Jason Dunn
02-08-2006, 07:45 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/06/wd1500ad_raptor_xtends_performance_lead/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/06/wd1500ad_raptor_xtends_performance_lead/index.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Almost three years ago, Western Digital's WD360 Raptor drive first saw the light of day, and was greeted with cautious optimism. It was meant to be a cost effective alternative for expensive SCSI enterprise-class hard drives, but would it succeed? WD's gamble paid off, but the majority of Raptor drives made their way into high-performance desktop PCs rather than into server systems. The new top model offers 150 GB, a good amount of extra performance and officially targets high-end enthusiasts. It is pretty obvious that the Raptor-X is a great drive, but is it great enough to become a "must-have"?"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/wd1500-plexi-pers.jpg" /><br /><br />The Raptor line of drives from Western Digital have always been impressive when it comes to speed - I have a pair of 74GB Raptors in a RAID 0 array, and brother, they <i>kill</i>. In a benchmark I did last year, when placed in a <a href="http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/SB95P%20V2.asp">Shuttle SB95P</a>, I benchmarked the the two Raptor drives and a 7200RPM 160GB Seagate drive. Using <a href="http://www.steelbytes.com/?mid=20">HD_Speed</a> set to 16 MB file size, the single 7200 rpm Barracuda drive hit 51.2 MB/s when reading. Not bad. The same test on the twin Raptors in the RAID 0 array? A scorching 136 MB/s – within spitting distance of the 150 MB/s limit of the Serial ATA standard. I fired up <a href="http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?dir=&location=pinformation&langx=en&a=">SiSofware's Sandra</a> benchmarking tool, and their comprehensive File System Benchmark gave a blank partition on my RAID array an indexed score of 88 MB/s. In comparison the 7200 RPM drive came in at 48 MB/s. Raptors are <i>fast</i>.<br /><br />The 74GB Raptors are still a great drive, and with <a href="http://thoughtsmedia.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=1733497/search=raptor">prices as low as $152 USD</a>, they make a good choice for a fast primary drive where you don't need gobs of storage. The 150GB versions <a href="http://thoughtsmedia.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=15806449/sort_type=price">are as low as $279 USD</a>, and represent another jump forward for this family of drives. Check out the review for the full scoop.