get eaten up fairly quickly and become moot with larger files anyways.

Also keep in mind that latency is cumulative across an HDD array.. onboard or card.. so the more drives you have the more initial lag results. Not terrible.. but definitely perceivable as you build wider arrays. IMHO, a card would be a waste of money for those drives since even the Intel chip would have better/larger caching leverage and lower latency.

I also tested the black's in 6 drive array's as well. Had no TLER related(timeouts/dropped drives) issues on my board.. but YMMV and it's best to seek others advice who've used the exact same board/HDD/software combo to know for sure before shelling out that amount of cash.

My advice to you is to get yourself a larger SSD for the main boot volume.. or even 2 midsized SSD's in R0 on the Intel 6G ports.. and then run a "few" faster HDD's in R0 on the remaining 3G ports. If you decided to use the Marvell?.. it would never bottleneck 2 of those drives either. You could run a Windows software raid across the Intel and Marvell chip as well(non-bootable though).. but with 4 available Intel ports it would still be the better way and still maintain the bootability of that volume so you could still have your multiboot and plenty of space for storage.

A bit busy today and that may be kind of scatter-brained and quickly formatted reply.. but hopefully you get the points well enough. Happy Holidays.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Picturized

 

[wansurfer]

I was thinking that the $200+ RAID controller cards seem to be meant for use with server motherboards (or, at least, boards that have a better selection of PCIe slots) and that is not what I have. Not yet but maybe someday. :hmm:

beginner99 mentioned earlier in this thread that the Veloci's that are on sale at Newegg are not the newest ones. That's correct. I think I read someplace that they don't have the newer high areal density platters, too. The table that I tried to post shows that the 1 TB Seagate ST1000DM003 that was on sale recently has a higher throughput than the VelociRaptor that's been on sale but its throughput isn't a lot higher. I wasn't as interested in the Seagates that were on sale because of their shorter warranty I was uncertain what they would do in an integrated hardware RAID configuration.

As long as a hard drive doesn't make a loud whirring sound I don't mind it if I can hear them clicking as they read and write data. That way its a little easier to generally monitor how the drive is being accessed without looking at the light on the case.

groberts101, thanks for the advice. Though don't take it personally if I don't follow. Sometimes I do stuff that is ill-advised just as a test and to see what happens. :awe:

 

[Seven]

Another raptor thread.

The raptor days are long gone.. Only the raptor fans buy them.

 

[SiHawk]

I just put together my 1st 'puter ever and SSD's were a NEW item for me, BUT being an older "geek" I sure remembered the RAVE about WD's Raptor Drives.........so when shopping for my essentials and ran across a New Egg Sale on a SATA [no more IDE] 500 GB WD VelociRaptor for $79, that settled it for me, I was tickled pink, WOW I finally have my own 10,000RPM Hard Drive.
Before I actually got the build done a few posters told me they never would have went for one of these with the SSD's etc. and many commented about them being NOISY......took it all with a grain of salt.
Not now, I wish I'd spent more and bought probably a 250GB SSD, or like a 68GB SSD and a larger Quieter SATA HDD.
Now I'd like to spend more money to get an SSD and transfer most if not all to it so I won't have to hear this sucker chattering all the time. OR - just totally replace it with an SSD and sell the Raptor.:|

Must come back here and CORRECT my mis-judgement of my WD VelociRaptor being excessively NOISY......I was having some other issues with noises I thought were related to this new HDD.......but turned out it was my old 5.1 Sound setup showing it's age, like me, I guess...........now that I have shut that annoying business down.....this HDD does not really bother me a all, in fact I kind of enjoy hearing a bit form it at times, reminds me it's in there working it's little disc off for me.

 

[wansurfer]

SiHawk, what model of VelociRaptor did you get?

I think there were some sales for VelociRaptors last year, too. I was a bit temped then, too, but didn't buy any.

 

[SiHawk]

SiHawk, what model of VelociRaptor did you get?

I think there were some sales for VelociRaptors last year, too. I was a bit temped then, too, but didn't buy any.

Re-read my post - - - a 500GB!

 

[BFG10K]

I just put together my 1st 'puter ever and SSD's were a NEW item for me, BUT being an older "geek" I sure remembered the RAVE about WD's Raptor Drives.........so when shopping for my essentials and ran across a New Egg Sale on a SATA [no more IDE] 500 GB WD VelociRaptor for $79, that settled it for me, I was tickled pink, WOW I finally have my own 10,000RPM Hard Drive.
Before I actually got the build done a few posters told me they never would have went for one of these with the SSD's etc. and many commented about them being NOISY......took it all with a grain of salt.
Not now, I wish I'd spent more and bought probably a 250GB SSD, or like a 68GB SSD and a larger Quieter SATA HDD.
Now I'd like to spend more money to get an SSD and transfer most if not all to it so I won't have to hear this sucker chattering all the time. OR - just totally replace it with an SSD and sell the Raptor.:|

You got a good deal on the drive. Instead of getting rid of it, I’d recommend getting a small SSD for your OS (e.g. Samsung 64GB). That should eliminate the OS chatter.

Then put your games, apps, and mass storage onto the Raptor.

My 1TB version has idle noise comparable to other 7200RPM drives I own and while seeking noise is a bit louder, I’m personally not bothered by it. I use mine exclusively for games now, but I did run it as an OS drive for a few months.

 

[wansurfer]

Re-read my post - - - a 500GB!

Yes I read that. However I was asking for the model number because I doubt there is only one model that is 500 GB.

 

[wansurfer]

... My 1TB version has idle noise comparable to other 7200RPM drives I own and while seeking noise is a bit louder, I’m personally not bothered by it. ...

I think one of the Veloci's that I saw on sale would probably be about as noisy as the HDD that I currently have but 3 of them together may make a lot of noise.

WD Black WD1002FAEX
Average acoustics (dBA)
Idle mode: 28
Performance seek mode: 33

WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX
Average acoustics (dBA)
Idle mode: 27
Performance seek mode: 34

 

[Puffnstuff]

I'd keep watching ssd prices as I've already seen 500gb drives near $300 this month. I run a 600gb vraptor but would replace it with a ssd in a heartbeat if I could get the capacity at a descent price.

 

[SiHawk]

I'd keep watching ssd prices as I've already seen 500gb drives near $300 this month. I run a 600gb vraptor but would replace it with a ssd in a heartbeat if I could get the capacity at a descent price.

Roger dat! Already been doing it and today my researching led me to exactly my solution........an Intel SSD 330 or 520.......get at least a 120GB sized one for a tad over $100......BUT MOST Important: Not only excellent reviews - BUT - studied what comes with it, Intel Tool Box which includes what appears to be a very easily implemented their Migration Program.......it will transfer everything off of this Raptor.....and then if I want, probably, keep the Raptor as Storage to the 120GB SSD. Finding some pretty good prices on these drives on EBay.

 

[Old Hippie]

Looks like a 1 day NewEgg sale for the 600GB VR.

Looks like @ 110.00 to me.

Merry Christmas Boomer!

PSS...Sorry, you already posted the deal but my Christmas wishes for you and yours stay the same.

 

[bigboxes]

I finally bit. Just ordered the Samsung 840 120gb from the Egg. It was $99 shipped. I already have 4 thrash drives in my main rig so I won't need the tiny 74gb raptor for storage. Maybe I'll put it in my file server to run as the os drive. It's like a badge of honor to see how long it can keep on going. I wish all drives were that reliable. I just sent another Seagate 2TB back for RMA. I have RMA drives from all the major companies. They all fail. Just not my raptor.

 

[Fallengod]

I finally bit. Just ordered the Samsung 840 120gb from the Egg. It was $99 shipped. I already have 4 thrash drives in my main rig so I won't need the tiny 74gb raptor for storage. Maybe I'll put it in my file server to run as the os drive. It's like a badge of honor to see how long it can keep on going. I wish all drives were that reliable. I just sent another Seagate 2TB back for RMA. I have RMA drives from all the major companies. They all fail. Just not my raptor.

Dont take this the wrong way but, a 120gb drive for $100 isnt that great of a deal. You can get a 180gb Intel 330 for like $20 more at Ncix.... Theres also an older X25-M 160gb G2 for $90AR. I definitely would never pay $100 for a 120gb SSD.

 

[Seven]

Dont take this the wrong way but, a 120gb drive for $100 isnt that great of a deal. You can get a 180gb Intel 330 for like $20 more at Ncix.... Theres also an older X25-M 160gb G2 for $90AR. I definitely would never pay $100 for a 120gb SSD.

Please, the Samsung 840 is a new drive. Your comparison doesn't really makes sense.

 

[Upgr8er]

I can start a new thread but hijacking can be fun! But seriosly, I feel it's a related "enough" question so here goes:

I'm getting ready to upgrade and I'm trying to decide what to do for a hard drive. I have a VelociRaptor that is now 3 years old. It's model WD3000HLFS. I can buy another one (but that model is WD3000BLFS) for $59 and do a RAID config (never did that before) - OR - go with an SSD and the plain jane 1tb 7200 speed drive I have in there now for backups.

So two 300gb VelociRaptors in Raid (I guess Raid 0? the one that is faster but no backup) or an SSD. If the RAID suggestion wins does anyone know if I need to worry about that H or B discrepancy in the model numbers?

If SSD wins then besides the operating system, is there anything else that really should be installed on the SSD? Like Battlefield 3? Or is it okay to put most everything on the spinning disk?

 

[Seven]

I can start a new thread but hijacking can be fun! But seriosly, I feel it's a related "enough" question so here goes:

I'm getting ready to upgrade and I'm trying to decide what to do for a hard drive. I have a VelociRaptor that is now 3 years old. It's model WD3000HLFS. I can buy another one (but that model is WD3000BLFS) for $59 and do a RAID config (never did that before) - OR - go with an SSD and the plain jane 1tb 7200 speed drive I have in there now for backups.

So two 300gb VelociRaptors in Raid (I guess Raid 0? the one that is faster but no backup) or an SSD. If the RAID suggestion wins does anyone know if I need to worry about that H or B discrepancy in the model numbers?

If SSD wins then besides the operating system, is there anything else that really should be installed on the SSD? Like Battlefield 3? Or is it okay to put most everything on the spinning disk?

The SSD would smoke your raptors in RAID 0. Besides, no heat/noise.

 

[zCypher]

I'd only get the raptors if they were significantly cheaper than the SSDs. If a 240GB-256GB SSD falls within your budget, go with that instead and just keep several big HDD as storage. Right now I'm running a chronos deluxe SSD for main drive, and I have a couple of 3TB green and 1TB black drives for storage. Works pretty good! Will never go back to non-SSD boot drives. ever.

 

[Baasha]

Running 4 1TB Raptor's in RAID-0 is an awesome setup (provided the SATA ports can handle the data throughput) for recording gameplay. If you're looking for a 'storage' drive, get a cheaper WD Caviar Black 1TB or even 2TB (now ~ $170/drive). If you want an OS drive, get a Gen 3 SSD (SATA 3). The spindle drives, although 10K RPM, in RAID-0 make for great FRAPS recording but other than that, it's silly to dole out $200+ / 1TB when SATA 3 SSDs can be had for < $100 (OCZ Vertex 4 128GB for instance).

 

[wansurfer]

Hi Upgr8er,

I could be wrong but I think the WD3000HLFS and WD3000BLFS are the same drive but the BLFS doesn't come with the IcePack (the big black heat spreader thing that adapts the connectors and mount points of the 2.5" VR drive to a 3.5" drive bay and helps cool the drive) and the HLFS does come with the IcePack. I don't know if you use the IcePack with the VR drive that you already have or not. Maybe you don't care about the IcePack.

Seven's right. For most computer users the majority of files that are accessed are small and each time a file is accessed there is latency from when the drive gets the command to read the file until the file is read. When accessing a lot of smaller files the latency adds up fast. SSDs have lower latency than VRs. I think it was almost no latency by comparison to regular 5400 and 7200 HDDs but I can't remember any exact numbers. Even with VRs in RAID 0 you will still have that pesky latency. However, VRs in RAID 0 will give you a higher sustained throughput that is more like an SSD and that helps with larger files and VRs have lower latency than a regular 5400 or 7200 rpm HDD.

While I was searching the Internet and trying to decide how I want to upgrade my computer's storage system I read a variety of reports about how noisy are the VRs. Some say the noise is no big deal and others say they hate the VRs because of it. I suspect that having the right kind of system for securing the drives in your computer's case may make a big difference. There were some sales and promo codes for VRs recently at Newegg but I think those are done now.

Baasha mentioned the OCZ Vertex 4 128GB can be bought for less than $100. I think there was a Samsung 840 128GB for $90 not long ago. I'm not sure if the Samsung drive is still that price. I couldn't find the lower price for the OCZ drive. I expect the prices for most of the HDDs and SDDs have gone back up now that the Christmas shopping season is done.

 

[BoomerD]

So...I'm eyeballing the Intel 520 in the Hot Deals thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2285551

The Best Buy site says 3 year warranty...(mentioned above) and specifies this for laptop use.

Is there any reason this wouldn't work in a desktop?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel---...specifications

Intel - 520 Series 180GB Internal Serial ATA Solid State Drive for Laptops

The part number shown by Best Buy (BBSSDSC180A3K5) doesn't come up at the Intel site...but they say 5 years for the 520 warranty.

Any other, better options?

 

[wansurfer]

Sorry I don't have an answer for your question about using the drive in a desktop computer but I've heard from friends that the SandForce controllers have issues. I looked at the thread your link goes to and I was a little surprised that nobody mentioned the issues with the SandForce controllers. Maybe the bugs have been worked out. I don't know. I tried the link to BestBuy's site (temptation is fun) but BestBuy told me the page doesn't exist anymore.

 

[BoomerD]

Sorry I don't have an answer for your question about using the drive in a desktop computer but I've heard from friends that the SandForce controllers have issues. I looked at the thread your link goes to and I was a little surprised that nobody mentioned the issues with the SandForce controllers. Maybe the bugs have been worked out. I don't know. I tried the link to BestBuy's site (temptation is fun) but BestBuy told me the page doesn't exist anymore.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....3332167&amp;loc=01