WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX: the fastest and most expensive SATA hard drive has increased its volume to 600 gigabytes
If you are interested in hard drives, it is difficult to remain indifferent to the WD Raptor family. It is very ... unusual. No, I understand that by the standards of processors or video cards, the increased speed of the spindle rotation and the extravagant appearance of the "unusual" do not pull. But in conditions when all HDD manufacturers go nostril to nostril, copying each other’s model lines exactly, the raptors really stand out. I got into the hands of a completely new 600-gigabyte WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX, which has not yet started selling in Russia. I will tell you about the most important thing, anticipating the story with a small historical excursion.
The first hard drives of the WD Raptor family appeared quite a long time ago, in February of 2003. Western Digital didn’t get along well with SCSI (but now they are already releasing HDDs with SAS), and the company seems to have decided to release WD products in powerful workstations and release SATA drives with a spindle speed of 10,000 rpm. entry level servers. The novelty was met with caution: the SATA interface was just beginning to come into vogue, and the SCSI reputation seemed unshakable. Plus, the first “raptors” inside remained traditional PATA drives, and they worked with SATA through the PATA-to-SATA bridge. And although the volume of 36 GB was considered at that time quite acceptable, and the spindle speed of 10,000 rev / min simply fascinated, until 2006, the Raptor remained a very niche product, which the company itself did not recall once again.
')
In 2006, someone from the marketers came up with the idea of ​​including gamers in the target audience of the product (oh, how I love this term!). After all, they love the same thing? Well, so they are the fastest SATA-HDD. And so that the guys finally got through, they released Raptor X - a 150 GB disk with a transparent window. It was not only very fast for its time (approximately 75 MB / s when reading and writing), but also very photogenic, therefore, often flashed on the covers of the then numerous computer magazines. There were also 74- and 150-gigabyte models with the same characteristics, but without a window. For servers and non-pathetic gamers.
I then succumbed to advertising and still put the Raptor X in the home computer. What can I say? Yes, the system began to boot and work much, much faster. The difference in comparison with the then “just hard drives” was approximately the same as now, if you switch to SSD after the screw. I can’t call myself a mega-gamer, but it became more pleasant not only to play, but to just work. Pressed and r-time, everything started. Out of something heavy, and you continue to do what you want, not waiting until the system warms up with a hard drive. Convenient, pleasant. Yes, and the screw did not get warm almost - well, maybe a couple of degrees was hotter than Barracuda 7200.10 in the neighborhood.
But there was a nuance: with heads this miracle thundered - my respect. During the day, it’s okay, but then I drove a large computer around the clock, and not everyone liked to sleep next to it. Any computer sound only brings sweet dreams to us, but these women ... In general, we had to part with Raptor X, although the transition to “just a hard drive” (only Barracuda 7200.11, which was released then) was not easy. Today it is Vista and the "seven" with all sorts of ReadyBoost very effectively mask the actual performance of the HDD and virtually reduce access time. But then…
Then came VelociRaptor, where standard 2.5-inch plates were used instead of non-standard 3-inch plates, as in the first Raptors. The volume of the older model has grown to 300 gigabytes, it has become much quieter and faster. Plus, there was a 2.5-inch version, which, however, did not fit into any laptop in thickness.
And now a completely new WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX sample has arrived in Russia. Two plates of 300 gigabytes each, IcePack radiator housing, SATA 6 Gbps interface. It looks, of course, not as beautiful as the Raptor X, but still unusual. The first thing I decided to pull the disk out of the casing, but it was not there: on one of the bolts there is a sticker with the inscription that they say if you take me away - the warranty is canceled. However, I don’t keep the mini-server at home, and with IcePack the temperature of the disk itself, other things being equal, is 5-6 degrees lower than without it.
First about the good.
The new VelociRaptor works quietly enough. In the TX is written about 36 dBA, but it seems to be reinsurance. If the heads are still, the disc is not heard at all. If moving ... Well, there is such a bass rustling. If someone annoys anyone, it makes sense to consult a neurologist :) Of course, I don’t drive a big computer around the clock, because I got a great “atomic” NAS for torrents, but even if I had to, the VelociRaptor computer wouldn’t disturb the dream.
There are no questions to heat at all: if you believe the built-in sensor, even under good load (the file system test in SiSoft Sandra 2010 ten times in a row) the HDD did not warm up above 42 degrees. For comparison, WD GreenPower with a volume of 1 TB in the basket next door after the same test cycle reported heating up to 39 degrees.
And about speed. Meryl already mentioned "Sandra", test File System.
Sequential reading 151.31 MB / s
Random read 88.15 MB / s
Serial write 147.43 MB / s
Random entry 103.42 MB / s
Average access time 4.74 ms
As you can see, the access time is excellent, the rest is slightly faster than the latest Seagate and Samsung models with 7200 rpm. That is, the feeling of working is still more pleasant, thanks to the increased responsiveness of the system, but for such a price I would like a little more. However, about the prices at the end.
Not lazy and drove the same tests on the Intel X-25M SSD. Here are the numbers.
Sequential read 244 MB / s
Random reading 161.87 MB / s
Serial write 50.3 MB / s
Random entry 40.2 MB / s
Average access time 0.09 ms
Why chose this particular disc? Yes, because it is considered to be one of the best in terms of price / quality ratio, and it costs about the same as they will ask for VelociRaptor after the start of sales. As you can see, it is difficult for VelociRaptor to read and read it, but it writes HDD much faster. And in some tasks (for example, editing high-definition video or processing large multi-layered images in Photoshop) with an SSD will be a little sadder. And the volume of the SSD is only 80 gigabytes versus 600 of the “velociraptor”.
So about the prices.
In the States, where the new VelociRaptor is already for sale, they ask for $ 320. Presumably, we will first sell it at 950-10000 rubles. For the same amount, we have available decent 80-gig SSDs with the same write speed as the X-25M (funny, but in the same price range the brand has almost no value). Want more volume for the same price? Get ready to reduce the reading speed to about the level of the VelociRaptor, and then until it begins to fall further for reasons that are natural for a cheap SSD. Want the same write speed as the VelociRaptor? Well, there will have to pay, as they say, dramatically more - for example, the Intel X-25E, which actually writes 170 megs per second, costs 14 thousand rubles for us, ridiculous to say, the 32-gigabyte version.
That is, WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX quite competently fits into the gap between "just hard drives" and SSD. Another question is, how big is the gap? If we proceed from the fact that for the entire existence of the line, business colleagues have not released anything like this - the market for ten thousand meters with SATA is not very large. Otherwise they would have fussed over.
The recommendation is simple: if you are going to buy a relatively inexpensive SSD, but you are not sure if 80-128 gigs will suffice, look towards VelociRaptor. If there is a lot of money and you don’t want to save it, take four 64-gigabyte Intel X-25E and put it in RAID 0 + 1, you will not regret :)
And a few more price tags for normal guys, to whom I like to count myself. 640-gigabyte WD Caviar Black (of course, with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm), costs today a little less than 2000 rubles. Yes, it is slower (up to 111 MB / s at the peak) and has a longer access time (approximately 12.2 ms). However, when using modern operating systems (Vista / 7) and a decent amount of memory (plus ReadyBoost technology), user experience can be similar to VelociRaptor in most tasks. Those with money with a margin, can for 6300 rubles, you can take the same Black, but the volume of two terabytes. Cold, quiet, and faster 640-gigabyte version. Well, other brands have interesting offers enough, which is to hide.
Personally, I (personally) VelociRaptor just really like it. But the hand that was useful behind the wallet stops halfway - it is very expensive! It would be twice as expensive for the same volume - I would recommend violently. But at four with a hook ... It turns out to be a cool option for already wealthy, but not exorbitantly rich guys who want to quickly for moderate compared with SSD money. Are there many among us?
The first hard drives of the WD Raptor family appeared quite a long time ago, in February of 2003. Western Digital didn’t get along well with SCSI (but now they are already releasing HDDs with SAS), and the company seems to have decided to release WD products in powerful workstations and release SATA drives with a spindle speed of 10,000 rpm. entry level servers. The novelty was met with caution: the SATA interface was just beginning to come into vogue, and the SCSI reputation seemed unshakable. Plus, the first “raptors” inside remained traditional PATA drives, and they worked with SATA through the PATA-to-SATA bridge. And although the volume of 36 GB was considered at that time quite acceptable, and the spindle speed of 10,000 rev / min simply fascinated, until 2006, the Raptor remained a very niche product, which the company itself did not recall once again.
')
In 2006, someone from the marketers came up with the idea of ​​including gamers in the target audience of the product (oh, how I love this term!). After all, they love the same thing? Well, so they are the fastest SATA-HDD. And so that the guys finally got through, they released Raptor X - a 150 GB disk with a transparent window. It was not only very fast for its time (approximately 75 MB / s when reading and writing), but also very photogenic, therefore, often flashed on the covers of the then numerous computer magazines. There were also 74- and 150-gigabyte models with the same characteristics, but without a window. For servers and non-pathetic gamers.
I then succumbed to advertising and still put the Raptor X in the home computer. What can I say? Yes, the system began to boot and work much, much faster. The difference in comparison with the then “just hard drives” was approximately the same as now, if you switch to SSD after the screw. I can’t call myself a mega-gamer, but it became more pleasant not only to play, but to just work. Pressed and r-time, everything started. Out of something heavy, and you continue to do what you want, not waiting until the system warms up with a hard drive. Convenient, pleasant. Yes, and the screw did not get warm almost - well, maybe a couple of degrees was hotter than Barracuda 7200.10 in the neighborhood.
But there was a nuance: with heads this miracle thundered - my respect. During the day, it’s okay, but then I drove a large computer around the clock, and not everyone liked to sleep next to it. Any computer sound only brings sweet dreams to us, but these women ... In general, we had to part with Raptor X, although the transition to “just a hard drive” (only Barracuda 7200.11, which was released then) was not easy. Today it is Vista and the "seven" with all sorts of ReadyBoost very effectively mask the actual performance of the HDD and virtually reduce access time. But then…
Then came VelociRaptor, where standard 2.5-inch plates were used instead of non-standard 3-inch plates, as in the first Raptors. The volume of the older model has grown to 300 gigabytes, it has become much quieter and faster. Plus, there was a 2.5-inch version, which, however, did not fit into any laptop in thickness.
And now a completely new WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX sample has arrived in Russia. Two plates of 300 gigabytes each, IcePack radiator housing, SATA 6 Gbps interface. It looks, of course, not as beautiful as the Raptor X, but still unusual. The first thing I decided to pull the disk out of the casing, but it was not there: on one of the bolts there is a sticker with the inscription that they say if you take me away - the warranty is canceled. However, I don’t keep the mini-server at home, and with IcePack the temperature of the disk itself, other things being equal, is 5-6 degrees lower than without it.
First about the good.
The new VelociRaptor works quietly enough. In the TX is written about 36 dBA, but it seems to be reinsurance. If the heads are still, the disc is not heard at all. If moving ... Well, there is such a bass rustling. If someone annoys anyone, it makes sense to consult a neurologist :) Of course, I don’t drive a big computer around the clock, because I got a great “atomic” NAS for torrents, but even if I had to, the VelociRaptor computer wouldn’t disturb the dream.
There are no questions to heat at all: if you believe the built-in sensor, even under good load (the file system test in SiSoft Sandra 2010 ten times in a row) the HDD did not warm up above 42 degrees. For comparison, WD GreenPower with a volume of 1 TB in the basket next door after the same test cycle reported heating up to 39 degrees.
And about speed. Meryl already mentioned "Sandra", test File System.
Sequential reading 151.31 MB / s
Random read 88.15 MB / s
Serial write 147.43 MB / s
Random entry 103.42 MB / s
Average access time 4.74 ms
As you can see, the access time is excellent, the rest is slightly faster than the latest Seagate and Samsung models with 7200 rpm. That is, the feeling of working is still more pleasant, thanks to the increased responsiveness of the system, but for such a price I would like a little more. However, about the prices at the end.
Not lazy and drove the same tests on the Intel X-25M SSD. Here are the numbers.
Sequential read 244 MB / s
Random reading 161.87 MB / s
Serial write 50.3 MB / s
Random entry 40.2 MB / s
Average access time 0.09 ms
Why chose this particular disc? Yes, because it is considered to be one of the best in terms of price / quality ratio, and it costs about the same as they will ask for VelociRaptor after the start of sales. As you can see, it is difficult for VelociRaptor to read and read it, but it writes HDD much faster. And in some tasks (for example, editing high-definition video or processing large multi-layered images in Photoshop) with an SSD will be a little sadder. And the volume of the SSD is only 80 gigabytes versus 600 of the “velociraptor”.
So about the prices.
In the States, where the new VelociRaptor is already for sale, they ask for $ 320. Presumably, we will first sell it at 950-10000 rubles. For the same amount, we have available decent 80-gig SSDs with the same write speed as the X-25M (funny, but in the same price range the brand has almost no value). Want more volume for the same price? Get ready to reduce the reading speed to about the level of the VelociRaptor, and then until it begins to fall further for reasons that are natural for a cheap SSD. Want the same write speed as the VelociRaptor? Well, there will have to pay, as they say, dramatically more - for example, the Intel X-25E, which actually writes 170 megs per second, costs 14 thousand rubles for us, ridiculous to say, the 32-gigabyte version.
That is, WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX quite competently fits into the gap between "just hard drives" and SSD. Another question is, how big is the gap? If we proceed from the fact that for the entire existence of the line, business colleagues have not released anything like this - the market for ten thousand meters with SATA is not very large. Otherwise they would have fussed over.
The recommendation is simple: if you are going to buy a relatively inexpensive SSD, but you are not sure if 80-128 gigs will suffice, look towards VelociRaptor. If there is a lot of money and you don’t want to save it, take four 64-gigabyte Intel X-25E and put it in RAID 0 + 1, you will not regret :)
And a few more price tags for normal guys, to whom I like to count myself. 640-gigabyte WD Caviar Black (of course, with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm), costs today a little less than 2000 rubles. Yes, it is slower (up to 111 MB / s at the peak) and has a longer access time (approximately 12.2 ms). However, when using modern operating systems (Vista / 7) and a decent amount of memory (plus ReadyBoost technology), user experience can be similar to VelociRaptor in most tasks. Those with money with a margin, can for 6300 rubles, you can take the same Black, but the volume of two terabytes. Cold, quiet, and faster 640-gigabyte version. Well, other brands have interesting offers enough, which is to hide.
Personally, I (personally) VelociRaptor just really like it. But the hand that was useful behind the wallet stops halfway - it is very expensive! It would be twice as expensive for the same volume - I would recommend violently. But at four with a hook ... It turns out to be a cool option for already wealthy, but not exorbitantly rich guys who want to quickly for moderate compared with SSD money. Are there many among us?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/94992/
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