Western Digital RE WD1600YS 160 GB

Advantages: Fast spindle speed, large buffer, high capacity, fast data speed
Disadvantages: May need SATA interface card

...and running, the speed difference was incredible. Going from a single 40gb drive setup with 2mb cache, i now had two 160gb drives in a Raid setup with 8mb of cache on each! The drives themselves are fairly silent in operation, no real clunking or high pitched whines. They dont get too hot, aroud 29c average. (but i have got them in coolermaster hard drive coolers). I have had problems in the past with Seagate and fujitsu drives, but have yet to have any problems with western digital. Although i have yet to do any benchmarks, i would say the upgrade was definately worth it - not only do i now have more space to fill, but its quicker too. Definately a recomended drive - even if you dont setup a raid configuration.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Fast read/write, 7200rpm spindle speed
Disadvantages: Only 2mb data buffer, Only supports upto ATA100

...Having already owned several western digital hard drives before, i knew these would be pretty reliable. Installation was fairly easy - four screws, one data cable, and one power cable connection. The bios on the motherboard recognised the drive perfectly. Once installed and setup, i noticed the difference over my old hard drive straight away. The boot up speed was a lot quicker and i once again had space for all my bits and pieces(after i had sorted windows out). (just for reference my old drive was a 20gb 2mb Cache 5400rpm). For any one not into the techie side of things, the faster the spindle speed and the bigger the cache size, the Faster the drive. Although 40gb doesnt sound very big compared to the other sizes available, you can still hold a lot of information on a drive of this size.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: VERY FAST
Disadvantages: EXPENSE AND NOISE

...The Raptor is a single platter SATA hard drive, 37GB drive with a 10,000RPM spindle speed and a build quality that comes backed by a full 5 year warranty. You can't fault the vital statistics, but is it all spin. The raptor is a very quick hardrive but when it comes down to price and performence they are both very high. I must admit I bought 2 and set them up as a RAID array and it is as fast as anything else thats on the market. But now with the new SATA 2 that has just come out ,save your money for them. Noise from a raptor is not too good but you dont need ear muffs to play on your PC. If you know any thing about hard drives ,price and storage are the biggest winners and loser for them, thats why Western Digital have tried to make these on par with the SCSI side of the market, hence the price but unfortunatley they lack in some... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful