I'll soon have the mighty WD600JB in my hands.

[CougTek]

The 60GB Special Edition Caviar with a single 60GB platter will soone enter my testing lab. I put it in a box with WinXP Home installed for a friend/customer. I'll run a few benchmarks on it and I'm eager to see how it will rank among the other members of the Special Edition family from Western Digital.

Which benchmarks do you want to see? I have IOMeter, ATTO, Winbench. I could also run HDTach and Sandra if I find some time to kill and if you want me to waste some screen space on this forum. If you want to see something else, please put the link to download it in this thread. I'll have the drive for about a week.

The rest of the "Testbed" will be :

• Athlon XP 2100+
  GigaByte GA-7VAX
  512MB PC2700
  ATI Radeon 8500LE 64MB
  Samsung SyncMaster 957MB 19"
  Altec Lansing Versatile 251
  Lite-On 48x/24x/48x
  Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM
  Floppy
  Logitech Elite USB keyboard
  Logitech Optical USB mouse
  Antec PLUS660AMG mid-tower

I think that's it.

 

[James]

I'm certainly interested in your results Coug. Is there a 60G/platter version of the JB and a 40G/platter one? How do you tell the difference?

 

[CougTek]

Check the advertised transfer rate of the WD600JB compared to the 40/80/120GB models. The 60GB Special Edition is clearly above the others. While I have no proof that it features 60GB platters, the specifications strongly hint that it has higher density platters than the older 40GB-per-platters models.

In fact, it seems to share the same platters than the two elder models : WD1800JB and WD2000JB. This is also why I believe it is currently the best bang-for-the-buck hard drive for mainstream computers...if you can find it somewhere.

 

[Groltz]

I'll be using a WD800JB in the machine I'm building my father. I would have liked to have used a smaller member of the JB family but this one is the smallest NewEgg carries. It is on sale for $114.00/shipped so it was hard to pass up when we put our order in.

 

[CougTek]

I sell the WD600JB for 165$ CDN, that's around 105U$. Figure out that prices here are typically a bit higher than in the States as the lowest price for the WD800JB here is 192$CDN (123U$).

You had a great deal Steve.

 

[CityK]

as the lowest price for the WD800JB here is 192$CDN

Which is pretty much the avg. price in Toronto too...just picked one up for $187.

It went into a system I built for a friend tonight. First time I used a JB. First impressions: was way quieter than what I was anticipating the noise level to be like (hopefully it'll stay that way).

Cheers, CK

 

[Buck]

I just put a WD400JB in a customers system and it is very nice - quiet and quick. I think I might swap out the WD102BA boot drive in one of my workstations for one of those drives.

 

[CougTek]

Having just a single platter into them must help quite a bit to reduce the heat/noise level for the WD400JB and WD600JB.

BTW, I've just received it, but haven't assembled the whole system yet. Expect results for tomorrow.

CityK, did you get it from an online store? Or was it just a local shop?

 

[CityK]

ICCT...local small chain with a couple of shops, one of them being on College St. They do have a web site, but it usually isn't up to date or its pricing differs (higher) from what they advertise in print. They (and a lot of the other local shops) get a termendous amount of traffic by advertising in the two free monthly computer newspapers; Toronto Computes and The Computer Paper. Distribution of the two is offset by about 2 weeks...and, hence, updated pricing. You should see, if you haven't already, what a zoo the College street shops are like on any given Saturday.

Cheers, CK

 

[blakerwry]

I have found that my 1200BB is exceptionally quiet... seeks and idle are quieter than my ATA IV... but then again, the ATA IV has been running alot longer.

 

[CougTek]

The drive is indeed quiet. But I am very disapointed with the results. Winbench 99 2.0 show transfer rates similar to those of the 40GB/platter WD800JB instead of something closer to the WD2000JB.

• Beginning : 49300KB/s
  End : 28600KB/s
  Disk Access Time : 13.6
  CPU Utilisation % : 0.51 (with only cfmon running in background)

I'm gonna write to Western Digital and ask, no : require, an explanation for the low transfer rates. This is unacceptable IMO. They advertize a transfer rate similar to the one of the WD2000JB and the unit I now have in my box show WD800JB-like troughput. I bought this drive instead of the 80GB version (that has a better capacity/$ ratio) BECAUSE it was supposed to feature higher transfer speed.

I'm pissed. :bibber:

Be warned.

 

[blakerwry]

We've all been warned... before buying a WD drive, I would certainly make sure it has the number of platters / density of patters that I am looking for.

WD still have alot of 40GB platters that they are using in the 800JB/BB and 1000JB/BB drives... why would the 60gb drive be any exception?

WD has only recently started producing 60GB platters, I think they are reserving them for the higher capacity drives such as the 1200JB/BB and 2000JB/BB.


As i have said, we've already been warned. I would wait for confirmation from trusted review sites before buying a WD drive unless it was a flag ship model and was certain to contain high capacity platters.

 

[Clocker]

The drive is indeed quiet. But I am very disapointed with the results. Winbench 99 2.0 show transfer rates similar to those of the 40GB/platter WD800JB instead of something closer to the WD2000JB.

• Beginning : 49300KB/s
  End : 28600KB/s
  Disk Access Time : 13.6
  CPU Utilisation % : 0.51 (with only cfmon running in background)

I'm gonna write to Western Digital and ask, no : require, an explanation for the low transfer rates. This is unacceptable IMO. They advertize a transfer rate similar to the one of the WD2000JB and the unit I now have in my box show WD800JB-like troughput. I bought this drive instead of the 80GB version (that has a better capacity/$ ratio) BECAUSE it was supposed to feature higher transfer speed.

I'm pissed. :bibber:

Be warned.

Coug-

If I go to this page with the drive specs: http://www.wdc.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=39

and click on the 'Configuration' tab, it indicates that the drive has two platters. What made you think your drive has only one platter?

Sorry to hear you're bummed out. I'd like to replace my Atlas 10K III with one of those 60GB single platter drives if it is really quiet....

C

 

[blakerwry]

The drive is indeed quiet. But I am very disapointed with the results. Winbench 99 2.0 show transfer rates similar to those of the 40GB/platter WD800JB instead of something closer to the WD2000JB.

• Beginning : 49300KB/s
  End : 28600KB/s
  Disk Access Time : 13.6
  CPU Utilisation % : 0.51 (with only cfmon running in background)

I'm gonna write to Western Digital and ask, no : require, an explanation for the low transfer rates. This is unacceptable IMO. They advertize a transfer rate similar to the one of the WD2000JB and the unit I now have in my box show WD800JB-like troughput. I bought this drive instead of the 80GB version (that has a better capacity/$ ratio) BECAUSE it was supposed to feature higher transfer speed.

I'm pissed. :bibber:

Be warned.

Coug-

If I go to this page with the drive specs: http://www.wdc.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=39

and click on the 'Configuration' tab, it indicates that the drive has two platters. What made you think your drive has only one platter?

Sorry to hear you're bummed out. I'd like to replace my Atlas 10K III with one of those 60GB single platter drives if it is really quiet....

C

LoL, it also says the drive uses 4 heads... note:30GB platters... WD's stie is known for mis-information as mcuh as actual information...

I am sorry for you as well, however people(inlcuding myself) have been crying the same thing for atleast as long as WD has had Special Edition drives.

 

[CougTek]

If I go to this page with the drive specs: http://www.wdc.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=39

and click on the 'Configuration' tab, it indicates that the drive has two platters. What made you think your drive has only one platter?

Read my second post in this thread. The transfer rate is similar to the one of the 180GB & 200GB using 60GB platters. I didn't see the configuration tab though. One way or the other, their spec sheet for the WD600JB is screwed. The advertized transfer rate should be much lower, around 600Mbps instead of 736Mbps.

 

[LiamC]

Got burnt by the same thing

http://www.storageforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1450

Very upset

 

[CougTek]

Too bad I missed that thread. I wonder if Western Digital really ships some WD600JB with 60GB platters. It might worth trying to play the screwed customer card to get them to ship a "match-expectation" hard drive.

 

[LiamC]

I've have been thinking the same thing. In my case, that web site is exactly why I bought the drive - expecting the 60GB per platter version.

 

[LiamC]

I did send WD an email about advertising 60GB platters and shipping 40GB/platter drives. I requested that they replace the drive with one meeting the advertised specifications. I haven't heard back but I checked their web site this morning, and it seems they have made a slight change to the specification level

http://www.westerndigital.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=39

Luckily I have print outs and cached copies

Now that they have been sneaky and no reply, I may just send my complaint (with supporting evidence) to our consumer watch dogs...

 

[Cliptin]

I did send WD an email about advertising 60GB platters and shipping 40GB/platter drives. I requested that they replace the drive with one meeting the advertised specifications. I haven't heard back but I checked their web site this morning, and it seems they have made a slight change to the specification level

http://www.westerndigital.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=39

Luckily I have print outs and cached copies

Now that they have been sneaky and no reply, I may just send my complaint (with supporting evidence) to our consumer watch dogs...

Try sending your evidence back to WD to see what they will do first. Just to let them know you've got them.