WD 'VelociRaptor' 300GB

[Mehen]

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ5MCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Bigger, faster, cooler, than previous Raptors!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/HDD-SATA-VelociRaptor,1914.html

Our benchmark results speak for themselves and prove that Western Digital has done the right thing from an enthusiast standpoint. The new VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS will ship in May at retail prices of approximately $300, and it is the fastest and coolest 3.5"-like hard drive you can get for desktop PCs. WE say ’3.5"-like’ because it is a 2.5" hard drive that comes pre-installed in the IcePack frame, which provides efficient cooling and easy installation in standard 3.5" drive bays. The VelociRaptor provides the quickest access time, the best transfer rates, excellent application results, amazingly low surface temperature and an acceptable noise level along with its unorthodox product name.

[Mehen]

The WD VelociRaptor site: http://www.wdvelociraptor.com/

WAYYYY too cool looking for a hard drive site

[degrub]

may be time to upgrade my raid 5 array from Raptor 74s

i wonder if NewEgg has them in stock yet.....

[Dr Mordrid]

Doesn't look like it. TigerDirect either.

[Elie]

what I don't get is why only 300GB????????????????????

Why can't they produce a 500GB or a 1TB version of this drive then it would be worth it for me to buy. I can fill a 300GB drive with one video project!

[Jammrock]

Alienware gets the drive exclusively for one month, they go public in June'ish.

It's essentially a SAS drive tuned for a workstation and not RAID. Pretty damn fast though.

@Elie, 300 GB is the current max size for 10K RPM 2.5" HDDs, whether SAS or SATA.

[UtwigMU]

Nice. I think by now HDD/IO subsystem is the most important component for teh snappy. And 10k drives are mean. I once did a RAID0 of 3 150GB SAS drives just for testing and installed desktop distro. That thing was fast. Even old SCSI stuff: I was copying some data to 3x150GB 10k SCSI RAID5 and it was much more snappy and faster than copying stuff to 2x750GB SATA mirror.

[Admiral]

I still use 36 and 74Gb models.
Small ones for OS and the 74Gb version for games.

[Nowhere]

Clearly WD doesn't mind alienating large number of customers...

http://xkcd.com/87/

http://xkcd.com/135/

[Tjalfe]

I guess the heatsink would need to be the size of a 5.25" bay, if they decide to make a 15K RPM drive.