Anandtech reviews Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10k rpm 2.5" inch hard drive
The original Western Digital Raptor was launched as the WD360GD in March of 2003 with an enterprise level 10,000 RPM spindle speed, SATA interface, 8MB buffer, 5.2 millisecond read seek time, and a single-platter design featuring 36GB of storage. While it shined in single-user performance, the drive did not fare well against its SCSI-based competitors in the enterprise server market. Limited by size and a complete lack of command queuing abilities, it delivered performance that was not up to par with the SCSI drives in critical multi-user scenarios. However, due to the lack of entry-level SCSI drives, a growing interest in SATA components, and a very avid computer enthusiast market, the drive was able to succeed and build a sterling reputation for Western Digital in the SATA market.
The next version of the Raptor launched as the WD740GD in December of 2003 and boasted several needed enhancements. These enhancements included a capacity upgrade to 74GB, 4.6 millisecond read seek time, a FDB based motor to address noise concerns, and ATA-4 tagged command queuing. While TCQ was a welcome addition and certainly improved the drive's I/O operations, it still was not a match for most SCSI drives in the enterprise market. This was primarily due to a lack of SATA controllers that fully supported TCQ and firmware that was not as mature as the SCSI competition...
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