SCSI Drives

Below, you can check out our breakdown of each SCSI drive per GB. Not all of the SCSI products available are listed, but some of the newer Seagate 15K.4 drives are included as a point of reference.

Product Size (GB) Approximate Cost
(May '05)
Cost Per GB
Seagate Ultra320 146GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 80-pin

146

$314.05

$2.15

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 80-pin

73

$199.00

$2.73

Fujitsu Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB

73

$203.55

$2.79

Fujitsu Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB

147

$437.50

$2.98

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 80-pin

73

$229.50

$3.14

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 68-pin

73

$235.00

$3.22

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 68-pin

73

$235.00

$3.22

Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 68-pin

147

$480.00

$3.27

Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 80-pin

147

$530.00

$3.61

Seagate Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 80-pin

73

$264.42

$3.62

Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 80-pin

147

$538.00

$3.66

Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 68-pin

147

$538.00

$3.66

Seagate Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 80-pin

73

$289.00

$3.96

Seagate Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 80-pin

300

$1,199.00

$4.00

Seagate Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 68-pin

300

$1,199.00

$4.00

Seagate Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 68-pin

147

$590.00

$4.01

Seagate Ultra320 146GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 80-pin

146

$598.99

$4.10

Maxtor Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 80-pin

300

$1,256.00

$4.19

Maxtor Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 68-pin

300

$1,256.00

$4.19

Seagate Ultra320 37GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 68-pin

37

$178.94

$4.84

Seagate Ultra320 36.7GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 80-pin

36.7

$185.99

$5.07

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 68-pin

73

$375.50

$5.14

Hitachi Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Ultrastar 15K73

73

$402.50

$5.51

Fujitsu Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB

36.7

$204.00

$5.56

Fujitsu Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB

73

$438.00

$6.00

Maxtor Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 80-pin

36.7

$249.89

$6.81

Maxtor Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 68-pin

36.7

$258.64

$7.05

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 68-pin

73

$520.32

$7.13

Seagate Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 80-pin

73

$535.00

$7.33

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 80-pin

73

$539.30

$7.39

Seagate Ultra320 37GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 80-pin

37

$286.95

$7.76

Seagate Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 68-pin

73

$566.95

$7.77

Seagate Ultra320 37GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 68-pin

37

$288.00

$7.78

Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 80-pin

73

$583.16

$7.99

Maxtor Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 68-pin

36.7

$297.00

$8.09

Seagate Ultra320 146GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.4 80-pin

146

$1,200.08

$8.22

Fujitsu Ultra320 18.4GB 15000RPM 8MB

18.4

$156.00

$8.48

Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 68-pin

147

$1,276.34

$8.68

Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 80-pin

147

$1,276.34

$8.68

Maxtor Ultra320 18.4GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 80-pin

18.4

$160.00

$8.70

Maxtor Ultra320 18.4GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 68-pin

18.4

$160.00

$8.70


Most likely, the people who need to buy a 15,000RPM SCSI drive have very little desire to scrape a dollar here or a dollar there by analyzing the current cost per GB (when CDW has the lowest price on a product, you know it's not your John Q public type of component). However, it is very interesting to see that the price on some of the more affordable SCSI drives is actually very competitive with some of the high end SATA Raptors. Whether or not you'd rather have two tiny Raptors in a RAID 0 configuration compared to one large Raptor is almost a matter of religion, but a 73GB Fujitsu 10RPM drive over a more expensive 73GB Raptor is surely a no brainier, if you have the bus capability, that is.

There has been some talk about 15,000RPM SATA II drives on the horizon; we may even see some demonstrations in time for Computex this year. The 15,000RPM Seagate 15K.4 drives are all over the place now, albeit at a price that is a little out of our reach. High performance SATA II 15,000RPM drives would certainly prove an interesting alternative to SCSI, but such drives would probably be marketed at a steeper price than a similar SCSI drive, much the same way that Western Digital Raptors are priced worse than the equivalent SCSI drive.



Parallel ATA Hard Drives DVDR Drives
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  • zemane - Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - link

    #13:
    Thanks for the info Kristopher!
  • knightspawn1138 - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    I'd like to see the Storage price guide include USB Flash drives (and USB thumb-drive mini-hard drives). Now that these drives are closing in on DVD's for storage size, they should be treated similar to the rest of the storage media. I for one would like to see a price guide for USB flash drives, since I've come to depend on a couple for use as boot disks on my PC.
  • Doormat - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    Yea! The prices on large (>= 300GB) SATA drives are finally starting to go down. Cant wait for Seagate 300GB drives to be $150/ea - two for $300! I remember when I bought two 60GXPs for that much. Now if I could only find a good inexpensive RAID card... you guys should do a RAID-5/6 card review (raidcore, 3ware, adaptec, areca, etc). I see that other sites have them, but I really dont trust those sites...
  • KristopherKubicki - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    zemane: I like the 3520A better, but that is mostly due to the price. The write quality on the PX716A is a little better.

    On the other hand, if you need features like riplock, you don't even have the opportunity to use a modified BIOS on the plextor (unlike the NEC).

    Kristopher
  • zemane - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    How does the NEC 3520A compares to the PLEXTOR PX-716A?
  • KristopherKubicki - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    semo: That should read DW1625. Sorry!

    matthewfoley: I will do my best to implement that. Right now we just list core name as part of the processor name.

    Kristopher
  • semo - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    i think something is wrong here (or it could just be me):

    "BenQ actually already began to phase out their 16X DW160 [RTPE: BenQ DW1620] in favor of the dual layer, dual format 16X DW160 [RTPE: BenQ DW1625], although the only real performance boost is 4X dual layer burning opposed to 2.4X ..."

    what does dw160 mean and how can it be phased out in favour of itself (or am i not getting this right?)

    anyway, it should be added that the dw1625 supports lightscribe technology. it may not be considered exciting or useful by many ppl but it is still worth a mention imo.
  • flatblastard - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    know
  • flatblastard - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    Can't wait for that one, KK. I'm ready to buy one of them crazy numbered ased AMD processors anyday now....just waiting for ATI or Sapphire to get off their lazy bums and gimme the mobo/chipset that I want! I'm thinking 3500+/3800+ V or 3700+/4000+ SD. So hopefully soon I'll no more than that, hopefully ;)
  • matthewfoley - Monday, May 9, 2005 - link

    Could we get some sorting capability on the RTPE? For example, on processors, I'd like to see a separate column for name, core, price, and be able to order by that column.

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