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Western Digital Working On a 20,000 RPM Drive

Posted by kdawson on from the positively-supersonic dept.

MrKaos writes "Western Digital seems to be preparing for the onslaught of solid-state drives set to impact its market by developing a 20,000 rpm hard drive. Similar to the VelociRaptor line of drives, the new drives are speculated to be offering lower capacity as a tradeoff for faster seek and write times." This report out of Taipei is the only word on the rumored WD 20K drive. It's said to be a 2.5" drive in a 3.5" enclosure, for efficiency of cooling — the arrangement the Register enjoyed poking fun at when the 10K drive was upgraded last month.

12 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Seagate responds by Leuf · · Score: 5, Funny

    We've taken the next step by mounting our 15,000 rpm drives in an external enclosure which then spins the drive at a further 10,000 rpms, for a total system speed of 25,000 rpms. Initial benchmarks are very promising!

    1. Re:Seagate responds by sunami · · Score: 3, Funny

      We've taken the next step by mounting our 15,000 rpm drives in an external enclosure which then spins the drive at a further 10,000 rpms, for a total system speed of 25,000 rpms. Initial benchmarks are very promising!
      Pretty sure this is a general relativity question, so it would be less than 25,000. Come on get your science right.

    2. Re:Seagate responds by Firehed · · Score: 4, Funny

      Before now, nobody understood why I have all of my computers sitting on top of turntables. Now I'll just point them to your post, since they couldn't fathom what I meant when I said it makes it run faster.

      I had also tried mounting them in a paint can shaker to get at least another 15Hz out of the CPU, but I couldn't stand the noise.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    3. Re:Seagate responds by davester666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I find putting my computers on a treadmill makes them run even faster than on a turntable. As a bonus, treadmills are much sturdier than turntables, so they last much longer before they need repair.

      I also have stopped getting dizzy trying to look at the pulsing light on my MacBook Pro to see if it's sleeping or not since switching to a treadmill.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. Western Digital? Oh good! by ThatsNotFunny · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now it can lose my data twice as fast the last one I bought.

    --
    "Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
  3. We at Gnome Rotary Disks have a better solution by iminplaya · · Score: 3, Funny

    The disk is stationary and we spin the case for better cooling.

    --
    What?
  4. Re:immovable object? by pushing-robot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, well, giant fighting robots need enterprise-grade hardware too.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  5. Re:Is there a point to this? by gardyloo · · Score: 3, Funny

    In other words, this speed increase could enable the drive to do 10% more random I/Os per second.

    We at the NSA are interested in things which are more random, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  6. Re:Only 20K? by dfsmith · · Score: 2, Funny

    The moment you can show me an F1 engine that runs at 20kRPM for 5 years and costs less than $500 I'll get back to you.

  7. Re:They should work on a 20,001 RPM drive by MostAwesomeDude · · Score: 5, Funny

    20001: A Speed Odyssey.

    Sorry, couldn't resist.

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    ~ C.
  8. Re:Is there a point to this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The higher speed drives aren't so much for their sequential transfer rates by themselves, but their random seek rates.

    The secret goal is to use the drive as a flywheel, and power a laptop.

  9. Re:immovable object? by audunr · · Score: 2, Funny

    Once you hit 20K RPM, the platters stay put while the universe is spinning.