WD releases 1TB VelociRaptor

[Pariah]

Not the same fanfare with the emergence of SSD's, but WD has released a new 1TB VelociRaptor, and it doesn't disappoint by conventional performance standards. Cracks 200MB's in sequential transfers and dominates almost all the benchmarks.


Storage Review review

 

[Topweasel]

Might pick up a 1TB one eventually to host most of my VM's. There are probably a few other general user alternatives, that make it a pretty decent choice. But I can't see to many people looking a 3 drives at $300, a 4TB 7200rpm drive, a 1 TB 10k, and a 256GB SSD, and decide to go with the 1 TB 10k drive.

 

[ShadowVVL]

I like spindle drives but I wouldn't pay $300 for it for one even if its a raptor. For $300 I see a 256gb ssd as a better deal.

 

[Smoblikat]

Might pick up a 1TB one eventually to host most of my VM's. There are probably a few other general user alternatives, that make it a pretty decent choice. But I can't see to many people looking a 3 drives at $300, a 4TB 7200rpm drive, a 1 TB 10k, and a 256GB SSD, and decide to go with the 1 TB 10k drive.

I agree, id take a 4TB over anything.

 

[chloros]

Seems like Intel's SRT makes this obsolete.

 

[dac7nco]

I'm actually pleased that WD didn't kill off this line. I usually see ~200MB/s backing up to four 4TB 5400RPM drives in RAID-10, so this has great usage to me... just not as an OS drive.

Daimon

 

[Pariah]

Might pick up a 1TB one eventually to host most of my VM's. There are probably a few other general user alternatives, that make it a pretty decent choice. But I can't see to many people looking a 3 drives at $300, a 4TB 7200rpm drive, a 1 TB 10k, and a 256GB SSD, and decide to go with the 1 TB 10k drive.

I can't see anyone aware of what this drive is having only one HD in their system. The 1TB size is a rather odd product that would be more suited in the enterprise market. It's not big enough for mass storage, but too big for important storage (ie, not porn and mp3's) and additional application installations. The 500GB size is a good choice for enthusiasts who already have an SSD boot drive to supplement it with additional capacity that is still fast, but much cheaper per GB. I doubt the 500GB version will cost over $1000 like a 600GB SSD does right now. (edit, pcper says the msrp for the 500GB version is $210).

I currently run a similar setup with an SSD boot and older generation 300GB Velociraptor. Will probably replace the old Raptor with one of these new ones. Having been the victim of multiple SSD failures, I would never store anything of importance on an SSD. With SSD failures there is no warning. When it dies, it's dead. I've had my share of traditional HD failures as well, but at least with those you almost always get a warning the drive is going to die, giving you time to get the data off before it goes completely.

 

[nanaki333]

they should have redone the raptor series and cranked it up to 15k rpm (faster if possible?) in a smaller drive to compete with the SSD boot drives. or hell... do like seagate and make a hybrid with a velociraptor. a 1tb drive is irrelevant. like others said, intel RST makes it easy to add a ~$80 SSD to any large storage drive and cache everything you use regularly. hell... mobo manufacturers are including their own SSD caching SATA ports too.

 

[KeithP]

I wish they had run the tests with a RAID 0 set up.

-KeithP

 

[BFG10K]

I’ve been waiting for this drive and it just snuck up on me today, LOL.

A good review here: http://techreport.com/articles.x/22794/1

Access times (6.6 ms) are even lower than the old VelociRaptor and idle noise levels are less than a Caviar Black, which I already find acceptable.

In some of the file copying tests it comes close or beats the M4 and the Corsair. It even has a lower cost per/GB than the 600GB Raptor.

I think I’ll get one as an upgrade for my 1 TB Caviar Black. It’s perfect for my gaming library and I won’t have any issues with running out of space.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Wouldn't this be a great drive with a SSD to cache it with? Any benches on this type of set up?

 

[Diogenes2]

Caching this drive would not offer much if any performance advantage over any other spindle drive.

 

[postmortemIA]

I can see this drive being somewhat popular in workstations and some servers.

 

[Zap]

Just more of the same. Basically I would buy this if it were cheaper. I know some people don't see the point of this, but it falls exactly where it should in the price/performance per GB scale.

I currently use a 256GB SSD for games. I'm almost filled up and I pretty much uninstall stuff to install new stuff. Geez, games are getting huge these days! BITD I used a small SSD for boot and a VR300 for games. Since most games don't benefit that much from the fast access of an SSD, I can totally see using one of the new VR500/1000 for games, but if only they were cheaper. Until then I'll keep uninstalling games I don't play much.

 

[Ajay]

I am so bummed that the new Raptor isn't a 15K (rpm) drive. Then it would have still stood out as an enthusiast HDD. That said, when I upgrade storage on my workstation, I'll probably go with an SSD + 1TB VR (for data). 2TB HDDs and up will be what I put in my server on it's next upgrade (media storage + backups).

 

[exdeath]

Too little too late. Mechanical parts do not belong in a computer.

 

[Ajay]

Too little too late. Mechanical parts do not belong in a computer.

Hmm, no fans for cooling - or pumps for LC

 

[Skott]

Too little too late. Mechanical parts do not belong in a computer.

I was thinking this may be true too. Not the part about mechanical drives dont belong in computers but basically now that SSDs are on the scene and in greater numbers and finally dropping in price (albeit slowly). WD seems to be slow in releasing new 10k rpm drives. If these new drives came out last year there would be more hoopla over it but with a 256GB SSD for about the same price... I dunno.

 

[rsutoratosu]

I just hooked up my areca 1680 with 8 - 80gb raptors. Got them all for free... they are loud as f.. I probably just need one of them now.

 

[Seven]

I'm waiting for WD to kill the raptor line, but seems like its not happening.

 

[exdeath]

Hmm, no fans for cooling - or pumps for LC

Those are "external" parts, they aren't part of the computer or it's data access paths

 

[Skott]

I'm waiting for WD to kill the raptor line, but seems like its not happening.

Once the SSDs get down to a price close to Raptors the Raptors will effectively be outdated and obsolete. Not this year but maybe next year?

 

[murphyc]

It's going to be a while before you see SSD price/GB match HDD price/GB. And even then, HDD probably still has a few years or more left in it for size growth beyond 10+TB per disk. That's going to happen with SDD too, but not as soon as with HDD.

 

[Ajay]

It's going to be a while before you see SSD price/GB match HDD price/GB. And even then, HDD probably still has a few years or more left in it for size growth beyond 10+TB per disk. That's going to happen with SDD too, but not as soon as with HDD.

Exactly, even though SSDs will likely get close to HDDs $/GB next year for small capacities, it'll be some time b/4 we see affordable 4GB+ SSDs.

 

[jacktesterson]

Exactly, even though SSDs will likely get close to HDDs $/GB next year for small capacities, it'll be some time b/4 we see affordable 4GB+ SSDs.

what is this, 1999?