Jun 23, 2008

Western Digital Raptor X





10,000rpm spindles and ultra-reliable server hard disks typically refer to SCSI drives. Western Digital, however, has managed to upset the market somewhat by releasing a server-class drive that runs on the standard SATA interface that the rest of us are familiar with. The Raptor-series hard disks combine high-performance storage with the ability to be used in common PC systems today. Even users with older PSUs are able to utilize the Raptor thanks to a standard 4-pin power connector. Although marketed as a server-class product, the Raptor series has been popular among the high-end PC enthusiast market because of these features.

The Raptor X is the latest of the Raptor series drives from Western Digital and continues with the high-performance pedigree. It has two 75GB platters spinning at 10,000rpm for a total capacity of 150GB. While earlier Raptors actually had PATA internals adapted to a SATA connector, the new Raptor X is built from ground up with SATA electronics and includes Native Command Queuing (NCQ) for improved performance in heavy multi-access situations. Interesting to note, however, is that while the Raptor X has NCQ from SATA2, it actually transfers data at SATA1 speeds (150Mb/s).

The most exciting feature of the Raptor X for hot-rod builders is a clear window on the drive that lets you actually see the disks and drive head flying around at mind-boggling speeds in operation. In our performance test, the Raptor X scored an average read speed of 73.4MB/s over the entire capacity. With 16MB of internal cache, the drive managed burst speeds of over 130MB/s.

Undoubtedly, the Raptor X is a fine addition to the Raptor line. It couples its expected high-performance with the latest technologies and even manages to look good doing it.

Website: http://www.wdc.com


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