Western Digital Raptor: world's only clear-cover hard drive

Modders listen up 'cause Western Digital has just taken the wraps off their WD Raptor, literally. WD took their new enterprise class SATA Raptor which was already throwin' down 150GB with 16MB cache and slapped on a transparent lens capable of withstanding the heat and pressure generated from the 10,000 RPM platter spin while still coping with electrostatic discharge. Check out the actuator arm in the vid kicking out that 4.6-milisecond average seek time. The "world's only clear-cover hard drive" is available now for pre-order at $350 -- a mere $50 premium to feed your moddin' jones.

[speedbacon Posted Jan 6th 2006 4:29PM]

Retarded. How about making them quieter instead, bozos.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2006 4:34PM]

I'm getting one, I love my 74GB Raptor, but I have to have these damn storage drives, even though, collectively I only have ~100GB so it is not cost effecient. Gonna be able to ditch all my drives (except one storage because Raptors life their life quicker) and replace with one of these!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2006 4:41PM]

Wow! I think I am going to have to start selling stuff on Ebay so that I can manage to scrap the money for this sweet HD. Man, o, man!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2006 5:10PM]

speedbacon:



The nice thing about the drive market right now is that there's something for everyone. The Raptor is basically an enterprise-class drive in a consumer package. It is built for reliability and speed, with an obvious nod to gamers.



If you want quiet, WD has drives for that too. So does every other drive manufacturer. My four Maxtor drives are all so quiet that I literally cannot hear them even if I put my ear right up to them with my case open while defragging. That's the benefit of FDB motors and acoustic management.



But the Raptor is not intended for that market. There's no reason every drive needs to be. Some people just want speed and reliability at any cost, and there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to get it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2006 5:32PM]

i have installed many 74GB Raptor 10,000 RPM drives and as long as the case was decent and properly cooled they were quiet. You put these in a comp with a cheap case though or one that doesn't meat the cooling needs and they will sound like a 15k SCSI. If you can afford to buy this drive then i am sure you can afford some extra case fans and a nice enough case to keep em quiet.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2006 8:32PM]

http://case-mod-nexus.com/linear/hard-drive-window-2/

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 30th 2006 12:54AM]

Dr. Atomicus: That is a VERY risky PC Mod... and would only suggest it to people who KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING... and one who has never done it before do not attempt it!