Western Digital 500GB RE2

Rob Williams · 08-13-2006, 09:37 PM

Are you looking for huge storage that won't hurt the pocketbook? Easily done, since the 500GB RE2 drive we are looking at today retails for around $250. Does it have the performance you are looking for?

Read the review here and discuss it here!

Jakal · 08-13-2006, 10:45 PM

Impressive! I've never had a Seagate hard drive, no particular reason. I've always heard good things about them, I've just never bought one. When the price war comes along I've always found WD to be cheaper than Seagate. WD is no less of a product and I've been very happy with every one I've bought. I had to RMA the Maxtor I bought for my last pc. Ended up picking the WD Caviar 80Gb IDE in it's place.

Do you have to use their connector? If you do, then definitely a knock against it.

The charts you've posted. You might want to list what the numbers on the left mean. I know they mean milliseconds, and score (for the benchmarks), but someone who isn't as tech savvy and just looking at the review may not.

Rob Williams · 08-13-2006, 11:16 PM

Will add text underneath each graph. I didn't think to add it earlier. No, you are not obligated to use their connector... it's just much sturdier than the flimsy ones you get with motherboards. It also helps use up your spare Molex 4-Pins I guess, hehe.

Jakal · 08-14-2006, 01:22 AM

Ahh, nice.

08-14-2006, 05:12 AM

It would also make the comparison meaningful if you gave the specification of the Seagate you are comparing the WD with.
Is it a 7200.10/9/8/7 or ??. Is it an 8Mb or 16Mb cache model?
Thanks.

Rob Williams · 08-14-2006, 10:10 AM

Sorry, I meant to link to the review of the drive. There are only two 500GB Seagates... an IDE and S-ATA. Both have the same storage capacity, RPM and cache. Only real addition is NCQ. Will update the review to link to the review.

08-15-2006, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

Sorry, I meant to link to the review of the drive. There are only two 500GB Seagates... an IDE and S-ATA. Both have the same storage capacity, RPM and cache. Only real addition is NCQ. Will update the review to link to the review.

Thanks for the update Rob.
It's as I thought from the results, the latest top of the line Enterprise Class WD is actually pitted against the last years spec Personal Storage Class Seagate, which was always going to be a WD win.
I look forward to a comparison with the new 7200.10 version of the Seagate which is still a Personal Storage Drive and priced accordingly (10-15% less than the RE2 and nearer to the SE16) or maybe with one of Seagates Enterprise drives (ES or NL35?).
Sorry, but it's a bit like comparing last years family saloon against the latest premium saloon.
I look forward to the re-match

Rob Williams · 08-15-2006, 10:53 AM

The only 7200.10 I have is in my main machine, which is why I didn't use it. If I had a 500GB 7200.10 on hand, it would have been used. Since I don't, it's not possible.

Sorry if you disagree, but both drives are still in the same pricerange, so I felt it was a fair comparison.

madmat · 08-15-2006, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thanks for the update Rob.
It's as I thought from the results, the latest top of the line Enterprise Class WD is actually pitted against the last years spec Personal Storage Class Seagate, which was always going to be a WD win.
I look forward to a comparison with the new 7200.10 version of the Seagate which is still a Personal Storage Drive and priced accordingly (10-15% less than the RE2 and nearer to the SE16) or maybe with one of Seagates Enterprise drives (ES or NL35?).
Sorry, but it's a bit like comparing last years family saloon against the latest premium saloon.
I look forward to the re-match

I hate to break it to you but the 7200.10 version is still priced $60 above the cost of the RE2 and $70 above the cost of the SE so it might be more competitive in terms of specs but not in price.

I must admit though that I'm interested in seeing how they'd fare against one another.

09-25-2006, 09:43 PM

Y'all have to realize that there aren't many other drives with the same technologies as this one.

I host a small talk radio tech show, and ended up with a couple to test. I really haven't seen anything better in it's class. And I tested this against newer drives and it held it's own. It's not ALWAYS the fastest, but this drive isn't MEANT to be the fastest, it's meant to be the best for RAID, and as far as SATA drives are concerned, it doesn't get any better...

Rob Williams · 09-25-2006, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechTAK

and as far as SATA drives are concerned, it doesn't get any better...

Well said

08-13-2006, 09:37 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor in Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 8,921	Western Digital 500GB RE2 Are you looking for huge storage that won't hurt the pocketbook? Easily done, since the 500GB RE2 drive we are looking at today retails for around $250. Does it have the performance you are looking for? Read the review here and discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.20GHz, ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, OCZ 8GB PC2-6400, EVGA GTX 285 1024MB Seagate 500GB, 750GB & 1TB, Pioneer 22x ODD, Corsair 1000HX, Thermalright Ultra-120, CM Storm Sniper Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Ultrasone PRO 750, Gentoo Linux (KDE 4.3.2, 2.6.31 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter Profiles: Last.fm \| Xbox Live \| Steam

08-13-2006, 10:45 PM	#2
Jakal Tech Monkey Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Missiskippy Posts: 605	Impressive! I've never had a Seagate hard drive, no particular reason. I've always heard good things about them, I've just never bought one. When the price war comes along I've always found WD to be cheaper than Seagate. WD is no less of a product and I've been very happy with every one I've bought. I had to RMA the Maxtor I bought for my last pc. Ended up picking the WD Caviar 80Gb IDE in it's place. Do you have to use their connector? If you do, then definitely a knock against it. The charts you've posted. You might want to list what the numbers on the left mean. I know they mean milliseconds, and score (for the benchmarks), but someone who isn't as tech savvy and just looking at the review may not. __________________ AMD Opteron 150@2.9Ghz 1.5v\|DFI Lanparty Expert 4/06 Bios\|OCZ Gold OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K 2x1024 242Mhz 3v\|Twin eVga 7800GTs 470/1100 If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough.- dibene \| Chaos Havok: grrrr im lagging me My Pics

08-13-2006, 11:16 PM	#3
Rob Williams Editor in Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 8,921	Will add text underneath each graph. I didn't think to add it earlier. No, you are not obligated to use their connector... it's just much sturdier than the flimsy ones you get with motherboards. It also helps use up your spare Molex 4-Pins I guess, hehe. __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.20GHz, ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, OCZ 8GB PC2-6400, EVGA GTX 285 1024MB Seagate 500GB, 750GB & 1TB, Pioneer 22x ODD, Corsair 1000HX, Thermalright Ultra-120, CM Storm Sniper Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Ultrasone PRO 750, Gentoo Linux (KDE 4.3.2, 2.6.31 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter Profiles: Last.fm \| Xbox Live \| Steam

08-14-2006, 01:22 AM	#4
Jakal Tech Monkey Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Missiskippy Posts: 605	Ahh, nice. __________________ AMD Opteron 150@2.9Ghz 1.5v\|DFI Lanparty Expert 4/06 Bios\|OCZ Gold OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K 2x1024 242Mhz 3v\|Twin eVga 7800GTs 470/1100 If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough.- dibene \| Chaos Havok: grrrr im lagging me My Pics

08-14-2006, 05:12 AM	#5
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Comparison? It would also make the comparison meaningful if you gave the specification of the Seagate you are comparing the WD with. Is it a 7200.10/9/8/7 or ??. Is it an 8Mb or 16Mb cache model? Thanks.

08-14-2006, 10:10 AM	#6
Rob Williams Editor in Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 8,921	Sorry, I meant to link to the review of the drive. There are only two 500GB Seagates... an IDE and S-ATA. Both have the same storage capacity, RPM and cache. Only real addition is NCQ. Will update the review to link to the review. __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.20GHz, ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, OCZ 8GB PC2-6400, EVGA GTX 285 1024MB Seagate 500GB, 750GB & 1TB, Pioneer 22x ODD, Corsair 1000HX, Thermalright Ultra-120, CM Storm Sniper Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Ultrasone PRO 750, Gentoo Linux (KDE 4.3.2, 2.6.31 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter Profiles: Last.fm \| Xbox Live \| Steam

08-15-2006, 10:53 AM	#8
Rob Williams Editor in Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 8,921	The only 7200.10 I have is in my main machine, which is why I didn't use it. If I had a 500GB 7200.10 on hand, it would have been used. Since I don't, it's not possible. Sorry if you disagree, but both drives are still in the same pricerange, so I felt it was a fair comparison. __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.20GHz, ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, OCZ 8GB PC2-6400, EVGA GTX 285 1024MB Seagate 500GB, 750GB & 1TB, Pioneer 22x ODD, Corsair 1000HX, Thermalright Ultra-120, CM Storm Sniper Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Ultrasone PRO 750, Gentoo Linux (KDE 4.3.2, 2.6.31 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter Profiles: Last.fm \| Xbox Live \| Steam

09-25-2006, 09:43 PM	#10
TechTAK Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Best in it's class...ONLY in it's class! Y'all have to realize that there aren't many other drives with the same technologies as this one. I host a small talk radio tech show, and ended up with a couple to test. I really haven't seen anything better in it's class. And I tested this against newer drives and it held it's own. It's not ALWAYS the fastest, but this drive isn't MEANT to be the fastest, it's meant to be the best for RAID, and as far as SATA drives are concerned, it doesn't get any better...

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