Western Digital Velociraptor
- Details
- Category: Storage
- Published: Thursday, 03 September 2009 06:09
When it comes to gaming hard drives there really has only been one. The Raptor series from Western Digital has dominated the market for some time now. Their most recent Raptor is the 300Gb 10k RPM Velociraptor may be a little aged at over 1 1/2 years but still is a force to be reckoned with. Today I have the chance to see how the Velociraptor performs against other solutions including the SAS drives we have tested in the past and SSD's. Will the top name in gaming hard drives still hold its weight?
![ammo_pics 027 [lanoc_sm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ammo_pics-027-lanoc_sm.jpg "ammo_pics 027 [lanoc_sm]")
I've had the pleasure of reviewing a lot of external enclosures, a product that not too long ago was considered a luxury in owning for the average consumer. Nowadays, with advancing technology and lowering prices, its almost odd to see a user without. Naturally, there is an enormous selection of models out there, all (for the most part) sporting the same data transfer rate. So what is it that causes model A to sell more than model B? In-Win knows, and has sent us an example known as the Ammo, to find out for ourselves.![IMG_5447 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_5447-lr-lrsm1.JPG "IMG_5447 [lr] [lrsm]")
In the hard drive market there are just a few big names. With the introduction and growth of the SSD market it has opened up the market for anyone who wants to try their hand. Intel and OCZ have dominated the SSD market but that hasn’t stopped others from jumping in and bringing out their own. Crucial being well known in the ram market decided to jump in with a few SSD’s in the past. When we were at Million Man LAN, you could tell how excited the Crucial guys were about their upcoming SSD’s. Today I have a chance to take a look and see how well they perform against some of the fastest standard hard drives for your gaming rig. 
In the external hard drive market, there’s no shortage of products available looking to separate your Benjamins from your wallet. Today I’ve been given the Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac external hard drive to inspect. Digging for information leaves me a little confused – as the page that references the drive on Seagate’s site only allows you to select the 2tb model, although it supposedly comes in 500gb, 640gb, 1tb, 1.5tb, and 2tb variants. Those sizes are pretty standard in the external hard drive market.![100_2076 [LanOCsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/100_2076-LanOCsm.JPG "100_2076 [LanOCsm]")
Hard drive bays come in all shapes, sizes, features, and functions. What exactly are important in a good external hard drive adapter? Especially when considering the smaller 2.5" hard drives. Of course you're looking for something that will obviously connect your hard drive and transfer data, but what about the other aspects that push the experience beyond average? Today we look at the Eagle 2.5" External to see how it performs.![IMG_5357 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_5357-lr-lrsm.JPG "IMG_5357 [lr] [lrsm]")
Yesterday I took a look at the FreeAgent Go, I came out thoroughly impressed with Seagate's portable hard drive and awarded it with our gold ribbon. To go along with the Go today I will be taking a quick look at their FreeAgent GoDock+, a dock for their go series that includes a USB hub also. Given the performance and quality of the Go I have little doubt that the dock+ will perform just as well. ![IMG_5267 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_5267-lr-lrsm.JPG "IMG_5267 [lr] [lrsm]")
When it comes to storing and transporting your data there are a few options. Unfortunately floppy discs just don't work well with the needs of people today. USB Flash drives continue to grow reaching up to 128Gb's for a ![nykoicy 035 [lanoc_sm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/nykoicy-035-lanoc_sm.jpg "nykoicy 035 [lanoc_sm]")
You've got that 2.5" hard drive just laying around, why not use it? Icy Dock's new MB663USR-1S has got you the fix for whatever you and your drive need, whether its internal or external, expanding laptop memory or enhancing a desktop. Though, that does seem like an awful lot for one piece of bay equipment to handle. Luckily for us, Icy Dock has sent us one to put to the test ourselves. ![D1 Pics 010 [lanoc_sm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/D1-Pics-010-lanoc_sm.jpg "D1 Pics 010 [lanoc_sm]")
There are a lot of reasons one may have use for a docking station such as this: simply having multiple hard drives, having data stored on a smaller 2.5" drive that needs accessed, or simply not enough room to install another drive in a case or laptop itself. The EZ-Dock provides solutions for all the above, including access to data and files without the trouble of physically installing a single piece of hardware (unless your case is absent an eSATA port, in which case Icy Dock has provided a quick fix). With such an involved piece of hardware, there are several instances in which a company can go wrong, and with such a micro-managed field technology is, even the smallest quirk can cause problems. Today, we take a look at Icy Dock's EZ-Dock to see how well it performs under the stress of data access.![IMG_4855 [lr] [lrsm]](http://lanoc.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_4855-lr-lrsm.JPG "IMG_4855 [lr] [lrsm]")
In the past few years SSD's or Solid State Drives have been slowly gaining popularity in the marketplace specifically in the enthusiast crowd. Of course with this growing market due to most SSD's being in the 2.5 inch form factor some people have a need for 2.5 inch mounting options in their case. Unfortunately most current cases don't have any, and obviously older cases don't have them. Our friends at Icy Dock recognized this problem and took their knowledge of hard drive enclosures and produced a 2.5inch to 3.5 inch adapter. The adapters official name is the MB882SP-1S, considering our past experiences with Icy Dock I am excited to see how well it will perform. Lets dive in! ![IMG_4780 [lr] [lrsm]](/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/IMG_4780-lr-lrsm.JPG "IMG_4780 [lr] [lrsm]")
With netbooks becoming very popular over the past year it's no surprise that the lack of a disc drive on them has come up a time or two. Our friends over at Plextor have been known for their amazing disc drives for some time, foreseeing the need for portable drives early this year they released the PX-610U. The PX-610U is available in both a PC and mac version with appropriate software and coloring to match each. The main feature of the PX-610U is its lack of an external power supply or multiple USB ports. Using a slim laptop drive Plextor hopes to of brought a solution for thoughts who are looking for easy to use and portable disc drives. Today I have the opportunity to check it out myself. 
A few weeks ago, I took a look at the super small 
The files that we used everyday continue to grow larger and larger along with the need to have them with you at all times. Because of that, the demand for flash drives continues to grow. For a while, it was all about how large of capacity the companies could pack into the flash drives. Now it we are starting to see companies focus on other things like size. At CES this past January, I had the chance to talk with a few people from Super Talent and take a look at a few items they had cooking for this year. One of those items is their PICO line of USB drives. The goal of the PICO line was to pack as much capacity into the smallest package. Today we have a chance to take a look at their PICO C Capless (and gold plated) model with a capacity of a whopping 16 gigs.
When shopping for a hard drive, most people don't consider anything more than the amount of space you're going to get for the lowest price. I will admit I've been guilty of this in the past. Of course as with anything else, there is a lot more to consider if you are looking to get a fast and reliable hard drive for your high end rig. Seagate is well known in the business and personal hard drive market. We happened to come upon two of Seagate's ES-2 1 terabyte hard drives. Being a business class hard drive I was curious to see what differentiates the ES-2 compared to the Barracuda line.
In the Disc drive industry it's really hard to stand out. Most people just pick the cheapest drive with the specs that they are looking for. This may work for some people but anyone who has lived with the cheap drives should know that they can sometimes be noisy and unreliable. One company that has made a reputation of quality in the disc drive market over many years is Plextor. I've seen people throw down two and sometimes three times the price of a cheap drive just to be able to have a Plextor drive. The reason for this is all about quality and noise, for those same reasons I was excited to hear that I was going to be able to check out their new PX-B310SA BD Combo Super Multi Drive. My excitement doubled when I realized I would be able to watch The Dark Knight and other Blu Ray movies in 1080p on our 52-inch television. So today I'm going to find out if the PX-B310SA is a quality drive that's quite enough to include in your HTPC without sounding like a weed eater running. 
We have reviewed in the past 8 months a variety of hard drive enclosures. They have come in different shapes, sizes, with and without fans, even some which look like they came from the future. Never anything that looks like something handed down through generations. In Win, has provided us with their newest hard drive enclosure called the ‘Na. The name is short and simple, and the style shows off Chinese culture. The ‘Na was even recognized at the Taiwan Excellence Awards for the innovative design. 
As I've said many times before, everyone and there mom makes a hard drive enclosure. With a few exceptions they are mostly of the same boxy design. Thermaltake has come out with a design that they hope is going to break the monotony. They focused on making something that you don't have to hide away on your desk. With that they focused on reducing vibration and heat to keep you from having to listen to your hard disk spin up, and to make sure that same hard drive has a long life. So Thermaltake sent us one of these new VI-ON hard drive enclosures and we are going to take a closer look at it.
I’m sure you remember that amazing external hard drive enclosure from 