Satisfaction with Western Digital Raptor drives

[Misfit138]

Another forum mentioned that 2x 250GB Maxtor SATA HD's w/ 16MB cache in RAID-0 were actualy FASTER than dual 36Gig raptors in RAID-0 on the same controller! I don't doubt it for a second, and with like 7 TIMES more space!

I'd like to say that I have had quite a few RAID 0 arrays over the years and I am now officially done with it.
I bought my current Deskstars after reading a few reviews and articles about them spanking a single Raptor, with them in RAID 0. The benchmarks and comparison scores were very impressive. Supposedly, enabling 3GB/s with ftool and configuring a striped set with these drives was what you needed to do for a blazing, Raptor-crushing half-terrabyte. I had a few PATA RAIDs in the past and was always disappointed with the lack of performance boost, but I figured this was newer SATA II technology, and the bursts of 300+ MB/s must make a huge impact on performance.
How wrong I was for listening.
It seems that a 7200RPM drive, even 2 of them in RAID 0 just can't compete with the Raptor and the responsiveness it gives.
The RAID array I have benchmarks unbelievable numbers, and the bursts are awesome.....but that doesnt change the fact that it's still slower than the Raptor in real-world performance.
Ok, rant over!

 

[Audioaficionado]

I pretty much just use Raptors for any high performance build boot/OS/apps drive. I seldom boot since I run 24/7 but even just starting applications seems faster than the regular EIDE drives. Data storage drives don't need to be a Raptor.

 

[avalanche83]

Went from a 7200rpm PATA to a 36Gb Rapter and couldn't be happier.

 

[otogrim]

Made the move from a 7200rpm pata to my 74gb raptor and the difference is very noticable. I'm quite happy with raptor.

 

[jstutman]

Went from a 7200rpm PATA to a 36Gb Rapter and couldn't be happier.

Ditto. Things havent been better, well ok they could be

 

[David Coleman]

The replacement started squeeling after 1 day

 

[fabulouscoops]

Update. After happily moving from a 7200 rpm drive to a 36 GB raptor (how I first voted a year ago), and then to a 2x120 GB 7200 rpm Raid 0 array, I happily moved to a 74 GB raptor, and plan to move to a 150 GB raptor in my next rig.

 

[shadowdr]

I went from two pata raid0 arrays to 1 array and a 74 gig Raptor.I used the Raptor for the OS drive and the array for programs.Apps opened faster but completed loads in about the same time or just a little slower.Defrags, photo apps and bf2 took longer to complete.I was unimpressed.
I got a second Raptor and replaced my Programs array thinking it would help. It didn't.I then decided to raid0 the raptors for my os and reconstruct my program array using my DX9's.It performs about the same as the 2x raid0 arrays that I had before.I beleive that they would do much better on a newer NV array or ICHR7 because the on-board 3112 is no better then the SI 0680 pci card I was using.I am still unimpressed with them but my aging platform is to blame and not their limitations.

 

[jivetrky]

This poll needs a slot for raptor 150's

But I just voted on happy with 7200 to 74GB

and I'd say I'm definitely happy....I notice a MAJOR difference going from my former WD 200GB SE drive

When my friends bring over PCs for a LAN party I'm always in the maps like 30 seconds before them...

 

[blkdiamond]

I am happy with my move from a 7200 to my Rapto 74 gb, the only downside is that the Raptor is much noiser than the 7200 I had before.

 

[raven]

I have been very happy with my decision to move from a WD SE (80 gig) to a 36 gig Raptor. Ever since the move, I have kept only windows and any installed programs on my Raptor, and dedicated my 7200RPM drive for storage and back up. My load times have decreased and everything is running much smoother. The only problem that I have been having with both drives is fragmentation. I use Diskeeper lite but for some reason, those things enjoy getting fragmented. Also, as Voodoo stated in his first post, the Raptor produces noticeable noise when seeking, but other than that, it is as quiet as my other drives. I have devoted considerable amount of time into sound dampenning my computer, but the seek noise from the Raptor I like. It has a type of nostalgic quality to it as it reminds me of my younger days when I first got into computers (yes I realize that I am only 20, but half of my life has had computers involved in it, so it has been a long time for me).


Raven

 

[jivetrky]

yeah I'm gonna have to agree....the noise from the raptor 150 I have is not annoying or really intrusive. I think that "nostalgic" IS a good way to describe it.
Shoot, over my stock DFI chipset cooler on my Expert board....I don't think anything else could possibly compare in annoying noises.

I'd say that a raptor wouldn't fare in an HTPC because of it's seek noise....but it's the king of desktops, IMO

 

[Stoner51]

I personally didn't notice any improvement but I am happy with it.

 

[RacerX27]

Happiely moved from a 7200 rpm to a 36gb.

Then I'm happy to move from a 2x raid 0 36gb to a single 74gb.

 

[Revivalist]

I love my 4 Raptors. . . . 260MB/s sustained transfer rate. . . . These things eat BF2 maps for breakfast.

 

[damarble]

We need an update for the 150/160 GB Raptors. I went from a pair of 7200's in RAID, which was fairly zippy, to a singe 7200 (turd slow), to a 160GB Raptor, zoom-zoom. Windows installs are so fast!

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Hrmm....what to do. I could stop this poll and start a new one for the Raptor 150s. This thread is almost 2 years old now.

 

[RangerXLT8]

Hrmm....what to do. I could stop this poll and start a new one for the Raptor 150s. This thread is almost 2 years old now.

Start a new one!

 

[nvidiaOCmaster]

Im borrowing one from someone while he is on vacation, nice drive, but im not using it now, I dont want to break it.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Closing thread in place of the new one.