Customer Reviews

Western Digital 300 GB VelociRaptor SATA 3 Gb/s 10,000 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Enterprise Hard Drive - WD3000HLFS

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This HD is a piece of work, and no wonder. Look at its statistics: 10K RPM, 300GB (279.5GB formatted), 1.4 Million Hour MTBF Enterprise reliability factor, 3-platter internal configuration, Icy Dock Heat-Sink/2.5" to 3.5" Adapter, Back-Plane ready, 16MB Cache...and best of all to go along with that 1.4 Million MTBF (mean time before failure) rating it's guaranteed to last 5-years by Western Digital's all-inclusive Factory Warranty, the highest in the business.

I'm a big fan of WD's Enterprise HD's, and use them extensively when building systems, or equipping my own system for ultimate reliability and performance. The "new generation" of VelociRaptor HD's is not only faster in all respects than Gen. No.1, its builders have tried very hard to make certain that reliability goes hand-in-hand with high performance, apparently. You can't say enough about attention to detail here either, with that very cool Icy Dock heat-sink/2.5" to 3.5" carrier mounting system either.

A lot of people don't realize that these HD's are in reality just 2.5" in size, truly a little dog doing a big dog's work! So getting 10K RPM performance out of a little 2.5" form-factor system is truly interesting to me, and I have a bit of respect for Western Digital engineering for pulling this out of the hat and making them better 2nd time around, all-around. Let me give you some statistics from HD Tune Pro's benchmarks, and we'll see how a fully loaded and empty Raptor 300GB performs, and perhaps that will shed some light on just how good the HD's are overall.

Fresh formatted and empty, I tested my Raptor in my brand new OEM PC (home built, totally 100% custom-made with all high-end hand-picked parts) with HD Tune Pro, and got this kind of performance:

1) from 8KB to 8192KB block size, with 64MB file size, it *averaged* 128MB/sec Read Speed and 142MB/sec Write Speed

2) same test, loaded with Vista Ultimate 64-bit OS, and some 70GB worth of key applications and a base system of samples and key photographs for my imaging business, making it 72% open space, it *averaged* 97MB/sec Read Speed and 104MB/sec Write Speed

3) In the Benchmark Test, again loaded with the OS and applications and samples, we get 121MB/sec maximum Read Speed, 68MB/sec minimum Read Speed for an average of 101MB/sec across the volume from 0% full to 100% full, a very linear performance.

4) Benchmark Test, loaded, access time is a whopping 7.3 milliseconds (ms), Burst Rate is 152MB/sec., both range-topping figures from any platter HD I've ever tested!

That kind of performance is what makes people so happy to spend $240 or so on this HD in bulk form, more than $300 in retail boxes, and I cannot argue with their logic after installing and using a Raptor for my boot HD in the new PC build. I've got every new trick in the business in this PC, including the newest, latest, and greatest EVGA X58 1366-compatible motherboard, and twin companion WD "Black" 1TB HD's in an internal 2TB RAID "0" write/read-to volume, plus a big 4TB external RAID 6 system for movies and film, audio, and countless other high-GB-sized projects that I do, and the Raptor controls all of it tight, clean, fast, and reliably.

With all of that menage' internally and externally in this PC, boot time would be several minutes normally, but the Raptor puts everything necessary loaded up and ready in less than a minute. I've trimmed the Start-Up Items to just 23 totally necessary things, where most people wouldn't bother, and that helps with boot time incredibly, or load-time when doing a restart after installing an application or one-time venture for a project, but that is a very, very quick start-up, and you have to give it to the Raptor for pulling it off.

In addition, the Icy Dock seems to do wonders for keeping the Raptor literally cool temperature-wise, as I've never seen temps above 114-degrees F or 33-degrees C yet, and I've been doing some heavy-duty reads, writes and captures with the new PC since I finished it: ie it's NOT had an easy time of it, I've been pushing and pushing the envelope with respect to performance, storage and CPU-wise both, since it was finished last week.

Anytime a HD gets better than 100MB/sec average for read-write performance loaded up with applications, key samples and storage, where it's about 70% or so Free Space, you are styling along pretty XLNT! And this Raptor pulls that off in my new system easily, it seems.

It's virtually silent, as a matter of record, as my PC's 2 x 230mm, 1 x 140mm, and 2 x 120mm internal fans make a bit of racket anyway, so I don't notice the Raptor making much 'clicking and clacking' as it seeks and writes, so those worried about acoustical performance can relax! In fact, my twin internal 1TB WD "Black" HD's (also Enterprise-guaranteed HD's that I also endorse as policy in my business) make a LOT more noise in their RAID 0 configuration, as they are constantly asked to rip, read, and write data internally in the new PC.

The Raptor is just simply the finest boot HD system one could have in a PC or Mac, and I gave it 5 stars ***** across the board for performance, noise, and thermal efficiency. Size is *just right* @ 300GB, not too big, not too small, just right to have plenty of room for basic necessities and some applications, plus Vista Ultimate 64-bit OS (necessary if running more than 4GB of SDRAM in any PC build, or retail computer, as Windows 32-bit addressing stops @ 4GB of RAM/SDRAM) takes up quite a bit of space, more than 20GB if you load everything up but the multiple-language support.

Remarkably, my best impression of this new HD system is that it's seamless, ie you just don't notice its XLNT performance much, it just goes about its job relentlessly, like a little tough warrior who's carrying a Big Dog's burden and making light of it like the Champion it is.

My compliments go out 110% to Western Digital engineering for the "crowning touches" to the VelociRaptor HD systems, as apparently the 150GB version of this HD in its new format is also an XLNT performer like the 300GB version. They have hit it "on the $Money" this time, and Wavey Davey gives the new Raptor his official seal of approval, tested in the field 100%+ and then some in the past week-and-a-half, where I've been pretty brutally breaking in the new PC, just pushing all aspects of the system 24/7 as I fine-tuned the CPU, SDRAM clocking and the HD systems, all 3 of them.

After this brief period with the Raptor I honestly don't know what I'd replace it with, if I had to! Probably just another one, its performance is so addicting...

One aside, though, for reference, and one thing about this Raptor purchase that truly does NEED IMPROVEMENT! Amazon.com, you need to have your head examined for shipping me this Raptor 300GB the way you did!! Wrapping a new HD in a simple double layer of double-bubble-wrap, and throwing it into a HD box with no foam, no layer-holder, HD-specific carrier assembly, or other type of protection is JUST PLAIN STUUUPID!

I was so paranoid about the way it was packed that I formatted it fully, checked it for bad sectors and damage 10 different ways before it was put to the test in my new system, ALL BECAUSE of the way it was shipped!

I give Amazon.com a big ZERO for THAT performance! By the way, this HD was shipped to me, here in the West, by their Arizona drop-ship "house" for HD's and other equipment, and they were the people responsible for this shoddy, risky, stuuupid, packing job on that Raptor HD, so buyer beware if you are receiving HD's from their "Western Operations" at Amazon.com.

I've got to call a Spade a Spade here, and if they publish this review, they had better publish ALL of it, because there is no excuse for risking a valuable, expensive piece of a computer build like a new Raptor 300GB HD by packing it like a novice might do it. They have to know better than that, they just have to, as professionals!

If they've run out of proper packing materials, they need to NOT SHIP until they've got the foam, the HD carrier, some heavy-duty anti-static system, you know, the usual way that a new HD is shipped from a company to the consumer.

I almost sent it back, sight unseen, never tried, just because of the way it was shipped, but I was under pressure to get the build-out completed last week, and I took a chance on this Raptor being aok fine after testing it completely, every way I knew how outside of the computer before installing it internally in the new chassis. So....

I'll repeat it once more, as it's been noted by others here, Amazon.com needs to step up its act, improve its shipping practices, with delicate OEM or "loose" HD's from their shipping facilities to the buyer. The type of packing that was pulled off in my case is just unacceptable in every way, and I leave it at that. IMPROVE, or start to LOSE BUSINESS because people don't like what you're doing.

Wavey Davey 5-03-2009

Very impressive speed. Nearly 40% increase in RPM over the 7200 RPM drives is a significant improvement. The system start-up is noticeably faster. But the benefit to actual application programs varies. For example, programs that require small amount of data exchange will see minimal benefit. The speed of these programs is largely determined by the processor speed and RAM, because nearly everything is loaded into the RAM and not dependent much on the hard drive. On the other hand, applications like virus scanning which heavily depend on disk activity to access files will see the biggest benefit. I did a controlled test which showed that virus scanning is at least 30% faster with this disc than a 7200 RPM disk.

Noise could be an issue. Anyone who claims this is quiet is probably used to noisy computing environments. If you have a quiet computer in a fairly quiet room, you hear this hard drive distinctively. I have an Antec 900 with all fans running at low speed. The case is quiet but by no means silent. In this environment, the velociraptor is audible, although not terribly noisy. The noise was a bit distracting in the beginning, but I got used to it gradually and will now have to listen intentionally to hear it. To be fair, this hard drive is actually quieter than most old hard drives. But the consumer-grade hard drives have improved so much in noise in the last five years that most of them have become near silent. This hard drive is noticeably noisier than some other new hard drives I've seen recently.

Despite the slight noise, the hard drive is quite cool. My computer has a second hard drive (7200 RPM) in addition to this one. Both have very cool temperatures. The VelociRaptor is even 1° cooler. This is very impressive.

To those who are concerned about the small storage capacity of this hard drive, I'd say, think in terms of your true needs, not numbers. I believe this hard drive is ideal as an active system drive in a computer that has multiple hard drives. In a two hard drive system, for example, the faster VelociRaptor can be the primary hard drive for running operating system and programs, and the second hard drive can be a regular large capacity drive for data and backup.

For running the operating system and programs, 150 GB is more than enough. In fact, I would argue that any more gigabytes would be a waste for a system drive, both now and for the foreseeable future. If they're going to make this hard drive better as a system drive, I would recommend they make it cheaper, or even faster and quieter, but not larger. I have Windows 7 and tons of programs, which all together occupy only about 50 GB, making the VelociRaptor more than sufficient. In fact, I could have just got a much cheaper 74 GB Raptor and still be plenty happy.

For your need of greater data storage capacity, just get a 1 TB drive as a dump drive to hold everything else including data and backup.

All in all, I highly recommend this hard drive to anyone who is building a multiple hard drive system. There is no better choice for the primary operating system drive.

This hard drive is FAST! Easy install into my MacPro HDD bay without needing any extra parts or cables. Yes, it was expensive, but I was tired of the HDD being the slowest part of my system (MacPro with two dual-core Xeon processors, ATI Radeon X1900 video card, and 6GB of memory). The MacPro boots up in half the time it did before, and programs launch much faster too! If you want hard drive capacity and speed isn't the greatest need, then buy a cheaper hard drive because you can buy a 1.5 TB HDD for less money.

Been a long time user of Western Digital hard drives and the one time I had an issue with one (about 12 years ago) they gave me a new drive at no expense to me even though it was out of warranty. Ever since then I continue to use their drives in my computers.

Using this drive as my Vista Home 64 boot drive and have been pleased with it's performance although I have not ran benchmarks on it. Vista's rating system gives it a 5.9, but that isn't really telling you anything.

Just be aware this is an OEM drive, meaning it comes in ESD bag without any cables, mounting hardware, or documentation. Not really an issue since any motherboard comes with more than enough SATA cables, but if you are adding it to an existing computer make sure to order yourself a cable.

That's what I did. Amazing speed. Photoshop CS4 and all my brushes and plugins loads in less than 2 seconds. I can load a 100MB TIFF file in less than 2 seconds. Game levels like the first level in Crysis loads in about 5 seconds. This is a serious boost to your computer speed.

Getting two puts you at around 300GB and $350, while the 300GB version is about $300. Pay a little more and run two together at the same time in RAID 0 - you will basically double it's already fast speed. Then get a 1TB or more storage drive to store all your files. Keep the programs and Windows on the fast 10K RPM drives. You will not be disappointed!

I replaced my 160GB 7200 RPM system drive with this and it is great! Much faster, and not any louder during normal use. Under heavy use, like when defragging there is slightly more disk noise. There is no annoying whine like older 10k drives.

Great drive!

Pure specification numbers, particularly the 10K RPM speed, would logically indicate this is the fastest SATA II drive outside of solid state, but some benchmark reviews and my own experience brings up some questions. I do like that the drive is quiet compared to the Raptor predecessor. The first 10K Raptors were only 37 and 74 GB, SATA I, and noisy. The Velociraptor series is much quieter and comes in the 150 and 300 GB flavors and SATA II. However, I don't think the price is worth it. I have "regular" 7.2K RPM SATA II drives with no RAID that give Win 7 ratings of 5.9, and my RAID 0 dual 300GB Velociraptor only gives a 6.2

Of course Win 7 ratings are nowhere as reliable as throughput and random access tests, but just Google Velociraptor vs. Samsung Spinpoint and read for yourself. While the random access times are faster for the Velociraptor, most read/write/burst speeds are faster for Spinpoint and Spinpoint is even faster than SSD on some tests. So random access is the ability to "Find" what you are looking for. The other tests are related to processing a found item or creating a new file, which may be more important for people working with multimedia and large files. So if you want to load your OS fast or find a file fast, then SSD is the best if you can afford it. If you are copying files from A to B, creating large files, etc... then Spinpoint beats even SSD. So a good SSD with decent capacity runs over $400 at the time of this review. A pair of Velociratptors @ 300 GB each for a total of 600 GB at RAID 0 will run you nearly $400. A 1TB Spinpoint will cost you about $80 with some tax or S/H it may get near $100. So for the price of 1 quality SSD at about 128GB you can get 2 Velociraptors at 600 GB with RAID 0 or 4 Spinpoints with 2 2TB logical drives on RAID 0, resulting in 4000GB>600GB>128GB. So it really raises the question of price vs gain (if any) of buying a Velociraptor, or 2 for that matter. I feel like I wasted money on my dual Velociraptors but didn't know about Spinpoint prior to my purchase. Of course the newer 600GB Velociraptors with the new SATA standard are available but I haven't seen the benchmarks on those, nor the price.

Fast,Fast,Fast,Quite. Best drive I have ever bought. You won't be sorry for putting this as your boot drive. I have as my boot drive in a MacPro along with 3 other drives. Slides right into the SATA connector. Worth the extra money.

This drive is fast, fairly quiet, very stable. There's a slight difference in boot time and programs seem to load a bit faster. It is expensive compared to other drives but it's worth it if you're after speed.

Purchased this drive for main system and programs, in my case Vista 64 Ultimate, and it's really fast.The programs installs take no time with this one! Windows startup is a little faster but not much, still, great hard disk drive!!!
I'm not a huge gamer but I noticed load times are shorter too.
Only drawback is the price, but the drive delivers really good performance!! Recommended!