WD Raptor 36GIG HDDs in RAID0

[3dGameMan]

OVERVIEW:
The exploding growth of enterprise data storage puts tremendous pressure on IT managers, who must accommodate ever-greater volume with ever-tighter budgets. This increased need for enterprise storage, coupled with the decline in IT budgets, creates a need for reliable, low-cost solutions. Enter Serial ATA (SATA), a new interface developed with enterprise storage in mind. Some hard drive companies design desktop-class hard drives with the SATA interface, but WD is going one better. To meet the demands of enterprise storage, Western Digital is the only company to combine an enterprise-class hard drive with the SATA interface to meet all the demands of the enterprise environment—reliability, performance, and reduced cost.

A NEW BREED OF HARD DRIVE:
Serial ATA is poised to replace Parallel SCSI in the mid-range, but only if there's a drive that can meet the performance and reliability requirements of that market. That drive is the WD Raptor! The WD Raptor is a new class of hard drive that matches SCSI performance and reliability and provides simplified connectivity, all at up to 30 percent less cost than Parallel SCSI drives.

WD RAPTOR PRODUCT BENEFITS:
- Built for speed, the WD Raptor has 10,000 RPM rotational disk speed and 5.2 ms average data seek times.
- Built for reliability, it has a rugged, enterprise-class mechanical platform with high-end bearings and actuator.
- Built to last, this Enterprise SATA (ESATA) hard drive is made for years of high-performance operation around the clock. MTBF has been calculated at 1.2 million hours.
- Built with a backing, WD Raptor ESATA hard drives carry Western Digital's five-year warranty.
- Built for value, WD Raptor is priced up to a third lower than Parallel SCSI enterprise hard drives.

Physical Specifications:
Capacity: 36.7 GB
Areal Density: 36.7 GB
Model Number: WD360GD
Formatted Capacity: 1 37,019 MB
User Sectors Per Drive: 72,303,840, (44F44E0h)
Interface Max: 1.5 Gb PHY, serial Interface
Bytes Per Sector: 512
Dedicated Landing: Zone Yes
Actuator Latch/Auto Park: Yes

Performance Specifications:
Data Transfer Rate:
- Buffer to Host: 150 MB/s max 2
- Buffer to Disk: 102 MB/s max
Average Read Seek: 5.2 ms (average)
Track-to-track Seek: 3 0.7 ms (average)
Full Stroke Read Seek: 3 10.2 ms (average)
Average Latency: 2.99 ms
Rotational Speed: 10,000 RPM
Read Cache: Adaptive
Write Cache: Yes
Buffer: 8 MB
Drive Ready Time: 7.0 sec average
Start/Stop Cycles: 20,000 min
Error Rate (non-recoverable): < 1 in 1015 bits read

More info: click here

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Pics:

[Silent_Death911]

SWEET HARD DRIVES! nice results on sisandra too

[raist679]

I have two of them set up in raid 0 in my box. They are definitely kickass! . I've never run raid before, but I'm very pleased. I don't know why everyone complains about the heat and noise. My system temp is still at a fairly cool 27C. I might be deaf but, they aren't much louder than any of my old WD's. They are a little small but I don't use a whole lof of disc space anyway.

[west1055]

Wow. Thats only 4K or so faster than my WD 80GB SE's. This is on ICH5R also and a 128K stripe i believe...

[3dGameMan]

Originally posted by west1055
Wow. Thats only 4K or so faster than my WD 80GB SE's. This is on ICH5R also and a 128K stripe i believe...

Not sure if ya have the latest SiSoftware Sandra...

Grab the latest SiSoftware Sandra and re-test: http://www.3dvelocity.com/downloads/...003/sandra.htm

[3dGameMan]

Originally posted by raist679
I have two of them set up in raid 0 in my box. They are definitely kickass! . I've never run raid before, but I'm very pleased. I don't know why everyone complains about the heat and noise. My system temp is still at a fairly cool 27C. I might be deaf but, they aren't much louder than any of my old WD's. They are a little small but I don't use a whole lof of disc space anyway.

I have to admit and access noise is VERY low, much lower than some other SATA HDDs, however, the WD Raptor does have a VERY VERY high pitch noise that can annoy some

[MaX FpS]

one word........ SWEEEEET!!!!!

[Maniacmous]

I'd like to see a performance comparison done w/that setup, and 2 of Western Digital's 8mb cache SATA 7200RPM drives (Essentially the Caviar SE's with SATA connectivity built in).

[cegli]

A lot really depends on how defragmented your harddrive is. My two 180Gig IBM/Hitachi 7200RPM in a RAID0 got 68k (32k Stripe) on the latest SiSoft. I then quickly installed 86 gig worth of crap, (mostly games) and then it promptly dropped to just below 40k. :p

I'm happy with any of those scores though. I just love 360 gig of HD space.

[west1055]

Originally posted by 3dGameMan
Not sure if ya have the latest SiSoftware Sandra...

Grab the latest SiSoftware Sandra and re-test: http://www.3dvelocity.com/downloads/...003/sandra.htm

heh.. didnt know a new version was out.. anyway here are new scores.. its higher.....LOL

[hiengu]

Hey Rodney,

How is the noise of these raptors in raid 0 compared to those old cuda Vs raid 0 you had? Also, what about the performance?

Thanks!

[ohhpapi2]

This is what i got running raid 0 on Asus P4P800 Deluxe (stripe 32k).

[ohhpapi2]

Originally posted by ohhpapi2
This is what i got running raid 0 on Asus P4P800 Deluxe (stripe 32k).

Ohh, one more thing that array was installed a week ago. So i have lots of programs and games on the drives already. On a fresh install i originally got over 68K on sandra.

[asianbeefcake]

How do you guys know what stipe size to give it? Is there a standard way to figure that out?

[ohhpapi2]

Originally posted by asianbeefcake
How do you guys know what stipe size to give it? Is there a standard way to figure that out?

I was wondering that same thing. I looked and researched it as much as i could and read that a 64k is great for video editing and a 32k would be great for gamers and just average file downloads. So im assuming the bigger and more complex ur using the bigger the stripe. I wouldn go over 128k though.

[ohhpapi2]

Originally posted by asianbeefcake
How do you guys know what stipe size to give it? Is there a standard way to figure that out?

the bigger the program***

[efernandez_98]

Sweet! But these drive are way to expensive for their purpose.

[Zemtex]

Originally posted by west1055
heh.. didnt know a new version was out.. anyway here are new scores.. its higher.....LOL

w00w

I have Asus P4P800 DeLux (1008), with two WD SE 80gb diskes on the ICH5R controller.. And I get below 40k in SiSoft Sandra! with 128k blocks... I thougth the score was low, BUT THIS IS SICK!

What is wrong!?! please tell me...

[ohhpapi2]

Originally posted by Zemtex
w00w

I have Asus P4P800 DeLux (1008), with two WD SE 80gb diskes on the ICH5R controller.. And I get below 40k in SiSoft Sandra! with 128k blocks... I thougth the score was low, BUT THIS IS SICK!

What is wrong!?! please tell me...

Maybe cause your block size is so big! Try 64k, should be much better...bad new is the reinstall you're gonna have to do.

[west1055]

Originally posted by Zemtex
w00w

I have Asus P4P800 DeLux (1008), with two WD SE 80gb diskes on the ICH5R controller.. And I get below 40k in SiSoft Sandra! with 128k blocks... I thougth the score was low, BUT THIS IS SICK!

What is wrong!?! please tell me...

I have the 128K stripe cuz I just went with the default when I set it up. Do you have any large files or an OS already on the array? That maybe whats the slowdown. But try a smaller stripe if possible.

[ohhpapi2]

Originally posted by west1055
I have the 128K stripe cuz I just went with the default when I set it up. Do you have any large files or an OS already on the array? That maybe whats the slowdown. But try a smaller stripe if possible.

I agree.

[hiengu]

What drives do you have ohtpapi2 ???

[Zemtex]

Originally posted by west1055
I have the 128K stripe cuz I just went with the default when I set it up. Do you have any large files or an OS already on the array? That maybe whats the slowdown. But try a smaller stripe if possible.

I have the array divided in C:,D:,E:,F: , and on E: (emty) I got 35k in sandra... only OS installed, on C:. All is NTFS. Running win2k3 server.

PCMark2002 are also low, 1300 hdd-points. With the pci raid card I got above 1800 on the same benchmark...

[ohhpapi2]

Originally posted by hiengu
What drives do you have ohtpapi2 ???

I have two raptors like rodney. Im running a stripe 32k.

[KUDOS]

hi im a n00b what does RAID0 mean?