Western Digital Raptor

[stampedeadam]

Hi guys

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck in using WD Raptor 10k drives in their G5 powermac (I've got the 2x2.7 tower case if it makes a difference)? The Maxtor 160gb that came as standard is rattly and slow (probably worn out?) so I am looking for a faster replacement. Cheers!

 

[dustinschings]

No personal experience, but this article (below) shows a couple users who report them to be working fine (aside from one who says it makes a vibrating noise). That said, most people who want speed go with a SATA II SSD for Boot and then a 2TB or so HDD in the lower bay for storage. Storage amount is of course dependant on your needs. I would imagine you can pick up a 128GB SSD cheaper than you can a Raptor HDD.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/234070?start=0&tstart=0

 

[stampedeadam]

Thanks for the reply! I think I'll go with an SSD instead!

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

An SSD will always be faster than a spinning HDD on the SATA1 bus on the powermac.

Too bad you can't find a 500GB SATA 1 or 2 drive for a decent price.

 

[MagicBoy]

Taking SATA compatibility issues out of the equation.... tThe main benefit of an SSD in typical use is the near zero seek/access time. This is where it has even a Raptor beaten. The SATA 1 bus impacts performance with large file transfers.

 

[stampedeadam]

Thanks again for the answers, the Raptor is so cheap that I'm going to get it anyway, and if it doesn't work properly I'll just put it in my PC instead. And I have an Intel 320 SSD 80gb lying around so I think I'll stick that in as the main system drive for OSX and see how it goes.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Definitely go with an SSD. I had a pair of Raptors in a machine for a few years, but when I swapped in one reasonably cheap SSD, it got WAY faster.