WD velociraptor. It's nothing if not different

[LunarMist]

The Velociraptor arrived. I'll try it out after work.

 

[LunarMist]

The product sheet says:
IcePack™ Mounting Frame – The 2.5-inch WD VelociRaptor is enclosed in a
3.5-inch mounting frame with a built-in heat sink that keeps this powerful little drive
extra cool when installed in a 3.5-inch drive bay.

Which implies the tray can be removed. In the specs section:
Form factor 3.5-inch*

*A 2.5-inch drive in a 3.5-inch IcePack heat sink mounting frame.

Unfortunately one of the screws is covered by a black label that must be removed for access. WD does not want anyone to remove the drive without voiding the warranty. The power and SATA connectors are oddly offset due to the massive frame/heatsink, and therefore do not line up with standard connectors. The drive is rather cool in operation but it is difficult to determine how much of that is related to the heatsink.

 

[ddrueding]

Unfortunately one of the screws is covered by a black label that must be removed for access. WD does not want anyone to remove the drive without voiding the warranty. The power and SATA connectors are oddly offset due to the massive frame/heatsink, and therefore do not line up with standard connectors. The drive is rather cool in operation but it is difficult to determine how much of that is related to the heatsink.

Well that is frustrating. So what you are saying is that the heatsink that makes it compatible with 3.5" brackets won't make it compatible with 3.5" SATA backplanes? Or that once removed, the 2.5" drive won't be compatible with 2.5" SATA backplanes? And that using the drive as a 2.5" drive (removing the heatsink) will void the warranty?

 

[timwhit]

Well that is frustrating. So what you are saying is that the heatsink that makes it compatible with 3.5" brackets won't make it compatible with 3.5" SATA backplanes? Or that once removed, the 2.5" drive won't be compatible with 2.5" SATA backplanes? And that using the drive as a 2.5" drive (removing the heatsink) will void the warranty?

I would guess that WD wants to limit how this drive can be deployed. I doubt it would get nearly enough cooling in a laptop to function well. By giving it a proprietary connector and forcing people to remove the warranty-voiding sticker they are giving you a strong hint of what not to do with it. Though this punishes anyone that wants to install it in a well-cooled server environment. I have a feeling that more people would buy a high-end consumer grade device for a laptop than a enterprise storage array.

 

[LunarMist]

It is not compatible with 3.5" as I can determine. Whether it is compatible with a standard 2.5" backplane I don't know, but yes the warranty would be voided. Perhaps WD will sell another version for 2.5" installation as a cheaper alternative to some SAS drives.

 

[mubs]

So, LM, how does it perform?

 

[LunarMist]

The WD3000GLFS is about 50% faster (i.e., ~20GB script run times are 2/3) than my older 740 when ptgtemp files are constrained to the drive. However, the CPU is not near 100% so the HD is still a bottleneck. For normal destop use (mainly reads) I'm sure the kiddies will be happy enough, especially if they stripe a few.

The drive is rather whiny for only 10K RPM, perhaps because the chassis is 2.5" and it does not absorb as much sound as a 3.5" drive. Sound is not noticeable in the case with 8 other drives, but could be in a small, quiet box. The drive is quite cool. 300GB is rather a waste of space and expensive for my use as an 8GB boot partition+temp files drive.

 

[mubs]

Thanks LM.