Whirlpool

Anyone got one of these?

Any opinions?

They seem to be the best bang for buck (GB/$) HDD out there atm and good performers, with 2x320GB platters at 7200rpm

i've heard good things about them

i will be picking up a few of these soon, when i build my new system

some tests on these drives and related news....hope it helps
techreport.com/articles.x/14380/1
www.anandtech.com/storag...x?i=3269&p=2
www.pcworld.com/article/...746/article.html

That and the Samsung 320GB drives are about as good as you can get for 7200rpm desktop drives.
Performance almost as good as a Raptor (old models), much cheaper price and much bigger size. Seems like a winner to me.

wow. didn't realize the Seagate 500GB 32MB cache drives have dropped to $128 now (just going centrecom prices. even cheaper on staticice)

the WD 640GB 16MB cache is at $139.70 (centrecom again)

how do they compare in terms of speed? (can't really tell from the anandtech tests). i'm guessing the higher density of the 320GB platters helps a lot, but it's only 16MB cache, not 32MB.

if the speeds are the same, or thereabouts, then i guess the extra $10 is probably well worth it for an extra 140GB.

AH!

I soooo wish these things had been available 2 months ago when i bought my seagate 500GB drive.

FUNK.U writes...

but it's only 16MB cache, not 32MB.

i dont think that much extra cache really makes too much of a difference, if any

then i guess the extra $10 is probably well worth it for an extra 140GB.

definently!

◄ŞKyЯЇDΣ► writes...

I soooo wish these things had been available 2 months ago

sigh, damn technological pace :P

I noticed these on centercom's site last night when looking at current prices for drives (out of space again).

mm, start a new raid5 array or expand an existing 3x500GB array.

not sure if going to the 640 is worth the hassel of replacing a 320gb sized drive array (7 drives)

greenhawk writes...

mm, start a new raid5 array or expand an existing 3x500GB array.

Id personally say start a new one.

msy has them for only $116

I got one of them, what can you say. Its a decent HDD lol.

i got one to - quiet and fast

FUNK.U writes...

wow. didn't realize the Seagate 500GB 32MB cache drives have dropped to $128 now (just going centrecom prices. even cheaper on staticice)

i have that HDD did HD tach speed test and got 180-250mbs read speed blazing fast 5.9 in windows score, most get 5.7 i think.

karnage writes...

I got one of them, what can you say. Its a decent HDD lol.

Any chance of getting us some HD Tach tests? If its your boot drive though, dont bother as it will be an unfair test.

Quad Core 8800gt man writes...

and got 180-250mbs read speed

why do I get the feeling you are reporting the burst speed and not the read speed?

or are you running a raid array with them? 3drives?

Quad Core 8800gt man writes... and got 180-250mbs read speed

why do I get the feeling you are reporting the burst speed and not the read speed?

or are you running a raid array with them? 3drives?

I put a pair into RAID 0 on the Striker Formula MB
HD Tach reports a burst speed of 247MB/sec and an Average read of 175MB/sec. They beat my 36GB Raptors also in the same machine and their configured in Raid 0 as well !!!

Bloody Nice drives though. I picked them up last week for $125 each. Took AGES to do the initial format but hell for 1.28 Terabytes ....
I'm not complaining.

Astro

AstroBoyAU writes...

I put a pair into RAID 0 on the Striker Formula MB

You are game to have 1.28Tb of data on RAID 0. If one of the drives die, the restore (assuming all your data is backed up) procedure would be extremely time consuming.

Edit: If anyone is wanting to RAID 0 on some lower sized drives, I picked up 2 x 160gb drives (Seagate - SATA) for $100 from www.itestate.com.au

I reckon $50 for 160gb is an absolute bargain considering most places have the 80gb for around the $47 mark. $100 for 320gb (enough for OS + apps) in RAID 0 is the entire reason I got it. Cheap and decent performance.

coolio2006 writes...

Edit: If anyone is wanting to RAID 0 on some lower sized drives, I picked up 2 x 160gb drives (Seagate - SATA) for $100 from www.itestate.com.au

nah 2nd-hand Raptor FTW! :P (but let's just steer clear of this lol)

Too bad I only heard good things about this drive I bought a WD 500GB for my external back up drive. Sure I suppose it was a month ago and that hard disk is rarely switched on anyway, but since when is buyer's remorse ever rational thinking ;)

dufflover writes...

nah 2nd-hand Raptor FTW! :P

I'm not a fan of second hand drives, but I reckon $100 for a OK RAID setup for your OS + apps + games is not bad at all.

So apart from the size difference between WD 500GB and the new 640GB drives, is there any other benefit for paying the extra ~$20? The $/GB ratio is only slightly better for the larger one.

Well as mentioned the 640GB is 2x320GB platters and the 500GB is 2x250GB platters; uhh, so the 320GB would be slightly faster, I think, cos it's a denser platter. Not that you could make a 500GB in any other way too they get single 500GB platters.

I have one. Seems to be slightly faster than my 320G Seagates.

dufflover writes...

Well as mentioned the 640GB is 2x320GB platters and the 500GB is 2x250GB platters; uhh, so the 320GB would be slightly faster, I think, cos it's a denser platter. Not that you could make a 500GB in any other way too they get single 500GB platters.

. .but the 500GB Seagate also comes with 32MB cache

AstroBoyAU writes...

and an Average read of 175MB/sec.

Beats my 4x320GB 7200.10 array.

brilliant pricing...

very impressed by the noise characteristics of these drives

should be a standard issue on a new machine.

FUNK.U writes...

Anyone got one of these?
Any opinions?

Yep, bought one from MSY a few weeks ago, best bang for buck and they've even gone down a further $20 in price since then. Highly recommended.

I reckon its bad value, because here in WA they are like $139. But when you can get a 500GB W.D SATA2 for $92, its much better value to go the 500GB.

OP is in Melbourne, so for him $113 for 640GB (17.6c per GB) at MSY is good value :-)

Miggod writes...

its much better value to go the 500GB.

500GB WDC are still $128 here for me :(

Well guys. Since im in one those times where you just seem to have a nice little bit of cash come from no where (im sure all you other 18< guys know hwta i mean), i was looking at these drives.

While I am not going to buy it from here, notice that you can get the samsung 750GB F1 drive for about £2 ($4.20) less?

www.overclockers.co.uk/p...;sortby=priceAsc

I have one of the 640GB drives in my external enclosure(x-craft), got good reviews and is great value, can't go wrong. ;)

g1raffe writes...

can't go wrong. ;)

for $113, i tend to agree with you.

Now im left with the choice,
500gb 32cache vs 640gb 16 cache.
slightly leaning towards the 640gb drives, everyone seems pleased with theirs

eur0 writes...

Now im left with the choice,
500gb 32cache vs 640gb 16 cache.
slightly leaning towards the 640gb drives, everyone seems pleased with theirs

I agree. 640 seems the way to go, even if the 500 is slightly faster

FUNK.U writes...

640 seems the way to go, even if the 500 is slightly faster

Actually the 640 is faster then the 500gig drives ;)

eur0 writes...

500gb 32cache vs 640gb 16 cache.

16 vs 32MB cache makes very little difference in drive performance.

OP is in Melbourne, so for him $113 for 640GB (17.6c per GB) at MSY is good value :-)

At $113 and quite a bit cheaper than anywhere else, I was half expecting MSY to be selling a grey market type of product with no end user warranty in Australia. But the WD Warranty Check page said all was good :)

How do these guys compare to the green power ones from WD?

I'm looking at ways I can reduce my power consumption.

So just interested to know how these go

Peter Working writes...

How do these guys compare to the green power ones from WD?

I'm looking at ways I can reduce my power consumption.

techreport.com/articles.x/14380/14

The Green Power drives use less power, but the difference is minimal, next to nothing..

I was going to need another WD 750gb drive very soon, but considering the difference in price (extra $44 for only 110gb!) it will be hard to pass up the 640gb, even though the 750 would give me more options RAID-wise as I already have 2 of them.

How come 640Gb drives don't appear on the WD website?

www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=3

Argus Tuffed writes...

How come 640Gb drives don't appear on the WD website?

www.wdc.com/en/products/....asp?driveid=394

Gotta love being able to see a 360 degree view of a HDD...exciting! :)

So guys how big is it after a format?
What's the mtbf?

shane41 writes...

So guys how big is it after a format?
~597GB.

What's the mtbf?
Does it matter? mtbf's are never any accurate, just a projected figure..

g1raffe writes...

~597GB.

Yeah, that annoys the @#$% outta me, 40GB gone just like that :(

Ok, so i am popping into MSY tomorrow...

Should i go for the:

500gb drive + the $29 enclosure
640gb drive + the $29 enclosure
or the 500gb Elements?

All come out to be approximately the same price - What does the enclosure from MSY look like?

Thanks guys!

(will be using this to backup a Windows machine, a Mac and to house all my media)

Also, is there that much of a speed difference in USB2.0 and FireWire?

Argus Tuffed writes...

How come 640Gb drives don't appear on the WD website?

www.wdc.com/en/products/....asp?driveid=394

edit: just seen reply

g1raffe writes...

mtbf's are never any accurate, just a projected figure..

That's one way of putting it. Another way is a figure that's plucked out of the collective nether regions of the marketing department. Meaningless but sounds good.