is there any reason to replace this WD 10,000rpm boot drive?

dubcat · 26 Sep 2009 at 13:28

Hi - I'm upgrading my PC and don't necessarily want to jump in to SSD just yet. I am currently using a separate hard drive for OS and apps. The model is the WD740GD, and it is a 74GB, 10,000RPM, 8MB cache, 4.5ms seek, Serial ATA hard drive. Is this worth upgrading because it is going to be a bottle neck in my new i7 build or is it good enough to keep going with until SSD's come down in price and are fully tested with TRIM and such?
Cheers,
Dub.

Firegod · 26 Sep 2009 at 13:35

The VelociRaptor maybe a good step up. I have the bog standard original Raptor, and although it's fine, compared to my bro's VelociRaptor it's not as quick. I think that because the newer drive is SATA-II and has 16mb Cache helps.

dubcat · 26 Sep 2009 at 13:42

Thanks mate - how big is the difference? Cos if it's bearable I might just hold out for SSD. Only think about this Raptor is that it's loud.. but i can live with it.

Firegod · 26 Sep 2009 at 13:55

dubcat said:
Thanks mate - how big is the difference? Cos if it's bearable I might just hold out for SSD. Only think about this Raptor is that it's loud.. but i can live with it.

Yeah I know what you mean like, for the price, it's near SSD territory.

But if it helps, I ran that ATTO Benchmark tool on my Raptor and the read/write transfer rate was about 80Mb per Sec.

On my bro's VelociRaptor it was around about 110Mb per Sec. So you've still got the Raptors amazing access time, but much better transfer speeds. Oh and he has more disk space.

Zarf · 26 Sep 2009 at 14:10

If you really want the best performance, SSD's are in a completely different league to even a Velociraptor.
Stick with your raptor until you can afford an SSD. Even in a "used" state without TRIM they are much faster.
The Indilinx drives and Intel G2 drives are getting official TRIM and garbage collection support soon anyway, and the samsung PB22-J drives already have passive garbage collection.

dubcat · 26 Sep 2009 at 14:25

Sweet - thanks for the info guys. I will go ahead and re-use the raptor for OS. I will replace it with an SSD when the time is right at which point im thinking this raptor will make a nice scratch disk for video editing...
Cheers agian
Dub

Stonedofmoo · 26 Sep 2009 at 14:44

Can I suggest you look in the members market? I just picked up 2* 150Gb Velociraptors for £120, and they're barely 3 months old with warranty until 2014.

Theres good bargains out there so if you't not ready to invest in SSD yet then try and snap up a good second hand VRaptor, it's quite a lot faster than your Raptors, I used to have those drives too.

Here's my old raptors in RAID 0 Vs my new VRaptors in RAID 0
2* 74Gb Raptor, 8Mb cache

2* 150Gb VRaptor, 16Mb cache.

Atom · 26 Sep 2009 at 15:57

I would stick with the Raptor for now and upgrade to a ssd when your ready..

Tobes · 27 Sep 2009 at 14:05

Firegod said:
The VelociRaptor maybe a good step up. I have the bog standard original Raptor, and although it's fine, compared to my bro's VelociRaptor it's not as quick. I think that because the newer drive is SATA-II and has 16mb Cache helps.

What's the noise difference like. Currently have a raptor but just had my ear drum replaced and now I can't put up with it lol.

dubcat · 27 Sep 2009 at 15:49

stonedmofo - thats a great idea.. ill keep my eyes open.

TAC4U · 27 Sep 2009 at 16:27

I wouldn't bother with the VelociRaptor, especially if you already have a Raptor. You'd just be chucking good money away that would be better spent on an SSD. The problem with 10,000RPM drives is that they're very noisy and don't offer the performance to justify them. My primary drive - for my Windows install - is a 150GB Raptor but I'm looking for an SSD to replace it.

Atom · 27 Sep 2009 at 18:12

I wouldnt say the VRs are noisy. Can only just hear mine and I like a quiet pc.

Firegod · 27 Sep 2009 at 18:46

Yeah I don't understand it as well. My Raptor is not noisy and neither is my bro's. You can hear it accessing away, like if doing a defrag, but then it's only quite faint. So for me I don't think the drives are noisy at all. Not dead silent, but no way noisy.

Nelly · 27 Sep 2009 at 19:29

Velociraptors are not noisey compared to the older Raptors.

I will be switching to SSD once the prices arent stupid in comparison to size, suppose you could buy a 60GB for operating system & a few games & use another cheapo drive for anything else.

£114.99 - Crucial M225 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (CT64M225)

£214.99 - Crucial M225 128GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M225)

£378.99 - Crucial M225 256GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M225)

£169.99 - VelociRaptor 300GB 10000RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3000HLFS)

TAC4U · 27 Sep 2009 at 19:49

Atom said:
I wouldnt say the VRs are noisy. Can only just hear mine and I like a quiet pc.

I was going based on the Raptor I have and it certainly isn't quiet - I can hear everytime it's accessed, unlike my other drives. Far too noisy, especially when you consider SSDs perform better and are silent.

As for SSD pricing, it's really not horrendous if you're just after a drive for your Windows install. You only really need 128GB for Windows and your standard applications, which sets you back just over £200. Unfortunately they're still too small and expensive for storing game installs (my Steam folder is over 390GB) or music samples (my samples folder is over 285GB). The other factor is that they're fast evolving, meaning prices are dropping and performance is increasing all the time - it's hard to know when to jump in.

Stonedofmoo · 27 Sep 2009 at 19:55

As I said, if you can get a second hand bargain VRaptor do that. It isn't noisey at all, nothing like the noise my old 74Gb raptor made. You shouldn't be looking at spending more than £70 on a 150Gb Vraptor in MM.

Chances are when you come to sell it wouldn't have depreciated much further, unlike SSD's which will come down very quickly.