Large capacity notebook SATA2 drives . . .

[BonzaiDuck]

I asked Western Digital several months ago, per their Scorpio and other notebook models, if they would run on a desktop system, and of course, they said "sure."

I see there are now 400GB models. Of course, the cache size is probably limited to 8MB, the rotational speed is probably 5,400 rpm.

I'm rebuilding the household file server for Windows Home Server with a C2D and LGA775 motherboard.

Does anyone have any experience running notebook drives on a desktop? In RAID1 or RAID5?

If so, how do these drives fare in longevity, reliability, and power-consumption?

If the power savings aren't so noticeable, I may just stick with 3.5" Black Caviars.

But I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has tried this. All comments -- :thumbsup: or :thumbsdown: -- welcome.

 

[yinan]

It would probably be cheaper and higher capacity to use desktop drives.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: yinan
It would probably be cheaper and higher capacity to use desktop drives.

Yeah -- the 400GB model I saw -- a Scorpio -- was about $90. The power-savings in kilowatt-hours would need to exceed any price-differential. That leaves the other issues.

I've seen a device -- no longer available -- a "NAS" by some company called "Acorn." It configured as RAID, and used 2.5" notebook drives. The other advantage there being the compact size of the disks, which as RAID1 could be swapped out on a regular basis.