Anandtech reviews Western Digital WD3200AAKS-00B3A0 320GB hard drive
Western Digital has been quiet on the performance front the past several months as they have placed an emphasis on their GreenPower family of products that we recently reviewed. However, they have been busily working on a new line-up of Caviar SE16 drives that feature their new 320GB per-platter technology. This type of areal density places WD in direct competition with Samsung's F1 lineup featuring 334GB per-platter sizes with similar thermal, acoustic, and power envelope specifications.
It does not come as a surprise that the first drive from WD to utilize the 320GB per-platter technology is the Caviar SE16 320GB WD3200AAKS. What is surprising to us is that WD is not changing the product designation on drives that feature this new technology. It's not really that surprising as a manufacturer will want to clear out inventory of previous product before introducing new product. We would like to see WD following Seagate, Hitachi, or Samsung by changing model numbers when there is a major switch in product technology.
Ordering a WD3200AAKS could land you the new drive or the older design with two 160GB platters. Since only the part number changes in this case, the one you want is WD3200AAKS-00B3A0. For all intent purposes this means you need to find a dealer that carries OEM drives and will guarantee this particular part number is available. It's either that or take your chances with a retail package. WD started shipping these drives in mass at the end of January so odds are that retail kits will contain mixed stock at best...
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