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WD Raptor questions....

anim8or

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
I am thinking of purchasing a Western Digital Raptor 10k HD for my MacPro.

I would like to clone my boot drive to it and then use it as the primary boot drive, reformatting the original boot drive to use for storage/backup in drive bay 4.

My questions lie with:

1. What size would anyone recommend to get for a boot drive? (My current Boot Drive is only about 65GB full)

2. I have superduper so i should be able to just clone my original boot drive to the Raptor and use it as if nothing has changed, am i correct?

Thanks in advance.
 
If your boot drive is already at 65 gigs, I'd recommend getting the 150 gig Raptor. From what people have said and from what I've read, when the boot drive under OSX gets to 80% full (or more) strange things start to happen like slowdowns and other things. So, if you had the 74 gig Raptor it would reach it's optimum capacity at 59.2 gigs, so you are already over that.

Also, SuperDuper should do exactly what you want. Don't wipe the stock drive until after you've cloned your contents to the Raptor and then run the system with just the Raptor in to make sure all is well. Maybe repair permissions and stuff before the cloning process.

Keep in mind, the Raptors are pretty loud. Perhaps putting it the the bay furthest away from you could mitigate that some.
 
anim8or said:
1. What size would anyone recommend to get for a boot drive? (My current Boot Drive is only about 65GB full)

2. I have superduper so i should be able to just clone my original boot drive to the Raptor and use it as if nothing has changed, am i correct?
Click to expand...

You definitely want the 150GB Raptor. Very nice drive. SuperDuper! will clone the original boot drive and set you up as if nothing has changed. CAUTION: This will only work if you are coming from an Intel-chipped machine. If you are cloning from a PPC it won't work; I would even be cautious cloning from a notebook machine even if it is a MacBook/MacBook Pro. HTH.
 
I run a 150 GB Raptor for boot and applications and that is what I would suggest. For best performance you want your drive no more than 60% full (give or take). The linear velocity on the outer tracks is much than the linear velocity on the innermost tracks - the outer tracks populate first.

Be sure to check out storagereview - some of the latest perpendicular drives perform almost as good as the Raptors but with more capacity, less heat and less noise.
 
The WD Raptor is waste of money. It's not that much faster than a 500 SATA II drive but it costs the same. It's also a lot noisier! Rat a tat tat tat!!! Trust me, I bought the 150 and sent it back. You are better off with more disk space than trying to gain a couple of milliseconds on boot up. People who recommend the Raptor don't want to admit they wasted their money.
 
I did what you are doing, and it worked just like you expect.


It is faster. And it's not that loud. I can't even hear it really, whatever sound it does make is lost in the rest of the sound in the room.
 
DonMega said:
CAUTION: This will only work if you are coming from an Intel-chipped machine. If you are cloning from a PPC it won't work
Click to expand...

:eek: eerrr.......wrong answer :p

I just used SD last night to clone my Raptor in my QuickSilver G4 to my back-up drive, reformatted the Raptor & copied everything back again.....worked like a charm :D

What makes you think SD only works on macintels, huuummmmm ????????
 
As it relates to noise, I have the Raptor 10K 150GB drive, it is just as quite as any other quite drive that I have owned, (quite a few). This just might be the luck of the draw. I would definitely consider doing the Raptor 10K in the Mac Pro.

Check out the latest version of Carbon Copy Cloner.
 
THX1139 said:
The WD Raptor is waste of money. It's not that much faster than a 500 SATA II drive but it costs the same. It's also a lot noisier! Rat a tat tat tat!!! Trust me, I bought the 150 and sent it back. You are better off with more disk space than trying to gain a couple of milliseconds on boot up. People who recommend the Raptor don't want to admit they wasted their money.
Click to expand...

Faster seek times, milliseconds.

And should be 5-10MB/s faster mechanically.

In reality, maybe a few seconds quicker boot. And not much saved in day-to-day operations.

---

i think most people here still say to buy a drive with a long warranty, huge cache, and as many GBs as you can get.

Of course, the all important brag factor and ego take a hit.
 
Apple Corps said:
I run a 150 GB Raptor for boot and applications and that is what I would suggest. For best performance you want your drive no more than 60% full (give or take). The linear velocity on the outer tracks is much than the linear velocity on the innermost tracks - the outer tracks populate first.
Click to expand...

remember to lubricate your harddrive with snake oil.

Well ok there is marginal/theorecal difference but keep in mind that the user has no control where the drive writes etc so this subject is totally pointless and it misguides people who has less knowledge about strorage technology.
Intel's Turbo Memory was an attempt to make boot up times faster, did it work? No. So it all comes down to software side.

If one wants speed, your system(OS) needs to be clean and if you REALLY need speed, 15k SAS/SCSI drives are the solution.

-T
 
You cant beat the Raptor..just wish they made it in some larger sizes.

I have had one in my G5, and now my MacPro, its a great drive.

And for the record, I dont find it loud by any means.
 
esaias said:
remember to lubricate your harddrive with snake oil.

Well ok there is marginal/theorecal difference but keep in mind that the user has no control where the drive writes etc so this subject is totally pointless and it misguides people who has less knowledge about strorage technology.
Intel's Turbo Memory was an attempt to make boot up times faster, did it work? No. So it all comes down to software side.

If one wants speed, your system(OS) needs to be clean and if you REALLY need speed, 15k SAS/SCSI drives are the solution.

-T
Click to expand...

My "system" is clean - I enjoy the speed - I do not want to pay the $$$ to go 15K SCSI - and the performance is seen for more than system boot - namely loading multiple apps.

As I stated earlier - a number of the newer perpendicular drives have closed the gap that the Raptors have enjoyed. However - to the OP's question - I have run several and been pleased - if the OP is already so inclined, my experience has been positive.
 
I wish I had a few Raptors instead of my standard WD's for my home raid setup. I save big files frequently, especially at work, and the extra read/write speed can make a considerable difference in the long run.

I have a Seagate 15K scsi in my CAD station at work and I love it. I will never go back to "standard" hard drives. They are totally fine for a lot of people but simply not quite up to the task for workstation use. If you constantly save files/folders that are relatively large then you should be very happy, indeed!
 
SmurfBoxMasta said:
:eek: eerrr.......wrong answer :p

I just used SD last night to clone my Raptor in my QuickSilver G4 to my back-up drive, reformatted the Raptor & copied everything back again.....worked like a charm :D

What makes you think SD only works on macintels, huuummmmm ????????
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood me and maybe I wasn't quite clear. I was trying to say that you can't clone a PPC drive and restore it back to an Intel Mac and vice versa. Big NO GO! I know that SuperDuper! works on PPC machines. I have scheduled backups on several G4 and G5 machines that happen on a weekly basis.
 
DonMega said:
I was trying to say that you can't clone a PPC drive and restore it back to an Intel Mac and vice versa
Click to expand...

Oh.....
well.....
DUH! :eek:

I guess I made an ass out of u & me then, 'cause I just assumed that most folks here knew this already!

And yes, you were not clear IMHO, but thats OK, I forgive you :p

But anyways, since the OP said from the start that he had a MacPro, I doubt that he was even concerned with anything to do with PPC macs, yes ?
 
SmurfBoxMasta said:
But anyways, since the OP said from the start that he had a MacPro, I doubt that he was even concerned with anything to do with PPC macs, yes ?
Click to expand...

Looks like you're correct. My eyes got a little ahead of my brain, I suppose. I thought I read he was considering a Raptor AND a new Mac Pro. Oh well.
 
If you use 4 raptors in RAID 0 they are wickedly fast (and risky) but using only one as a boot drive is too much money for too little space and too little gain in speed
 
Raptor for Time Machine - WD 1500ADFD

I have an obsolete 150GB Raptor and want to use it with my MBP 2.2GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo. I know it is a bit small; still bigger than my HD, however.

I bought NexStar3 and got the HD and TimeMachine running. No problems. The HD is quiet. I am very satisfied.
 
Wild-Bill said:
snip

Keep in mind, the Raptors are pretty loud. Perhaps putting it the the bay furthest away from you could mitigate that some.
Click to expand...

I'm getting a single 150GB Raptor tomorrow for my 2.66. Bay 1 has the stock Apple supplied Seagate 250GB. Does it matter what bay I will be booting off of with the Raptor speed wise?

I'll probably put the 2.66 on a CPU tray under my desk, and I guess I would not mind putting the Raptor in the last bay as Wild Bill suggests for noise purpose.

Next month I'll have the $$$ add a second Raptor for a RAID0. I hope they don't keep the house up at night ;)
 
Got a raptor 74GB 16MB cache at work on a dual core PC running Vista. I was dissapointed because the system didnt feel fast at all (not like what I'm used to) so I did some testing and tinkering on a slow day. I imaged the drive to a 250GB Seagate SATA drive which felt comparable. Went down to an 80GB Seagate SATA which was slower. I went into our stock room looking for old parts we're not using and ended up with an ancient (and I'm not kidding) 73GB Seagate full height 3.5" 10K SCSI drive and an Adaptec 2940UW.

This setup proved to be the fastest overall in terms of the way the system feels. The boot is a bit longer but once the system is booted, doing day to day tasks feels better. I cant imagine how it could because its a much slower drive and the controller pretty much maxes out at 33MB/sec (40 in theory). Access time is about the same as the raptor. This shouldnt feel better but the system feels noticably quicker - but seek times are definitly louder on this old 10K drive. Sounds like an angry bunch of ball bearings trying to get out :)

At home I've been running SCSI since the 386 days and currently run a couple U320 15K drives. I think the only way I'll see improvement down the road is larger SCSI or SAS drives...maybe solid state drives.
 
contoursvt said:
Got a raptor 74GB 16MB cache at work on a dual core PC running Vista. I was dissapointed because the system didnt feel fast at all (not like what I'm used to) so I did some testing and tinkering on a slow day. I imaged the drive to a 250GB Seagate SATA drive which felt comparable. Went down to an 80GB Seagate SATA which was slower. I went into our stock room looking for old parts we're not using and ended up with an ancient (and I'm not kidding) 73GB Seagate full height 3.5" 10K SCSI drive and an Adaptec 2940UW.

This setup proved to be the fastest overall in terms of the way the system feels. The boot is a bit longer but once the system is booted, doing day to day tasks feels better. I cant imagine how it could because its a much slower drive and the controller pretty much maxes out at 33MB/sec (40 in theory). Access time is about the same as the raptor. This shouldnt feel better but the system feels noticably quicker - but seek times are definitly louder on this old 10K drive. Sounds like an angry bunch of ball bearings trying to get out :)

At home I've been running SCSI since the 386 days and currently run a couple U320 15K drives. I think the only way I'll see improvement down the road is larger SCSI or SAS drives...maybe solid state drives.
Click to expand...

Well I am going to be mighty disappointed if a internal 2XRAID0 Raptor rig is is slower than my external 2X500GB year old Seagate SATA II RAIDO zero. I know a lot of people pine for the SCSI. Maybe I should break out my old MacGurus 2X 8GB RAID0 from my old IIci ;). I'm running XBench on my current system and will run it on my Raptor when it arrives.
 
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