Conclusion, Pricing, and Final Thoughts
Conclusion:
PROS:
Warranty:
All VR series drives come with a 5 year warranty. MTBF is rated at 1.4 million hours (~160 years).
Final Thoughts:
PROS:
- Great performance at an even better cost/GB than the previous Raptor (see below).
- While speedy, fast HDD’s still have painfully slow seeks as compared to SSD’s.
MSRP:
450 GB (model WD4500HLHX): $299 ($0.66/GB)
600 GB (model WD6000HLHX): $329 ($0.55/GB)
With the 300GB currently selling at $200 (0.66/GB), it’s great to see a new model’s MSRP beating the now older model. Also, the 450GB model is a bit puzzling and seems out of place in the line-up since 200 doesn’t evenly divide into 450. I’m guessing it’s a 2-platter version, and that WD can squeeze 225GB out of the platters if they allow for a bit more transfer rate falloff towards the end of the disks. If this is true, WD would have intentionally (and slightly) short stroked the 600GB model to help keep its sequential performance on the high side.
For comparison (Newegg pricing):
300 GB VR (WD3000HLFS): $200 ($0.66/GB)
2TB Caviar Green (WD20EADS): $150 ($0.08/GB)
2TB Caviar Black (WD2001FASS): $280 ($0.14/GB)
2TB RE4 (WD2002FYPS): $290 ($0.15/GB)
Intel X25-M G2 160GB: ($2.59/GB)
450 GB (model WD4500HLHX): $299 ($0.66/GB)
600 GB (model WD6000HLHX): $329 ($0.55/GB)
With the 300GB currently selling at $200 (0.66/GB), it’s great to see a new model’s MSRP beating the now older model. Also, the 450GB model is a bit puzzling and seems out of place in the line-up since 200 doesn’t evenly divide into 450. I’m guessing it’s a 2-platter version, and that WD can squeeze 225GB out of the platters if they allow for a bit more transfer rate falloff towards the end of the disks. If this is true, WD would have intentionally (and slightly) short stroked the 600GB model to help keep its sequential performance on the high side.
For comparison (Newegg pricing):
300 GB VR (WD3000HLFS): $200 ($0.66/GB)
2TB Caviar Green (WD20EADS): $150 ($0.08/GB)
2TB Caviar Black (WD2001FASS): $280 ($0.14/GB)
2TB RE4 (WD2002FYPS): $290 ($0.15/GB)
Intel X25-M G2 160GB: ($2.59/GB)
All VR series drives come with a 5 year warranty. MTBF is rated at 1.4 million hours (~160 years).
Final Thoughts:
The new VelociRaptor 600GB offers great performance at a *lower* cost/GB than its predecessor. While most of the specs match the older 300GB model, the increased platter density gave a nice boost to sequential transfer rates. The dual core processor and SATA 6Gb/sec interface are welcome improvements to the Raptor line, but since HDD’s barely challenge SATA 3Gb/sec, the move to 6Gb/sec in this arena appears to be more future-proofing than ground breaking at present. Mixed random access workload testing puts the new model roughly on-par with the older 300GB Raptor. All in all, the new 600GB VelociRaptor continues Western Digital’s trend of squeezing as much performance as possible out of SATA Hard Disk Drives.
Be sure to use our pricing engine to find the best prices on hard drives and anything else you might need.
superb your products…
superb your products…
Great device. Western Digital
Great device. Western Digital is always on the top.
Evelina from adventure games