Which is why getting a Raptor does not make a lot of sense.
Just because it doesn't make sense to your particular computer needs doesn't mean it can't to someone else.
The difference with SSD is the level of performance increase. You have no mechanical seeks, you have no rotational latency, and you have the media transfer rate. Usually.
Try to write with certain SSD's and you're gonna wish you were writing to a mechanical.
Look dude, I know exactly what an SSD can do. Let me count how many I've gotten in the past 1½ years... FOURTEEN! One Intel G1, the rest a mix of Indilinx Barefoot and Intel G2. I'm considering picking up one of the cheap 60/64GB Sandforce drives since I've never
personally tried one of those controllers. You're preaching to the choir here.
The funny thing is that I still believe there is room (albeit a decreasing niche) for a drive like the VelociRaptor. Here's why...
There is no such thing as Black and White. There is no such thing as Fastest and Slowest. Why does Intel make desktop CPUs that sell for $40 and desktop CPUs that sell for $1000? Well, because there are people who are willing to buy one, and there are people that are willing to buy the other, that's why. So, where does that put all the in-between priced CPUs? Who buys those?
The other thing is that of course product value is not linear. Some products just give better bang/buck at their price point than other products at another price point. That's a fact. That's why a Core i5 750/760 is such a hot ticket item for budget conscious enthusiasts/gamers, because it give good... there's a hooker joke somewhere in here...
So where does that leave the VelociRaptor?
It leaves the VR as an in-between priced product that is at a disadvantageous value at its current price point. Does that mean it shouldn't exist as a product? No. Who buys an Intel Core i7 960 when the Core i7 950 is such a killer value? Well, people obviously do, whether or not you can comprehend why they would. Just because you (I'm using the generic "you") wouldn't buy it doesn't mean someone else won't.
Basically someone who wants snappier performance than a 7200RPM drive but has too many games to fit on an affordable SSD can aim between the two with a VelociRaptor. Like me!
Put an older Raptor in a server? Sure. In a desktop? Not unless it's at an equivalent price. And $99 for 300GB is not equivalent.
(Here's a 5400RPM Caviar Green blowing away a 15,000RPM Cheetah in single user performance.)
Expensive + 10,000RPM does not necessarily mean "Better."
How about
this comparison?
I wish that they had the VelociRaptor 600GB as well as one of the newer 7200RPM 500GB/platter drives in the list, but ah well. The WD Black is one of the faster 7200RPM drives anyways, even with 3 platters. It handily beats the Green drive, and is in turn beaten by the VR. No surprise that the slowest drive is the cheapest and the fastest the most expensive. SSDs are even faster, and even more expensive (talking about $/GB).
Two of them failed at the same time ? Ouch!
Did you see any SMART warnings, or did they just die ?
One was in my main rig, with all my games on it. It started to have strange slowdowns over a couple weeks, but I didn't pay it much attention. Then I started to get SMART errors on POST, and it died within a day or two from that point. I've had this drive in continuous use for probably just over 2 years. The funny thing was that as soon as I started getting SMART errors on POST, I immediately suspected my Seagate 7200.11 drive. However, the Seagate is still doing fine (I had updated the firmware BITD as recommended by Seagate).
The second one was a spare drive that was purchased a while back, but still brand new/unused in a sealed anti-static bag. It was dead fresh out of the bag. Maybe it was really DOA, or maybe in the interim it got handled too much. I don't know.
I'm now using yet another one (I have four total) and it works fine as a replacement for the first one that died, in the same system hooked up the same way.
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