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Benchmarks Results

Data Transfer Diagram

The new VelociRaptor provides a maximum sequential data transfer rate of more than 120 MB/s, which is achievable due to high data densities thanks to perpendicular magnetic recording combined with a fast spindle speed of 10,000 RPM. While the fastest 3,5" hard drives at 7,200 RPM, such as the Samsung SpinPoint F1, also reach 120 MB/s, they do not sustain the transfer rate as well: Samsung drops to 60 MB/s, while the WD delivers at least 75 MB/s from anywhere on the physical platters.

Access Time

The measured average access time of 7.0 ms is excellent. Other popular 2.5" hard drives, which are based on SAS interfaces, reached 7.2 to 7.6 ms in our test lab. This means that the more affordable 2.5" 10,000 SATA VelociRaptor offers quicker access than comparable 2.5" SAS enterprise-class drives. You’ll have to upgrade to 15,000 RPM drives such as the Seagate Savvio 15K.1 to see even quicker access times. Flash hard drives will also do the job for certain specific applications.

Interface Bandwidth

Almost 200 MB/s interface throughput is a new record, as the fastest SAS or SATA hard drives we’ve tested reached maximum throughput anywhere between 120 and 180 MB/s. Although this value isn’t very relevant in everyday operation, because it only applies when data can be read directly out of a drive’s cache memory, it represents the maximum throughput that is possible.


Talkback


mpkonig 04/21/2008 1:42 AM
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mpkonig
Athauglas......on page 5 is the drive with the top plate removed..not with a clear window.
rodney_ws 04/21/2008 2:09 AM
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rodney_ws
*drools*
Zorg 04/21/2008 2:16 AM
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Zorg
Very nice and about time. Now, who has $300 to lend me.
royalcrown 04/21/2008 2:27 AM
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royalcrown
LAME as all hell...mant new 320gb/platter drives are almost as fast with a lot better capacity and surely price.. ! This is like a raptor ME edition...zzzz
zenmaster 04/21/2008 2:49 AM
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zenmaster
#1 - Finally! Tom's Seems to have gotten a scoop. It's been a while but it's nice to See Tom's have a major hardware review out before the others.

#2 - A very well written article. I've noticed an uptick in the quality of articles of late. Kudos again.

#3 - A very nice HDD. Something I may definitely look at adding to my system.
Zorg 04/21/2008 2:50 AM
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Zorg
royalcrown wrote :

LAME as all hell...mant new 320gb/platter drives are almost as fast with a lot better capacity and surely price.. ! This is like a raptor ME edition...zzzz


Oh really, which ones?
royalcrown 04/21/2008 3:04 AM
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royalcrown
western digital 640 aaks series b3 revision:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218

Seagate 7200.11 (if they can work out their doa prob):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148316

A few of samsung's F1 spinpoints...

they are all pretty close, especially seagate at 114mb STR, 60 low and around 100 average across 320 gigs.

A 150 gig drive that is just a bit higher is not so awesome, and yes I know seek times, IO and all that matter too. Do you really thonk the new raptor is gonna be 90 bucks like these, I sure don't.

If they at least have a 320 same performance, or the performance was closer to 150 (as in a larger 3.5 platter), then sure, but it's sad considering a 7200 is almost passing them ALREADY.


royalcrown 04/21/2008 3:11 AM
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royalcrown
My bad, 300 gb does make it look beter ! but still those other drives are way to close considering this is the raptor series.
Zorg 04/21/2008 3:13 AM
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Zorg
Well you answered it yourself i.e., seek and IO. You can't take read / write as the total picture. The drives you posted aren't really that close in read / write either. I'm sure you know the last bit of performance costs the most money.

You could say you don't think it's worth the cash, I have no problem with that, but it sounds a lot like sour grapes to me.
Andrius 04/21/2008 3:27 AM
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Andrius
Seriously. Just what about this drive isn't impressive?
It has twice the storage space of the previous top model.
It has better benchmark results.
It runs cooler way cooler.
That IcePack is perfect for mounting behind front intake fans(improved airflow).
I'd want 1 over any 1TB drive. The price is also quite reasonable for a Raptor.

I'd call that progress in every way.
There's just no pleasing some people.
rodney_ws 04/21/2008 3:29 AM
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rodney_ws
Honestly, who was expecting the next Raptor to be a 2.5 inch drive? I know it's in a 3.5 inch enclosure, but you just know the guys at Alienware are trying to figure out how one of these is going to work in a laptop.
nihility 04/21/2008 3:33 AM
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nihility
About time they updated the raptors, they've been doing pretty poorly for quite a while. It's cool to see over 120MB/s read/write on a desktop drive.
I wonder why I/O performance isn't as good as the SAS drives even though it has faster read/write speeds and latency. Could this be fixed with firmware?
DEUCE271 04/21/2008 3:40 AM
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DEUCE271
They look like a really nice answer to SSDs. I'm really considering getting one but $300 for a hard drive is a lot of money.

Hell, it'd be the most expensive component in my rig...
Zorg 04/21/2008 3:52 AM
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Zorg
rodney_ws wrote :

Honestly, who was expecting the next Raptor to be a 2.5 inch drive? I know it's in a 3.5 inch enclosure, but you just know the guys at Alienware are trying to figure out how one of these is going to work in a laptop.


Notebook HDs only need 5V and the velociRaptor needs both 12V and 5V. I'm not saying it can't be done.
royalcrown 04/21/2008 3:57 AM
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royalcrown
It's not sour grapes...it's spoon feeding us tiny bumps and calling it amazing that gets me...it's better, but amazing or wow or making a big deal about an incremental increase is just hyping it up, when it's not that big of a step up.
Shinigami84 04/21/2008 4:30 AM
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Shinigami84
Lets see how it looks to me:
- I get 30%+ of performance increase compared to my 1TB drive (yah, 10EACS)
- I get 300gb for $300, I already have 1000gb for $300
- I can get 640gb instead of 300gb with little speed decrease but it will cost $130.
So 30%+ speed increase equals almost 5x price increase? My wallet thinks otherwise... But thats my wallet, if your wallet says otherwise, I think you'll be happy with the new HDD from WD :)
Zorg 04/21/2008 4:50 AM
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Zorg
^My wallet says I have to live with my Raptor, you know bills and stuff.
Zorg 04/21/2008 4:54 AM
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Zorg
royalcrown wrote :

It's not sour grapes...it's spoon feeding us tiny bumps and calling it amazing that gets me...it's better, but amazing or wow or making a big deal about an incremental increase is just hyping it up, when it's not that big of a step up.


Hard drives have to live within the laws of physics and current technology. Maybe you know of some way to get a 200% improvement. By all means share it with us.
Sailer 04/21/2008 4:57 AM
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Sailer
This drive looks good to me. If I hadn't just built a new computer, I'd like one of these in it. One might end up in the new computer anyway. Don't know, will see.

Hey wait, that government rebate check could pay for one of these and not hurt the wallet at all. :D
royalcrown 04/21/2008 4:59 AM
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royalcrown
look up a hard drive from back in the day called a Chinook. How about some real innovation...I'll gladly pay out the nose for some.

2 actuators is better than one and not at all infeasible today.

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



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