High-Performing, Cost-Effective WD Raptor(TM) Drives Threaten SCSI Incumbencyin Enterprise Storage
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Recently published test results by the Internet's independent storage authority StorageReview.com confirm that Serial ATA-based storage sub-systems perform equal or better than SCSI-based systems, at significantly reduced cost.
Western Digital's Raptor SATA and Seagate's Cheetah 10K.6 SCSI hard drives were tested for I/O performance using command queuing in servers and across different RAID
arrays. Command queuing is the ability of the hard drive to store multiple commands and intelligently re-order their execution for optimum performance in multi-user environments.
StorageReview.com testing concluded that, "SATA command queuing and SATA RAID have the potential to deliver benefits to the server market just as great as that of SCSI command queuing and SCSI RAID."
In comparing the cost difference between the SATA and SCSI-based systems, StorageReview.com editor Eugene Ra observed, "The cost difference between the two arrays works out to 40 percent, significant indeed." He further noted that, "SATA's performance is competitive with, and in some cases exceeds, that of a comparable SCSI solution."
StorageReview.com put the WD Raptor SATA and Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 SCSI hard drives to the test by using its own proprietary benchmark tests including the StorageReview File Server DriveMark. Testing was performed using different RAID configurations and at various queue depths ranging from 1 to 64.
"These test results signal the beginning of an era in which Serial ATA is a dominant interface in the enterprise storage market," said Richard E. Rutledge, vice president of marketing for Western Digital. "WD Raptor has proven that the performance of hard drives is defined by hard drive platform mechanics, electronics and firmware, and not by the SCSI or SATA interface."
Hard drives with the SCSI interface have long offered the best performance and have been utilized in applications requiring the fastest read and write speeds such as servers and storage subsystems. SATA technology is a new, lower-cost, disruptive technology, displacing SCSI in an increasing number of enterprise computing and storage applications.
WD Raptor hard drives are designed for enterprise storage environments such as high-end workstations, servers and network attached storage (NAS) and storage subsystems, where performance and reliability are critical. WD Raptor 74 GB hard drives offer tagged command queuing (TCQ), average seek times as low as 4.5 milliseconds (ms), 1.2 million hours MTTF (Mean Time To Failure), and a five-year warranty.
StorageReview.com's test configurations, complete article and test results of Western Digital Corp.'s (NYSE: WDC) WD Raptor(TM) and Seagate's Cheetah 10K.6 SCSI drives may be viewed on the Web at http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200406/20040625TCQ_1.html
Detailed information about TCQ may be found on Western Digital's Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2579-001076.pdf. These attributes are attracting systems builders and storage manufacturers to the capabilities of SATA and WD Raptor hard drives.
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About Western Digital
Western Digital, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company's core business produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users' data close-at-hand and secure from loss. Western Digital was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western Digital brand name. Visit the Investor section of the company's Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.
Western Digital and the Western Digital logo are registered trademarks; WD and WD Raptor are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.
© Press Release 2004
