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Worth keeping around a Raptor 74gb? 150gb?

D

DJFuji

Diamond Member
I've always assumed that even though it's several years old, the 10,000RPM, 74 gig raptor in my system would make a good scratch disk/swap file drive. I've also assumed that the Raptor 150 I have is still a better boot drive than the larger 500 and 1.5TB drives I have for storage.

But the comparison chart at tom's hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...compare,1039.html?prod[2362]=on&prod[2367]=on&prod[2360]=on&prod[2373]=on&prod[2366]=on) seems to indicate that the new 1.5tb caviar green drives i just bought (that have half the rotational speed) are faster than both of my older raptors.

Which means it's silly to boot from the raptor 150 because im actually SLOWING my system down by doing that.

Am i reading the benchmarks wrong? How can a 5400 "green" drive be faster than a 10k rpm raptor thats only a few years old? I know technology moves fast, but still...

If this is true, is there ANY point in keeping around either raptor drive in my current system (Assuming i don't need the extra disk space)?
 
I may be wrong but the higher density platters in the 1.5TB HDD offset the larger disk speed of the Raptor.

Also, don't the green drives speed up to 7,200rpm when being used? They only spin down to 5,400rpm when there is a low HDD usage.
 
Not sure about max rotational. WD won't give out exact numbers, but people are saying they're 5400s.

I'm beginning to think that maybe it's time to junk the raptors as soon as my next OS reinstall comes up (probably win7). Maybe replace it with a spinpoint F1 or the 80gb SSD. 30 second boot times FTW.
 
Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
I may be wrong but the higher density platters in the 1.5TB HDD offset the larger disk speed of the Raptor.

Also, don't the green drives speed up to 7,200rpm when being used? They only spin down to 5,400rpm when there is a low HDD usage.
Click to expand...
I believe, in spite of the marketing speak, the wdc green drives spin at a constant 5400rpm. Samsung actually states this - along with the number of platters in their various offerings. What you stated is what wdc wants you to believe but it's been investigated and debunked many places.

The 5400rpm speed is, in part, responsible for the nice characteristics: 'low' power usage (and theoretically less heat generation) and 'low' noise. These drives are great for storing the enormous media files many people are keeping these days. The other advance is platter density which results in fewer platters/drive which also helps achieve the above characteristics.

In my opinion, the two platter 640gb/32mb cache drives have very nearly reached the performance of the 74/150 raptors. The 640 seems to be quieter than the three platter 1tb drives. The latest platter density (500gb) seems to be experiencing problems as all previous increases have - if you believe the reviews. I would wait 6 - 12 months for things to shake out. My first wdc 1tb drive had to be returned a year ago.
 
Despite the freeze issue, the 7200.11 seagate drives (and the spinpoint ones) appear to completely destroy the raptor 74/150s in the benchmarks.
 
Originally posted by: DJFuji
most of the real world tests, yeah
Click to expand...
Some people desire the seek speed of a raptor with it's 10k rpm. It appears to load apps faster. The value of the newer drives trumps it for me, though.
 
Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
I may be wrong but the higher density platters in the 1.5TB HDD offset the larger disk speed of the Raptor.
Click to expand...

Newer drives may have better transfer rates, but the Raptors will always win in access times.

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
Also, don't the green drives speed up to 7,200rpm when being used? They only spin down to 5,400rpm when there is a low HDD usage.
Click to expand...

They always stay at 5400RPM. It is just plain false advertising. Supposedly they do have dynamic seeks (can seek faster or slower) but the RPM stays the same.

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Some people desire the seek speed of a raptor with it's 10k rpm. It appears to load apps faster.
Click to expand...

That's the same thing which makes SSDs feel so much quicker to many people.
 
Originally posted by: Zap
...
Originally posted by: seemingly random
Some people desire the seek speed of a raptor with it's 10k rpm. It appears to load apps faster.
Click to expand...

That's the same thing which makes SSDs feel so much quicker to many people.
Click to expand...
From what I hear, it doesn't just seem like it - it is. At least until the ssd starts to degrade.
 
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