Processors are usually the main argument for computer speed, and often users forget about the importance of memory and essentially the system's ability to get data to and from the processor. What good is a 4GHz processor if it sits idle most of the time due to other bottlenecks? Both volatile and non-volatile memory may have the greatest impact on the actual system speed with hard drives being the slowest in the chain. (Most RAM can transfer between 1 and 6 GByte/s while recent HDDs range mostly between 30 and 70 MByte ... that's 1/100 of the RAM speed.)


WHAT's THE DEAL?

Waiting too long for Windows to start up? You may blame Microsoft, but don't blame your processor and take a closer look at your hard drive (HDD). The interface practically means nothing with all current drives that sport ATA100 (100 MB/s), ATA133 (133 MB/s) or SATA (150 MB/s). As long as you're using only 2 HDDs, any of the standards will be able to keep up with the maximum data flow that can be generated by typical 7,200rpm drives. In fact, make that 3 or 4 since you will be hard pressed to get into the situation where your system writes or reads from all drives simultaneously. (We're not talking about large array RAID right now.)

With the interface hype demystified, let's focus on the most important factor regarding raw speed of a hard drive. Within the same size (3.5") the rotational speed determines how many bits and bytes can be read from the drive. With writing density at the physical limits for reliable performance, the only way to increase bandwidth is to increase the rate at which data is presented to the reading head ... by spinning the magnetic disc faster.

Laptops currently rely on an energy-saving 5,400 rpm and the most popular speed for desktops is 7,200 rpm. High-end SCSI models already use 10,000 rpm for a long time. While Maxtor and Seagate still have to release a 10,000 rpm version for SATA, Western Digital (WD) already offers the second drive which stores twice the data of the original 36 GByte drive. With 74 GByte the Raptor is the largest 10,000 rpm SATA drive currently available. Despite its claim of 74 GByte (formatted) it's equivalent to Seagate's and Maxtor's numbers. All specify the unformatted size, and WD's 'formatted' 74 GByte turn into 69 GByte usable capacity of the drive (NTFS).

Cache is another factor that determines the speed of your HDD, but it really only applies for a few small files that can be prefetched and read directly out of the buffer instead of the drive. This only works when the HDD had enough idle time to get those files before your processor needs them, and they have to be the right ones. Take an 18 MByte picture as produced in TIFF format by the Canon Digital Rebel a 2, 8 or even 16 MByte cache will not be able to prefetch that file and is going to be read directly from the drive anyway. While a larger cache helps a little, its impact on the overall performance is not significant enough beyond speeding up reading the index etc..

So with this in mind I will compare the WD Raptor 74GB SATA (10,000 rpm) with my trusty Maxtor DiamondMax9 80GB ATA133 (7,200 rpm) and see if the upgrade was worth the extra $$$.

Other system specs ...
Case: Termaltake Tsunami VA3400SNA
Monitor: Viewsonic VP201s
Motherboard: ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR400 (C2), 1 GByte
Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor 74G SATA 10k
Operating System: WindowsXP Home SP2
Video Driver: Catalyst 5.2 (Radeon driver 8.10)
Chipset Driver: nVidia nForce v6.39
Graphics card: MSI RX800Pro-TD256E



INSTALLATION

In new systems the installation is very simple. Just mount the drive in one of the 3.5" slots and connect the SATA interface to the motherboard's preferred connector for SATA. (RAID arrays have specific requirements how to combine hard drives.) In my case, I just added this drive as a single SATA drive to my existing 2 ATA HDDs, and it was just as easy to configure the drive automatically as my new boot drive and copy all files to the SATA. (Courtesy of DataLifeGuard 11.)

1. Shut power completely off
2. Install hard drive (preferably use rubber insulations)
3. Connect legacy or SATA power plug
4. Connect SATA data cable to controller
5. Power on and boot
6. Enter BIOS to verify HDD configuration
7. Make changes as necessary and reboot
8. Start Windows (XP), HDD will be automatically recognized
9. Download DataLifeGuard* (v11) from www.westerndigital.com
10. Configure Raptor as new boot drive
11. DataLifeGuard* automatically configures the drive
12. DataLifeGuard* automatically copies files from old boot drive
13. Reboot and enter BIOS
14. Change boot priority to new drive
15. Save, reboot and enjoy! ;-)

Note: The installation above is for a system with a pre-installed WindowsXP on an existing HDD. In case there is no OS installed, one has to download the DOS version of the tool. Further, DataLifeGuard* is free but only works with at least one WD hard drive in your computer.

Important: When using the Asus A8N SLI Deluxe motherboard, make sure to plug the SATA drive into a black SATA port (nForce), the red ports belong to the extra Sil SATA RAID controller.

Overall SATA is very easy to install since there is no Master/Slave configuration within the cable and the plugs are very easy to handle too. The HDD tool DataLifeGuard* makes it very easy to configure the drive and get going without much interaction or background knowledge. However, WindowsXP can be stubborn to recognize the copied drive as the new system drive and requires some wizzardry to fix that. Sometimes you will have to reinstall (repair) Windows with the proper SATA driver loaded during installation. In my case, I simply installed WinXP64 (Beta) onto the SATA drive and let it configure a multi-boot system. (Right now it's not wise to rely on the 64bit beta.)

*... DataLifeGuard is an OEM version of Ontrack's 'DiskManager' (just like Maxtor's MaxBlast). DiskManager is HDD manufacturer independent and costs roughly $60. However, the OEM version is usually free.


LOTS OF $$$

With $155 (best offer) the WD Raptor 74GB SATA is currently on the same level as a WD Caviar 250 GB SATA (7,200 rpm). That makes it $2/GByte vs. $0.5/GByte or about 4 times as expensive. However, This comparison is not fair anyway since components of a 10k drive need to be of higher quality than a 7.5k version. So looking over to the SCSI camp, a comparable 10k SCSI Ultra160 drive (i.e. Maxtor Altas 10k III 74GB) comes in at almost exactly the same price of $150 ($2/GByte).

Hence the WD Raptor 74GB is not really exploiting its market position as one of the only two drives in the whole SATA 10k market too much. It appears fair pricing as of early 2005 and we will see how competition may bring prices down. It didn't so far for the SCSI market and it appears that 10k SATA may not have the broad market appeal just yet. Welcome to enterprise grade hardware with prices to match. ;-)


PERFORMANCE

Sandra 2005: This commonly used tool determined a solid 69 MByte/sec sequential read and 58 MByte/sec for the average data rate this drive is capable to deliver. Compare that to the approximately 42 MByte/sec (avg) of a typical 7200 rpm ATA drive. According to other tests I read before buying this drive, a 2 disc SATA RAID-0 configuration pulls even a solid 95 MByte/sec and practically doubles standard performance (for an extra $170.-)

Sandra2005: Barracuda vs. Raptor
Buffered Read [MB/s] = 89 / 121
Sequential Read [MB/s] = 57 / 68
Random Read [MB/s] = 41 / 38
Buffered Write [MB/s] = 100 / 82
Sequential Write [MB/s] = 57 / 68
Random Write [MB/s] = 39 / 52
Avg Access Time [ms] = 7 / 12
Drive Index [MB/s] = 51 / 58

Heat: This drive supposedly gets very hot, but in my configuration, all my HDDs sit right in front of a 120mm fan. In this configuration, the temperature was not higher than my other two DiamonMax9s. Either measured right around 90F (32C) at the respective housing after 1 hour of data copying from the ATA to the SATA (see installation).

Noise: One can read a lot about the noise this drive supposedly creates. It may be the special fixturing in my case (rubber mounted HDD), but the WD Raptor 74GB SATA is no louder than any of the Maxtor DiamondMax9 drives I already owned. In fact, it even appears to be slightly quieter, but that could just be a result of an increased level of 'gadgedralin'. However, the rubber mounting already made a huge difference for my ATA drives and may help the Raptor to be relatively quiet. There is a few bursts when the drive becomes noticable, but overall remains relatively low key.


CONCLUSION

So why going SATA and not just bump up rotational speed with the existing ATA133 interface? The answer is currently not in performance gains but hopefully will be in a few years as SATA may spark new technologies. A more important factor right now is the cable design as the tiny SATA cable allows for less obstructive air flow and that helps to keep your computer cooler. Handling is so much easier too.

Beyond convenience the WD Raptor 74GB SATA hard drive provides performance levels that were formerly known only from SCSI drives. The high price reflects the professional application but as I would expect bigger drives from more vendors, this will eventually level out with the ATA which may become virtually extinct over the course of the next 5 - 7 years.

The WD Raptor 74GB SATA spins at 10,000 rpm which sounds like a lot and at the current state of the art it sure is. (SCSI already offers high performance models with 15,000 rpm like the Maxtor Atlas 15k IV.) Data transfer of 68 MByte/sec are unheard of in the ATA arena and it helps to boost performance more visibly than changing memory from DDR266 to DDR400 to name one example. Or to change from a 2.4GHz processor to a 3.0GHz to use another example.

The WD Raptor 74GB SATA is a little pricey for broad market acceptance and currently only an option for the enthusiast who doesn't want to switch to SCSI. It costs about 4 times as much per GByte as current ATA drives. Nevertheless, it's easy to get excited about once you 'feel' the performance improvements over (much) cheaper drives with 7,200 rpm. Now I am looking forward to a heated competition in the 10k market so I can afford another Raptor for that lofty 2x RAID-0 configuration (up to 95 MByte/sec) or even one day a 4x RAID-0+1. ;-)


© 2005, theuerkorn


ONLINE RESOURCES

- www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=65
- www.serialata.org/specifications.asp


Recommended: Yes