Western Digital Developing Next Generation VelociRaptor

[LedHed]

http://www.dailytech.com/Western+Dig...ticle17194.htm

Competes against SSDs on capacity and price

The world of enthusiast computing changed in 2003 when Western Digital Corporation launched its first generation 10k RPM hard disk drives. Prior to the Raptor, enthusiasts were limited to 7200 RPM drives or had to purchase expensive SCSI drives to attain the high performance they required. WDC saw opportunities in the nascent SATA interface for exceptional performance, and took a bold leap that no other HDD company has dared to follow.

Western Digital has had four generations of Raptor drives, including the latest VelociRaptor, as the fastest SATA drives available. It was only last year that Solid State Drives took the performance lead, and enthusiasts have since flocked to the most cost-effective upgrade available for computers. While access times of computer components are usually measured in nanoseconds, mechanical drives still have access times measured in milliseconds. SSDs have insanely fast access times due to their use of NAND flash memory.

However, there are still a few areas where the VelociRaptor can beat out SSDs, especially the lower range models which use inferior controllers and/or NAND flash memory. Raptors have traditionally been used as boot drives, in much the same way SSDs are now due to high costs. Most SSDs being sold today are in the 60GB-80GB range for that reason, with a growing shift towards the 120GB mark.

Raptors are targeted at performance enthusiast systems, workstations, and low-end servers. While many of these systems now use SSDs, WDC still believes that the VelociRaptor will continue to hold an important niche between SSDs and magnetic HDDs.

There are times when there is only enough room or budget for a single drive, in which case WDC believes the VelociRaptor is the right balance of capacity, speed, and price. The latest VelociRaptor is available in a 300GB capacity for around $250, which seems like a bargain compared to a 250 GB Vertex for over $700.

WDC has decided that it is time for a refresh in order to push its capacity advantage further, and is currently developing its fifth generation Raptor. It will also be a 10k RPM drive, but will utilize advances in areal density to achieve a 600GB capacity with two platters. The new drive will also have "a significantly larger cache", but our source won't specify whether it was 32MB or 64MB. The best part will be the pricing, as it will launch at close to the original launch price of the 300GB VelociRaptor. A new single platter 300GB version will follow later on.

Seagate recently released its latest Barracuda XT drive featuring 64MB of cache and a 6Gbps SATA interface. There is no information available on whether the new VelociRaptor will also use a 6Gbps interface, although it does seem likely.

"Western Digital will continue to deliver a balance of performance, capacity, and cost", stated a source close to the company. "This is an important market for the company, and Western Digital will continue to deliver the fastest magnetic hard drives available for enthusiasts".

The company is still hedging its bets, though. Western Digital recently entered the SSD field with its own series of SSDs, following the acquisition of Silicon Systems. It is currently developing its next generation of SSDs as well.

[lowfat]

I don't see a market for VRaptor's anymore. If people want speed they buy SSD's.

[LedHed]

well you get larger capacity and an in between on price vs. speed.

[Hornet331]

VR is still good enough for games, where sdds only deliver marginal improvements in loading times.

If i buy an SDD my VR will be just for games (300gb is plenty) and the rest is dumped on a 1tb+ storage disk.

[Starscream]

I don't see a market for VRaptor's anymore. If people want speed they buy SSD's.

per GB VRaptors r alot cheaper.
So if u need something fast but also need alot of space and u cant afford a big SSD a VRaptor is a nice solution.

[alfaunits]

I don't see a market for VRaptor's anymore. If people want speed they buy SSD's.

Most people are still using 7200rpm drives and don't need SSDs. VRaptor has a great niche market. Not a small one even.

[LedHed]

most people don't even list their HD in their specs, it's an overlooked piece of hardware that is somewhat important (but not to actual gaming performance).

[Musho]

most people don't even list their HD in their specs, it's an overlooked piece of hardware that is somewhat important (but not to actual gaming performance).

It's funny. Even you don't list it among the other hardware you own You do, however, list your blu-ray drive :p

As many people have already said, this will most likely be the best solution for a cheap, yet fast drive for games. To be honest though, in a few years time, even games will be run off of SSDs. I've made the switch half a year ago, and I haven't looked back since. I do understand price is still a huge issue. Hopefully that one will be resolved soon enough.

[ripken204]

I don't see a market for VRaptor's anymore. If people want speed they buy SSD's.

but what about speed and space at a somewhat reasonable price compared to SSDs?

[mindfury]

most people don't even list their HD in their specs, it's an overlooked piece of hardware that is somewhat important (but not to actual gaming performance).

[LedHed]

actual performance =/ load times

[BenchZowner]

WD if you're reading this, you know where you should put those VRaptors...

[LedHed]

in the drive bays?

this thread was really not meant to have SSD users come in and poop on the 10k Mechanical Drive parade. You can gloat about your SSD in another thread, this is about VelociRaptors.

[Eastcoasthandle]

I remember reading a lot of post from users who had buyer's remorse. They just couldn't justify the premium they paid for the performance they actually got out of them.

[Particle]

This is really good news. Until the good SSDs are cheaper, they just aren't worth buying for anything beyond basic OS/profile usage. Until then, VRs and 15Ks will still be the strongest option for an app drive.

[lowfat]

Unless they can pull off huge performance increases over the last gen VRaptor's a 2TB WD Black is going to perform likely just as good. And you'll get 7.5x the storage for the same price.

[alfaunits]

I got 8 SSDs now. And I'd still tell any regular user to go with VRaptor (I need seq. speeds so I need several drives anyway).
I do see the size as a real problem with SSDs still.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

I'd be very curious to see a 10k VR that is 1TB. In the real world, I don't think we'd see a big difference between this new VR and a single platter 500gb drive.

I could see a market for it among those who need large amounts of space for photoshop and other large files that are utilized by programs and need to be moved quickly. That would provide a balance of speed and space.

The VR was $300, right? i can see people doing a RAID 0 and claiming great performance for $600 and having 1.2tb of space, but still getting destoryed by a low end OCZ SSD. lol

Instead of simply focusing higher capacity (which isn't always necessary), make the move to 15K like SCSI drives did for years. If cache could be improved to even 128mb (and it actually makes a difference in real world applications), that would be an interesting solution for many people vs an ssd.

[snoro]

well i dont see the point of raptor , i have only 4 game, s4 league(very samll), GTA IV which is about 12gb and Anno 1404 and World in conflict. The biggest apps i have is sketchup so for me a 120gb ssd will be way more than i need. I just dont see the point of having a 300gb vr just for games if i have about only 30gb of games. Better of with putting everything on a ssd and be happy for a while.

[Zaskar]

I don't see a market for VRaptor's anymore. If people want speed they buy SSD's.

There is none.

For OS/Program drives the current SSD's are fine, all you need is around 120gb for that, max. For a dedicated file storage drive (your not using the same volume as your OS/Program drive if your computer is good enough to have SSD's or VelociRaptor HD's) your using higher volume safer more stable drives like WD Black's or Blues.

There really isn't a market for super high volume OS/Program drives, who really has that many installed programs? More space is always good but because most of the time your not exceeding the current volume with OS/Programs alone it doesn't make much sense to drop down in speed to get more space.

[Loque]

well... for me it just takes a little time on the first loading in gaming, then game data loads from memory anyway, I'm usually the first to load in left 4 dead 2

still waiting for high capacity ssd's... and cheaper !

[Helloworld_98]

if it was a single 600GB platter then I'd be all for it providing it was about $120 which would be about the most they could put it without a RAID 0 array look like an absolute bargain with faster speeds and probably lower noise levels.

[Manicdan]

if you need about a TB and want to keep it under 500$, then a VR is your only option for good performance.

yes SSDs are faster, but not all of us can afford them (especially since prices have jumped since the summer). its a good trade off to get a small SSD for the main programs, and keep a massive HDD for backups and storage, but not everyone has such options. VRs do have a place, its just not as noticeable anymore

[naokaji]

Need speed? One or more ssds are the answer.
Need capacity? Just get some 2TB drives.
Need something in between?
3x 1TB+ WD Black in Raid 5

So where is the market for the raptor?

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

Whats the difference in transfer rates of large files for a VR vs a good 1.0 / 1.5 / 2.0 TB drive?