Hard drives are a geek’s drugs, especially if unlimited Internet is part of the fix. Give them free space, and they’ll give you data. It’s as simple as that (well, that and a few invites to BitTorrent trackers).
Which is why Western Digital’s new 640GB hard drive (model WD6400AAKS) caught our eye: it’s fast and spacious, especially for the price.
The curious capacity figure arises from Western Digital’s unique use of two 320GB platters. Most drives pack three, four, or five platters (typically 200GB-250GB each in high capacity drives like this). Why do you want as few platters as possible? It makes the drive faster and reduces the number of moving parts, which in turn reduces power consumption, heat, and wear.
This 640GB Caviar drive spins at 7,200RPM but matches the performance of Western Digital’s far costlier 10,000RPM Raptor drives. Granted, it’s not rated for 24/7 enterprise use, but per GB it’s about a quarter of the cost.
The folks at NewEgg are one of the few actually selling the drive, and they’re pedaling it for a very reasonable $99.99 including shipping (as of 5/26/08).
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