Western Digital VelociRaptor more viable in a laptop than we thought?

I was looking around to see if anyone came out with a 10,000RPM HD for a laptop yet, and noticed Newegg had listed the 2.5" VelociRaptor in the laptop section, prompting me to investigate if it were truly compatible. I had always heard forum users say it wasn't due to power, size and heat factors. For example, in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har.../458657-2-5-inch-velociraptor-wd3000blfs.html

I Googled around looking for discussion about it and couldn't actually find anybody that had tried it, and there weren't hardly any threads about it at all.

Well I looked into the specification of the WD VelociRaptor and I think people have made some incorrect assumptions and automatically thought it wouldn't work. None of what people say is true about the drive, it uses about the same amount of power and even supports 5-volt that laptops use in addition to 12-volt like in desktops. The only thing I can see that might be a problem in laptops is the size, because it is 5.5mm taller than typical laptop drives. Here's a comparison of the typical high performance laptop HD and the WD VelociRaptor WD6000BLHX:

WD3200BJKT - 320GB,16MB, 7200RPM
Form factor: 2.5",
Height: 9.5 mm
Length: 100 mm
Width: 69.85 mm
Power type: 5-volt
Power usage while: Read/Write: 500 mA // Idle: 400 mA // Standby: 50 mA // Sleep: 30 mA
Power dissipation (heat) while: Read/Write: 2.50 Watts // Idle: 0.85 Watts // Standby: 0.25 Watts // Sleep: 0.15 Watts

WD6000BLHX - 600GB, 32MB, 10,000RPM
Form factor: 2.5"
Height: 15 mm
Length: 100 mm
Width: 69.85 mm
Power type: supports both 12-volt and 5-volt (power usage listed is at 5-volt)
Power usage while: Read/Write: 470 mA // Idle: 360 mA // Standby: 130 mA // Sleep: 120 mA
Power dissipation (heat) while: Read/Write: 6.20 Watts // Idle: 4.30 Watts // Standby: 0.70 Watts // Sleep: 0.70 Watts


So it looks like there's a lot of misinformation out there about the raptors. By comparing the specs, the raptors use less power, and support the necessary voltage provided by laptops. The only area of issue really comes down to whether your laptop has the space and cooling requirements, but other than that the drive should be fully compatible. Now my question is, why aren't laptop enthusiasts going crazy for this drive? It's dirt cheap compared to SSDs ($300 for the new 600GB model), performance is much better than typical 7200 and 5400RPM drives, and it's been out for several years now and I can't find anyone who's really tried it. What gives?

 

One reason is the 15mm height prevents it from fitting in most laptops designed for a 9.5mm height drive. That would be enough for most people.

 

The heat is another problem.

I would like to see someone try it though.

 

Well who has tried it? I'm gunna take another look at my 1645, and I do think there's some extra space, if it even remotely looks like it will fit I'm gunna try it. Heat might turn out to be an issue, but right now you can't even tell the hard drive puts out heat, so it's likely it could handle a little more without problems. 6-watts doesn't even sound like much, considering CPUs and GPU's are putting out hundreds...

 

Looking forward to see the results.

PS. Notebook CPUs typically put out 35 or 25 watt. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

 

But CPUs and high end GPUs normally have ACTIVE cooling to keep their temps inline. How many laptops with active cooling for hard drives have you run across?

And as far as power consumption, you need to check the specs again. The VR uses 3 times the power on standby and 4 times as much in sleep mode.

 

Several reasons - increased heat, increased power usage (very significant when my total laptop power usage can get down to ~11W with an SSD), and increased noise/vibration.

For $200, one could get an 80GB Intel X-25M (one of the fastest SSDs currently out there), and, in many laptops, you can install a secondary 500GB 5400RPM drive for <$100, if you really need the hard drive space. That setup would far outperform even the VelociRaptor.

 

Yes, SSD in laptop. End of story.

 

Yeah but comparatively priced SSD = 80GB vs. 600GB...come on guys...not EVERYONE wants or needs a SSD...and some people actually need a good amount of storage space...

 

Agreed, but that still doesn't make the VR a viable option for laptops. If you need a larger hard drive and are limited to a single drive in your laptop then the Hitachi 7k500 would be your best option.

 

Ask K-TRON, I think he might have tried it. I believe an issue was that without the 12V, you wouldn't be able to have sufficient stable power.

 

Then again, this hard drive isn't consuming 25-35W and dissipating the excess in 100mm²...

 

True, but it is consuming 2.5 to 3 times the amount of a standard hard drive. That's the point that needs to be taken into consideration if one puts my original post in context.

 

Well the envy 17 supports 12.5mm HDD maybe you could squeeze the VR in there since its a larger bay then most laptops HD bays. Still prolly too small. All the extra heat and power consumption i think totally negates any extra speed gained from it. Higher operating temps = HDD that fails sooner it kills the longevity of the drive. If you want more speed and capacity then the current fastest HD the 7k5 hitatchi you are gonna have to go with SSD. The envy 17 you can have the best of both worlds. Intel gen 2 80 or 160GB or a crucial 128GB or 256GB SATA III in 1 bay and then a 12.5mm 1TB im 2nd bay. Super speed SSD for your boot drive and all your main apps and games and then a massive 1TB 12.5mm drive for your media storage (FLAC audio 1080p movie rips etc) all inside a 7 pound envy 17. Thats the only laptop I can think of that supports the +3mm higher 12.5mm drives.

 

SSD's have aleady proven themselves faster than the VR's even in Raid0 configuration. Hybrid HDD's, SSD+HDD in hardware, could lower alot of rotational and seek times while increasing R/W bandwidth as well. This may be a much better option down the line.

For unaltered pure high performance SSD's are going to be hard to beat for quite some time. Eventually costs will miror or even surpass the $/GB ratio of HDD's but as in all tech you will pay a premium for the latest and greatest.

I think VR's can run sustained on the output of most laptops but the spinup/initialize power draw of the drives make it a no go situation. Even if they could run the overall power drain and heat would be a real problem.

 

You should also look at the specification for how much shock it can handle. Laptop hard drives are typically designed to resist double or triple the shock that a desktop hard drive can handle. This might not be a huge deal on a Thinkpad that has Active Protection for the hard drive, but on most other laptops it could be an issue.

 

According to Tomshardware's review of the 600GB version, both this one and the 300GB do not get hot at all, even under heavy load. For editing work, SSD does not make any sense so looking for ways on using the VelociRaptor (300GB) on a laptop can be interesting. Current 2.5" HDDs are a joke compared to the VelociRaptors performance.

 

Yes, the Velociraptor doesn't produces very little heat in a desktop, but it would get hot in a notebook since it consumes more power than a regular 2.5" HDD and depending on the cooling of a notebook, even regular 2.5" HDDs can get quite hot in notebooks. SLC SSDs are what you want if you're going to be doing heavy writing as they are much more durable than MLC SSDs and HDDs, but the fact is that Velociraptor's will never be a good alternative in notebooks because of size and power consumption. With the introduction of an effective hybrid drive (Seagate XT), there is even less reason to consider a Velociraptor.

 

Animator, here's a thought. Why don't you go out and buy one and test it in your laptop and report back on how it works. That would be the best way to prove that it is a viable alternative.

 

It was tried, K-TRON put quite a bit of work into it with the most desktop like laptops around at the time.

The problem was power & size, most laptops wont fit it, those that could did not have the power requirments to run it.

But with SSD now there is basically no real reason to fret over a VR drive.

 

Vicious, the problem is that Animaitor doesn't want to take anyone's word on that. That's why I suggested he go and and try it himself so he can find out himself.

 

You're not listening to the OP. He's not retarded. He knows what an SSD is. He knows they are the popular alternative. I agree with him though, that it is surprising that we haven't seen a laptop built/modded around a VR. All that would be needed is a bridge to the heatsink making contact with the drive bay. Done. Near SSD performance with HDD capacities.

 

As far as I can remember K-Tron had a specific reason why it didn't work. You (OP) might want to PM him to find out. Or search the forums.