First off, we have Western Digital’s new Raptor with a rotation speed of a whopping 10 000 revolutions per minute, hinting about good access times.
Its competitors are Western Digital’s and Seagate’s mainstream harddrives, namely 120 GB models with 8 MB cache. Both Seagate’s Barracuda and Western’s Raptor are equipped with SATA; the new harddrive interface whose popularity increases quite fast on the market.

When it comes
to storage, we at NordicHardware have been a bit lazy lately. However, today
we will take a closer look at three harddrives with pretty different characteristics
to remedy this period of inactivity.
First off, we have Western Digital’s new Raptor with a rotation speed of a
whopping 10 000 revolutions per minute, hinting about good access times.
Its competitors are Western Digital’s and Seagate’s mainstream harddrives,
namely 120 GB models with 8 MB cache. Both Seagate’s Barracuda and Western’s
Raptor are equipped with SATA; the new harddrive interface whose popularity
increases quite fast on the market.


Specifications:
Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB
Storage capacity
36.7
GB
Rotation speed
10
000 RPM
Access time
5.2
ms
Cache size
8
MB
Interface
SATA
Accessories
Noise-level
32
dBA

With its pitiful
36.7 GB, the storage capacity is hardly something to write home about. Compared
to the giants of today, it’s almost ridiculously little storage space. Has
Western Digital, known to be far ahead in development, made a big mistake,
or what’s it all about? Of course not. A closer look at the specifications
reveals that this is a neat little speeder that spins at fully 10000 RPM.
The number of revolutions per minute (RPM) largely, though not totally, decides
how fast the harddrive is; the faster the discs spins, the lower average access
time.

The seek time
is not bad either. With a mere 5.2 ms, Western Digital sets a new record in
terms of non-SCSI connected harddrives. Obviously, this speed merchant is
equipped with the new SATA interface, which allows for a theoretical transfer
speed of 150 MB/s, compared to the 133 MB per second that ATA133 offers. Sadly,
there are no harddrives that can deliver 150 MB per second, but SATA has got
many pros against the former PATA version (also called ATA and sometimes IDE),
having nothing to do with the transfer speed. First of all, the cables are
much thinner, thus increasing air circulation in the case and allowing for
the cables to be better arranged. Furthermore, the CPU load becomes a tad
lower, and as if it that wasn’t enough, the SATA interface is Hot-Swap compatible,
making it possible to add and remove your harddrives during operation without
any problems. Isn’t that something that you always have dreamt of? Maybe not
the most useful feature ever invented, but as long as there aren’t any cons,
just go ahead!


PCB

Top side

The harddrive
is also equipped with the 8 MB cache memory, which has become a standard at
Western Digital; the Special Edition harddrives are suddenly not so special
anymore. Most harddrive manufacturers equip their better models with 8 MB
cache, so it’s not unexpected that this harddrive is equally endowed. According
to the specifications, the harddrive generates 32 dBA of noise, which is very
little considering the high RPM.

The Raptor is
quite much heavier than a regular 3,5" harddrive, and has a built-in
heatsink to better handle the heat generated by the fast spinning drive. Apart
from the heatsink, the harddrive looks like something from the 80’s with its
shell looking awfully old-fashioned. Somewhat boring for a super-fast harddrive,
but how many are really staring at their harddrives frequently?

The connection
aspect is very unlike ordinary PATA disks; firstly, there is no wide connector
for the data cable. The data cable is actually the thinnest of all the three
available connections. Moreover, there are two power connections; one for
the new SATA power connector and one for the old molex connector. Remember
to only use one of these connections at the time, or you might destroy the
harddrive. The PCB is designed in such a way that every chip except one is
on the inside, for better and worse. That makes the harddrive less sensitive
to static discharges, but the major part of the heat from the chips gets trapped
inside the drive with the motor.


The connection panel on the harddrive.

Something that
I thought would be gone was the jumpers on the backside. They shouldn’t be
needed since SATA only uses one harddrive per channel. Because of this, you
don’t have to set master/slave, and therefore the jumpers should be unnecessary.
The jumper block does sit there, however, completely unnecessary as it seems.
There is a jumper that short-circuits two pins as standard, but according
to WD’s homepage, it doesn’t matter whether the jumper is removed. The two
in the middle are not connected, and the last one makes the harddrive start
in "standby" mode. What that means is still a mystery as I never
noticed any difference at all when I fiddled with the jumper.


Specifications:
Western Digital Caviar 120GB SE

Storage
capacity
120
GB
Rotation
speed
7200
RPM
Average
seek time
8,9
ms
Cache
size
8
MB
Interface
ATA100
Accessories
Noise-level
39
dBA

This is without
a doubt Western Digital’s mainstream harddrive. 120 GB has become standard
and the SE version with additional cache has a reasonable price compared to
the 2 MB edition. The 80 GB drives have had their days and the 120 GB drives
give better value for the money you spend. The storage capacity is enough
for most users and with 7200 RPM, which is standard nowadays, you will get
a performance way better than this drive’s slower predecessor.


PCB

From
above

The larger cache
keeps the performance on a nice level, but is nothing exceptional. The drive
is equipped with the older PATA interface with a speed at 100mb/s (ATA100),
but there is also a SATA edition available, which naturally costs a little
extra. However, the benefits of SATA are too few to make any difference to
the average user.

The seek time at 8.9 ms is quite average, possibly a little high. The noise
level at 39 dBA is a bit loud, and for those who prefer a silent computer
there are better solutions. Besides this, there is not much to say. It’s an
ordinary harddrive of good quality made for the average user that still wants
a little more.


Specifications:
Seagate Barracuda 120GB 8MB cache SATA

Storage
capacity
120GB
Rotation
speed
7200RPM
Average
seek time
8.5ms
Cache
size
8MB
Interface
SATA
Accessories
Noise
level
25dBA

Seagate has,
just like Western Digital, a very good reputation when it comes to quality.
The difference is that Seagate for along time has been the silent alternative.
The drive we will look at in this review is the fifth generation of the Barracuda
series.

This drive has the SATA interface, but there is a cheaper PATA edition. I
still recommend PATA, but if there is something in the SATA concept you need,
or if you just hate those broad cables, then go for it.
Note that this model do not have the ordinary power connector, you will need
a special SATA power connector to get it running. There are adaptors available
for those who have PSU’s that is not equipped with this kind of connector.


PCB

From
above

The average seek
time is 8.5 ms, slightly better than the WD drive. The differences are not
that big though, but if you take a look at the noise level you will see on
what point this drive is a strong winner. It only generates 25 dBA, which
is extremely low for a 7200 RPM drive. Though, the silence comes with price;
the Seagate Barracuda produces more heat than other drives.


Test system
Hardware
Processor:
AMD
XP1700+
Mainboard:
Abit
NF7-S 2.0
RAM:
2x256MB
Corsair XMS3700 @ 2-2-2-5
Graphic card:

Creative GeForce3 Ti200

Harddrive:

Western
Digital 120Gb 7200RPM (SYSTEM)
Western Digital 120Gb 7200RPM
Western Digital 37Gb 10000RPM
Seagate 120Gb 7200RPM

Sound
card:
Network card:
Software
Operating
system:
Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 1)
Graphic card drivers:
nVidia: Detonator 44.03
Other
drivers:
nVidia
nForce Drivers 2.03
Test software:

HDTach
2.61
SiSoft Sandra 2003
ATTO Disk Benchmark
Ziff Davis Winbench 99

I was also
going to test the harddrives with a HighPoint SATA RAID card, but the test
programs refused to find the card. The SATA circuit is the integrated one
on the nForce2 mainboard, namely a Silicon Image SiL 3112. Western Digital’s
Caviar was also tested with a PATA->SATA adapter so all drives could
be tested using the same chip.
The performance difference was negligible, therefore both test results are
not included in the graphs.