Raptor Replacement..?

[the_vorlon]

Newer 7200 rpm drives, due to greater platter densities, are now coming very close to matching the 10000 rpm Raptors in performance, and at vastly better cost per gigabyte ratios.

I know there is "talk" of a Raptor replacement, but does anybody know when?

 

[choirbass]

the only qualm about performance comparison for newer 7200s, is that although they are roughly on par with raptors for STRs, the high STRs isnt what makes raptors fast... its primarily the noticably faster random access times (7-8ms compared to 14-16ms), particularly when used as an OS hdd, which does make a noticable difference with the vast majority of OS files being VERY small, which is why even the original 36GB GD raptor is still considered fast for an OS hdd (though improved STRs can help if/when needed, but theres always raid 0 for that if its really necessary for a given situation, but its usually not though for most 'regular' things).

as far as a raptor replacement, a western digital representative had said awhile ago in an interview (2005-2006) that they wont be implementing sata300, PMR, hybrid, etc, until they really need to... i believe he had mentioned around 2008-2009, but even then im not positive about the time frame

i vaguely remember another company like hitachi or samsung possibly bringing a 10k sata hdd out sometime, but havent heard much about it other than a rumor... if its true, it should hopefully push the current raptors prices down, and maybe even speed up the release of a new raptor like you were wondering