The 10K Survey 2157

Western Digital has reported that its 10K 36Gb IDE drives, more commonly known as Raptors, have sold better than expected, and a 72Gb version will be out in October.

However, other hard drive makers aren’t exactly rushing to 10K.

So we have a few questions. Please, IDE users only. If you love SCSI, wonderful, but I’m not interested in another SCSI/IDE debate.

Infobit: In case you didn’t know, the Raptors sell for about $4 a gigabyte, or about $140, while better 7.2K rpm drives like the Western Digital Special Edition and Hitachi 180GXP (which admittedly are built to lower use specifications), sell for about $65 for 40Gb, and somewhat less than $1 a gigabyte in bigger sizes.

Question 1

Do you own a Raptor?

a) Yes
b) No

Question 2

If you own a Raptor, are you glad you bought one?

a) Yes
b) No

Question 3

If you answered question 2, please explain why or why not.

Question 4

If you don’t own a Raptor, what is the biggest reason why you don’t

a) They cost too much per gigabyte
b) Cost is fine; they aren’t big enough
c) I have tons of unused hard drive space as is

Question 5

If you said “they cost too much” in question 4, at what price per gigabyte would you buy a 10K IDE drive?

a) $3 a gigabyte
b) $2 a gigabyte
c) $1 a gigabyte
d) No more than the going rate for 7200rpm drives

Question 6

If you said, “they aren’t big enough” in question 4, what would be big enough?

a) 72Gb
b) 108Gb
c) 144Gb
d) More than that

Question 7

Indicate whether or not you agree with the following statement:

“Raptors carry a five-year warranty, which is the same as for SCSI drives, and much longer than it is for other IDE drives. A good part of the reason why Raptors (and SCSI drives) cost more is that to keep them working at least five years, they are built to higher reliability standards, so they cost more to make and to sell.”

a) I agree, and I’m happy to pay for the extra quality
b) I agree they’re better built, but I’m not going to pay that much for that level of quality
c) I don’t believe it

Please send your responses to the link below, and ONLY to the link below.

Thank you very much!

Ed

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