WD740GD (Yes, the new Raptors)

[SUOrangeman]

Since it's been nearly two weeks since the last post on the matter, I figured that I should post today's findings. In short, they're almost here!

Overseas

In the U. S., ...

Axion Technologies (one of our favorite vendors, no doubt!)
NeutronUSA
YesMicro (also has a 20-pack)

-SUO

 

[GTaudiophile]

What improvements did WD make with these again?

 

[Lonyo]

Double the size.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Aren't the new ones much quieter?

 

[Maddscientist]

I heard thru the grapevine that they will wash your cloths and do your dishes "Shsss" dont tell anyone!


All kidding aside I do believe they worked a great deal on their accustics. And a few people mentioned that they would be faster......but that is likely wishfull thinking since the 36.5 version is faster than superman.

 

[NFS4]

293????

No way. I'll keep my two RAID-0 36GB Raptors

 

[Megatomic]

I like the 36.7GB model better.. Only $150 shipped 3Day UPS. That's the next drive I'm buying. I'll keep my 2 x 60GB DiamondMax Plus9 drives for storage and use the Raptor for OS/Programs.

 

[Maddscientist]

New Egg is having a sale today Raptors are going for 110$ for the 36.5 Version.....Nice deal get 2 and run them non raid and you have a 73Gig 300$ hard Drive

Free supersaver shipping too....Pretty warm deal.

 

[Tab]

Too expensive, I would get it for ~$230 anything else is pushing it.... :|

 

[Pariah]

You people obviously aren't SCSI owners. That's a pretty darn good price. Especially considering it hasn't been released yet. After the novelty wears off and the price normalizes at something lower, this drive will be pretty much unbeatable if it lives up to performance expectations.

 

[oldfart]

From SR:

74-gigabyte capacity ? perhaps the most significant improvement is the migration to a two-platter flagship design.
37 GB Platters ? the aggregate areal density of the new Raptor will remain the same as the first. Linear density, however, has increased, to achieve:

72 MB/sec outer-zone transfer rates ? though we?ve pointed out that STR is non-consequential in the large majority of uses, some folks were disappointed with the 55 MB/sec that the first Raptor delivered. WD is confident enough with new yields to spec a transfer rate that rivals the best available from today?s disks.

4.5 millisecond seek time ? current Raptor drives spec at 5.2 milliseconds.

TCQ enabled ? matching a feature available on all contemporary SCSI drives, the new Raptor will feature tagged command queuing? that is, device-level reordering of outstanding requests for more efficient service times.

FDB motors ? though quiet from an emitted sound-pressure perspective, the original Raptor emitted a slight high-pitch idle whine that could irritate sensitive ears. WD has been on the slow side when it comes to migrating to fluid bearing motors when compared to other manufacturers. Fortunately, the new Raptor uses quieter and ostensibly more reliable FDB motors.

I'll be getting one once the price settles in a bit.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I like the 36.7GB model better.. Only $150 shipped 3Day UPS. That's the next drive I'm buying. I'll keep my 2 x 60GB DiamondMax Plus9 drives for storage and use the Raptor for OS/Programs.

Is that the new version ?

The Axion links have the wrong specs ? I thought both had lower seek time, 4.5......

 

[dullard]

The ~40 GB hard drive will not be that expensive. It will be a great purchase - especially if it lives up to the performance claims, and it has a 5 year warranty. Sure with some hot deals you can get a much slower drive with a 1 year warranty for half the cost - but you give up a lot for that little bit of savings. The price will come down eventually as well.

 

[SUOrangeman]

I take it that most of the responses have also forgotten/never knew that these Raptors will have goodies like command queueing. Hopefully, all of the enhancements will trickle down to the 36GB model as well.

And for the even-more-clueless, these drives are not meant for mass storage. Put your operating system and other high-demand data on a Raptor and keep your archives on larger drives.

Press Release

-SUO

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: SUOrangeman
I take it that most of the responses have also forgotten/never knew that these Raptors will have goodies like command queueing. Hopefully, all of the enhancements will trickle down to the 36GB model as well.

And for the even-more-clueless, these drives are not meant for mass storage. Put your operating system and other high-demand data on a Raptor and keep your archives on larger drives.

Press Release

-SUO

See my post above.

XboxLPU, I thought it was the new one with FDB motor but on second glance it looks like it's not. There is going to be a new ~37GB Raptor with all the benefits of the bigger one SUO linked to. THAT is the drive I intend to buy next year. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[XBoxLPU]

As am I

I will be running two of the new 36gb Raptors in Raid0 and an AMD64 setup just maybe

 

[sharkeeper]

I take it that most of the responses have also forgotten/never knew that these Raptors will have goodies like command queueing. Hopefully, all of the enhancements will trickle down to the 36GB model as well.

Tagged Seeks and Command Queuing although no specifics given on depth or capabilities. Also no word on multi-segmented cache lines which SCSI drives have. Still, should be a much better disk than the original Raptor which is nothing more than a 10k IDE disk with a skinny cable! :Q Hopefully the high pitched squeal will be absent with the use of FDB motors.

If the firmware doesn't take too much of a hit from TS & CQ, this disk should remain a good performer on the desktop and be able to hold up fairly well in entry level server environments. Much better performance with these disks will be realised with a true hardware solution instead of just plugging it into mainboard SATA.

Cheers!

 

[PrinceXizor]

I, for one, am interested in how SATA drives perform in a Hypertransport data infrastructure as opposed to the traditional PCI bus structure. Can a Hypertransport system actually fill 150MB/s? (theoretically of course). Hmm...time to do some rereading of how the hypertransport architecture is set-up when I get home from work.

P-X

 

[Boonesmi]

ive been wanting a pair of raptors... looks like ill have to wait for the new ones

 

[NFS4]

From what I understand, they STILL aren't native SATA drives...they still use a Marvel arbitrator

 

[septiroth]

since I have a SFF by biostar, i dont have the room for a large RAID of OS-disk and archive-disks, so ill make due with the new 74 raptor and my old 60gb maxtor if i run out of room.

 

[thorin]

Now we just need storagereview.com to get a few to test.

From what I understand, they STILL aren't native SATA drives...they still use a Marvel arbitrator

Thorin

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: thorin
Now we just need storagereview.com to get a few to test.

From what I understand, they STILL aren't native SATA drives...they still use a Marvel arbitrator

Thorin

From Storage Review:

There will also be a corresponding single-platter 37 GB unit. Interestingly, the new Raptors will still use an onboard PATA-to-SATA bridge disdained by many enthuasiasts. When hot-swap functionality, command queuing, and the potential for blazing performance remain, however, why should we care? Performance and functionality, not PCB layouts, remain the bottom line.

 

[oldfart]

why should we care? Performance and functionality, not PCB layouts, remain the bottom line.

True Dat!

 

[PrinceXizor]

I knew those quotes sounded familiar...read that preview a while ago....

It's the age old battle of what looks good on paper and real life.

You can brag all you want about 800,000 horsepower in your car vs. my 240...and how "poorly" my engine is implemented, but if my car still beats yours across the strip in the 1/4 mile....does it really matter?

P-X