WD releases 1TB VelociRaptor

[murphyc]

I also think Intel Smart Response is an interesting technology, to use an SSD as a cache for a larger HDD.

The idea of hot files on SSD and cold files on HDD, isn't new. It's integrated into ZFS as L2ARC, and has also been discussed on the Btrfs devel list. And even drive manufacturers are integrating the two in some drives, although they seem to have pretty small SSD capacities thus far.

I'd really rather not have to fsck around with some of my crap on a dinky ass SSD, I'd rather the file system or disk figure out what's hot and cold, even portions of libraries could be on SSD and HDD simply because some parts are often used and other parts aren't. Same for help files.

 

[BFG10K]

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

Why would you wait for that? It’s a good drive.

It’s much cheaper per GB than an SSD and has a lot more capacity as well. It’s also significantly faster than 7200 RPM HDDs.

Plus it has a 5 year warranty which is more than many SSDs, despite claims that SSDs are supposed to be more reliable.

 

[Don Karnage]

I thought they were going to make it a 15K drive

 

[Fallengod]

Yeah, thats an odd comment. Why would you be "waiting" for them to kill the raptor? Its the best HD out there besides SSD's. I paid $100 for my 150GB raptor and have had it for a long time. I have owned at least 3 of them so far and never had any issues. I havnt even upgraded to SSD's yet because my ratpors are plenty fast and probably more reliable....

 

[OCGuy]

Ewwww mech drives.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I say in 2014 we'll see 1TB SSD's at $300.00 mark, and these VelociRaptors will finally go the way of the dinosaur.

 

[Ajay]

I thought they were going to make it a 15K drive

That's the rumor I heard - alas, it is not so

 

[Makaveli]

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.

What brand ssd's did you buy ?

 

[Makaveli]

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.

Idle noise is good but 51db while the thing is seeking or under load means a no buy for me. I do however like the improvements over the previous raptor.

 

[BFG10K]

I say in 2014 we'll see 1TB SSD's at $300.00 mark…

Not a chance. We’re barely hitting $1/GB now and 512GB is basically the highest in consumer space.

You’re talking about doubling the capacity while reducing the price by 66% at the same time, all in a space of two years. 5-10 years is more likely, probably closer to ten.

Not to mention that in two years’ time we’ll likely have a bigger Raptor, probably 2TB given they basically double in size every two years.

 

[Hugo Drax]

I cant seem to find a vendor that sells the new 1TB Velociraptors. When will they be in the retail channels?

 

[heymrdj]

Seeing as the Crucial M4 512's are still at 599$ and the Samsung 830 512's are at 699, I think the raptors are an excellent value. I just bought 2 256GB 830's through work a month ago and I love them, speed is amazing. My fiancee is doing great on hers (Windows 7, Adobe Masters Collection, and all the browsers for testing ect) and she's still sitting at 130GB free. Me on the other hand, I'm struggling to live at 256GB. I had to move all my Pics to shared folders on my WHS server, and I can't even hold a 1/4 of my steam collection on there. I've ended up putting a 1TB WD black drive back in to keep my docs and pics and stuff on with reasonable speed, along with most of my games. Overall I'm happy with the SSD, but only cause work paid for it. If I had paid that 600$ for both, only to run into this (constantly swapping crap around on 2 drives) I would have returned it. Call me spoiled but I have no desire to balance drives all day, nor to set up each individual application to run part of itself on one drive and store data on the other. I have no patience for it.

 

[Ajay]

Idle noise is good but 51db while the thing is seeking or under load means a no buy for me. I do however like the improvements over the previous raptor.

That's at a distance of 10cm (4in) with no case. It's a pointless test, unless you have a mid-tower on a small desk with the side panels off and no fans running

 

[Pariah]

What brand ssd's did you buy ?

I'll give you two guesses, but you're only going to need one.

 

[Makaveli]

I'll give you two guesses, but you're only going to need one.

:sneaky:

 

[Hugo Drax]

I just ordered one, 279 no shipping for the 1 tb model. Will pair that with my 60gb vertex2 ssd and take advantage of intel srt on my asus gene-z

I think it will provide a nice balanced performance without having to worry about ssd reliability or space management.

 

[Dadofamunky]

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.

This

 

[bryanW1995]

Heck, $300 these days can get you a lot of ssd space. You could get a 256gb m4 for $199 the other day on newegg in fact. The $$/gb of even the largest raptor these days is just too close in price to ssd's imho.

 

[bryanW1995]

I say in 2014 we'll see 1TB SSD's at $300.00 mark, and these VelociRaptors will finally go the way of the dinosaur.

Naw, they'll just offer 2-3 TB raptors for $200 then.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I bet a bunch of 1TB WD black drives in raid would be about as fast. I can get close to 200MB/sec on my raid 5 array at home. That's on a benchmark after experimenting with different chunk sizes mind you. Real world it may be less. But still, for $300 I would rather get 3 1TB drives and raid them. Would give me about 1.8TB of redundant space as opposed to 1TB of non redundant space.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Heck, $300 these days can get you a lot of ssd space. You could get a 256gb m4 for $199 the other day on newegg in fact. The $$/gb of even the largest raptor these days is just too close in price to ssd's imho.

How much is 1 terabyte of ssd?

 

[bryanW1995]

I assume that was a rhetorical question, as I'm sure that you can do the math. However, just in case you're serious, here's the numbers:

$199/256gb = $.777/gb
1tb=1000 gb
1000x$.777/gb = $777/tb of ssd

$.77/gb for such a large/fast/reliable ssd is really uncharted waters for us. SSD's are rapidly getting to the point where even average-moderate users will start using them for everything other than for very large data storage. Hopefully we won't see the need to juggle swap spaces, hibernation, etc etc going forward...

 

[heymrdj]

I know of the OCZ Z-Drive 1TB at approximately 1,000$ and the OCZ Colossus 1TB at approx. 2000$. Where's this 1TB at a decent price? RAIDing together multiple little drives doesn't count. We're talking about a single device being plugged in that delivers speed AND capacity.

 

[BFG10K]

$199/256gb = $.777/gb
1tb=1000 gb
1000x$.777/gb = $777/tb of ssd

Actually try $1300: http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/ocz-releases-first-2-5-inch-1tb-ssd-20111021/

And please, let's not pretend that 77c/GB is somehow normal for SSD prices because it isn't. In most cases it's still well over $1/GB, regardless of the capacity point.

I find it amazing that some people object to a Velocipraptor's 32c/GB but have no hesitation plopping down even 77c/GB for an SSD when they can get a Seagate 3 TB for 6 cents/GB. Is the SSD 12.8 times faster in the real world than the Seagate? Nope, not even close.

 

[BFG10K]

I bet a bunch of 1TB WD black drives in raid would be about as fast. I can get close to 200MB/sec on my raid 5 array at home.

You’re talking about sequential transfers; RAID doesn’t really improve random access. A 1TB Velociraptor can already beat many older/smaller SSDs in sequential transfers, especially in writes:

People want SSDs for random access, and a Velociraptor handily beats other consumer HDDs in that area. You won't get that from RAID.