74GB and 150GB VelociRaptor on the way?

[Kobalt]

Well a platter has 2 sides and each side is normally used to read and write from and thus each side has its own drive head. If you make a platter that's only to be used on 1 side than you can save some on the extra work that platter would normally need on one side and you can decrease complexity by removing 1 drive head.

EDIT: Has anyone got any idea when these will appear, I am in serious need of a new harddrive.

Right... that makes sense, thanks. And I have no idea when or if they are going to be produced. I just saw mention of them while looking at WD's site and I thought hmmmmmm .

[Helmore]

Right... that makes sense, thanks. And I have no idea when or if they are going to be produced. I just saw mention of them while looking at WD's site and I thought hmmmmmm .

They can't release them soon enough....I want one within 1 week, but I guess that's not very realistic.

[vladimir]

OS + Games shouldn't use up more than 150gig. Or do you really just like to have your OS all alone on a drive?

Well, Bioshock, Crysis, Mass Effect, UT3 and UT2004 are currently taking up 149GB. I Still need to reinstall F.E.A.R., so it seems that the 300GB may be what I need there.

[tiro_uspsss]

if a VR74 comes out.... I might just skip 2x VR150 & go for 4xVR74

[Orion24]

I have my fingers crossed that the 150GB VelociRaptor sees the light of day! I don't need anything larger for a boot drive. Then I'll pick-up the 300GB drive to install the games on.

Fingers crossed for the 150GB for me as well. I'll be off for 2xRAID-0 to replace my current 74ADFD RAID boot drive. The storage drive will stay as for now, even though I'd prefer 2x640 to those 2x750 I've got

[DarkDisciple]

Well, Bioshock, Crysis, Mass Effect, UT3 and UT2004 are currently taking up 149GB. I Still need to reinstall F.E.A.R., so it seems that the 300GB may be what I need there.

You might have your bittorrent client saving to that drive too or something. None of those games use more than 8 gig of space (2 of em use less than 1 gig), and vista uses less than 15. So even a ridiculously high estimate for all that plus vista would only be 55 gig.

[tiro_uspsss]

You might have your bittorrent client saving to that drive too or something. None of those games use more than 8 gig of space (2 of em use less than 1 gig), and vista uses less than 15. So even a ridiculously high estimate for all that plus vista would only be 55 gig.

qft - somethings wrong there! even @ 10gig a game + OS = still under 80GB... 150GB? lol re-check please!

[Helmore]

if a VR74 comes out.... I might just skip 2x VR150 & go for 4xVR74

Well, their numbering scheme works a little different. I'm not too sure what the logic behind it is as the 300GB VelociRaptor is the "VelociRaptor VR150 300GB", my guess is that their model numbering is done by the size of the platters. So a future VR with 300GB per platter would be a "VelociRaptor VR300 600GB" for the 2 platter version. Just a guess though, but it wouldn't be weird if they did as platter density also determines performance (read/write speeds, not seek times).

[tiro_uspsss]

Well, their numbering scheme works a little different. I'm not too sure what the logic behind it is as the 300GB VelociRaptor is the "VelociRaptor VR150 300GB", my guess is that their model numbering is done by the size of the platters. So a future VR with 300GB per platter would be a "VelociRaptor VR300 600GB" for the 2 platter version. Just a guess though, but it wouldn't be weird if they did as platter density also determines performance (read/write speeds, not seek times).

what are u talking about?
VR74 = is my abbreviation for velociraptor 74GB etc etc

the VR300 (velociraptor 300GB) has model number: WD3000GLFS

for the original raptors, i abbreviate to just 'R', as in R36 = raptor 36GB etc etc

all WD hdds have model number start with WD, then the capacity of the drive, with an additional '0' after it - example, 500GB hdd = WD5000aaks - also, look at model numbers per OP

the 300GB velociraptor is definitely not called "VelociRaptor VR150 300GB" - afaik; why on earth would they put 'VR150' in the name?

[tiro_uspsss]

but perhaps the single platter 74GB and 150GB could be made into a notebook version?

it would be funny if they could make the 74GB version, a 1.8"

"the worlds fastest ipod" MUAHAHAHA

(user beware: can produce uncontrollable gyroscopic &/or centrifugal forces during playback.)

[Helmore]

what are u talking about?
VR74 = is my abbreviation for velociraptor 74GB etc etc

the VR300 (velociraptor 300GB) has model number: WD3000GLFS

for the original raptors, i abbreviate to just 'R', as in R36 = raptor 36GB etc etc

all WD hdds have model number start with WD, then the capacity of the drive, with an additional '0' after it - example, 500GB hdd = WD5000aaks - also, look at model numbers per OP

the 300GB velociraptor is definitely not called "VelociRaptor VR150 300GB" - afaik; why on earth would they put 'VR150' in the name?

I knew what you meant it would by much simpler if they did it your way, it's just that they don't. That name is used by reviewers, not me. Check here (Techreport), here (AnandTech) and here (Motherboards.org). The family name is the VelociRaptor VR150 and it is, for now at least, only available in a 300GB version (not much of a family in other words ).

[tiro_uspsss]

I knew what you meant it would by much simpler if they did it your way, it's just that they don't. That name is used by reviewers, not me. Check here (Techreport), here (AnandTech) and here (Motherboards.org). The family name is the VelociRaptor VR150 and it is, for now at least, only available in a 300GB version (not much of a family in other words ).

lol, i wouldnt be surprised if those are typos
is the whole 'VR150' thing mentioned @ WD website? - I had a look, no mention of 'VR150'
& I would agree - pretty dumb, & not much of a 'family'

edit: did a quick search for 'VR150' @ WD website - no results except from the reviews u linked
I'd say those 3 sites got their info mixed up

edit2: lol, I checked more review sites - I stand corrected many review sites are using the VR150 - its dumb as... @ one site the original line of Raptors has the 'family' line name of 'EL150' ... weird

so it would appear its just a name for the 'family' - a silly one @ that imo

[Helmore]

so it would appear its just a name for the 'family' - a silly one @ that imo

Well, maybe they should clarify what it stands for, my guess is that is stands for platter size. That's just m guess but it's not to odd as a higher platter density, or size in other words, also translates into higher performance. So a future VR300 will be quite a bit faster as the current VR150, although a VR300 will not be here for quite some time I guess.

[tiro_uspsss]

Well, maybe they should clarify what it stands for, my guess is that is stands for platter size. That's just m guess but it's not to odd as a higher platter density, or size in other words, also translates into higher performance. So a future VR300 will be quite a bit faster as the current VR150, although a VR300 will not be here for quite some time I guess.

true - good point.. as for a 'VR300' - i wouldnt be surprised if that never comes out - SSDs are here

[Budwise]

damnit! I ordered the 300 from WD Direct yesterday... Mother ******

[LaMpiR]

Any news about prices?

[oohms]

I wouldnt mind 2x 36gb velociraptors

[Neuuubeh]

You might have your bittorrent client saving to that drive too or something. None of those games use more than 8 gig of space (2 of em use less than 1 gig), and vista uses less than 15. So even a ridiculously high estimate for all that plus vista would only be 55 gig.

Which 2 use less than 1 gig?? Every one on that list is 5 gigs+ to my knowledge?

[Helmore]

Any news about prices?

There's not even news about a release date. This is just about the fact that there are lower capacity VelociRaptor drives, which was all too obvious at launch, and the specs can already be found on the WD site.

[IvanAndreevich]

My friend was RMAing a Raptor and it had the option to upgrade to a VelociRaptor at a ridiculous cost of $200. That was a to a 74GB one.

[Orion24]

I have an idea of why the 150 & 74 GB versions are not out yet: WD will want to contain its stock of previous generation Raptors. Who is going to buy them if the new models are out?

[Helmore]

I have an idea of why the 150 & 74 GB versions are not out yet: WD will want to contain its stock of previous generation Raptors. Who is going to buy them if the new models are out?

And to finalize firmware, which is also something they did with previous refreshes. They usually release the Raptor with the most capacity first and then launch the lower capacity models once there is a better firmware. Or that might just be some side effect of the latter releases.

[Jedi2155]

I'm starting to feel the crunch of my 160 GB raptor and want this new one.

I actually have to uninstall games to stay above the 15% free space limit :O.

And no, I don't have torrents/media/iso's/pr0n on this drive .

I have a 500 GB dedicated to My Videos + My Pictures + My Music
I have a 300 GB dedicated to Installers + Saves + Images + Drivers etc.
I have a 160 GB dedicated to Torrents + Windows Temp directory's + Pr0n

And my main OS for My Documents (10 GB!) + Games + Programs (100 GB) +Desktop (5 GB).

Yep....I'm feel that I'm special and I want a 300 GB Raptor .

PS I'm out of SATA ports to run RAID plus 160 GB raptors aren't easy to come by cheaply.

[Xoulz]

I have a 500 GB dedicated to My Videos + My Pictures + My Music
I have a 300 GB dedicated to Installers + Saves + Images + Drivers etc.
I have a 160 GB dedicated to Torrents + Windows Temp directory's + Pr0n

Seems like all of those could be on a single 750gb Barracuda for only $129.99 ... (?)

Since performance isn't an issue you could easily just have that HD partitioned to suite your needs, leaving your system cooler, quieter and consuming less power... all-the-while making room for an SSD OS drive and a Raptor game drive....

What you've posted above is not something that illustrates planning or effeciency, let alone something to brag about.




-Xoulz

[Helmore]

Seems like all of those could be on a single 750gb Barracuda for only $129.99 ... (?)

Since performance isn't an issue you could easily just have that HD partitioned to suite your needs, leaving your system cooler, quieter and consuming less power... all-the-while making room for an SSD OS drive and a Raptor game drive....

What you've posted above is not something that illustrates planning or effeciency, let alone something to brag about.




-Xoulz

I don't think he should start planning on a SSD OS drive now as those things probably won't be affordable (assuming better performance than a raptor) for at least 2 years. I hope it will be less than that though. I would love to have a 64GB SSD OS drive and a 150GB VelociRaptor games drive, just to start with.