New WD Raptors?

[B.Ob.]

New WD Raptor on the Horizon?

 

"Rumored features of the WD1500AD (Server) and WD1500AH (Gamer) versions include:

 

SATA-II Capabilities w/ NCQ

16MB Cache

4.5ms Seek Time

1.2 million hours MTBF"

[B.Ob.]

Western Digital Raptor WD1500

 

"When planning the third-generation Raptor, WD sought a way to acknowledge the gaming market while still preserving the brand in the enterprise. Regarding the latter, the company hopes the third time truly is the charm. This time around, the Raptor will enjoy some advantages not accorded to its predecessors. The industry is gearing up for the inevitable transition from the parallel Ultra320 interface to the new Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) standard. SATA's interoperability with SAS (both use the same physical connector and the latter's HBAs can control the former's drives) opens up new doors for WD's fledgling entry. The Raptor is no longer beholden to dedicated SATA infrastructure and instead may be positioned as an inexpensive alternative that remains directly compatible with the SAS world. In addition, SATA's maturation continues to bring more credibility to the interface as Seagate, Maxtor, and WD all move to bring high-capacity, 24/7 nearline-style SATA drives to the market."

 

Time-Limited Error Recovery (TLER) - Error Recovery Fallout Prevention in WD Caviar RAID Edition SATA HDs

[B.Ob.]

Western Digital Shows Off The Raptor X

 

"From the secret performance labs at WD comes the revolutionary WD Raptor X SATA hard drive, the first ever drive with a clear view of the internal workings. We have been talking with Western Digital on the development of a clear hard drive for a number of years and the day has finally come that we saw a working model. What makes this possible is a large, crystal-clear lens on the drive to let you see into the inner workings and witness the drive in action. The lens was the hardest part of the design and it took the crew at Western Digital nearly a year to get working."