Test Drives: Western Digital WD360 Raptor

The Raptor clearly comes out on top, as it remains the only Serial AT drive that works at 10,000 rpm. But anyone who finds that appealing should go ahead and get the considerably faster WD740 with 74 GB. Besides enhanced performance, the model also supports TCQ (Tagged Command Queuing).

Controller From RAIDCore: Recall Action In Full Swing

For our current project we used an RC4000 from RAIDCore. This relative newcomer caused a stir last winter with the introduction of what it calls Fulcrum Architecture, a software-based RAID solution that offers above-average functionality but zaps quite a bit of CPU power. RAIDCore has meanwhile been bought by Broadcom; the product name lives on, however.

RAIDCore is currently making headlines again with a recall action due to a defect in the Marvell controller chip that under certain conditions can make drives disappear from the array when you reboot, rendering them unstable. If you've got an RC4452 or RC4852 in your system, you should sign up for a replacement here . Starting immediately, the affected controllers are being replaced by the corresponding models based on Broadcom chips. We received just such a model in our lab and soon it will have to go up against the 9000 from 3Ware.