However, the noise was a small price to pay for record-shattering speeds.īy today's standards, these monsters are a relic of the past in the enthusiast space. Having four in a RAID array was a feast for all the senses, with needle clattering akin to a thousand Geiger counters thrown into the heart of a nuclear reactor. Despite this, it was fast enough to tread on the toes of commercial SCSI drives of the period, making it very attractive for enthusiasts after its blistering storage performance. Surprisingly, the drive wasn't a true SATA device, using a Marvel interface bridge that converted it from legacy PATA format. This was an industry first, with the best consumer alternatives only offering up to 7,200 rpm.

In 2003, Western Digital finally broke the mould with the Velociraptor, punching in with a rapid 10,000 rpm spindle and 37 GB capacity on a single platter.

This left gamers with a mob of IDE / SATA drives that were often indistinguishable. Cast your mind back to an era (if you're old enough to do so) when pioneering with the fastest storage device would result in loading onto a server so quickly, that you'd be waiting what seemed like an eternity for your friends to arrive.Ĭommercial SCSI drives weren't financially viable, and the interface hadn't trickled down to consumer motherboards. Throughout history, enthusiasts have seldom placed it at the forefront. Speedier storage rarely stands as the initial priority for gamers seeking their next upgrade.

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