150GB Raptor AHFD Series with clear view panel ...

Not being much of a gamer, nor one who extensively mods the cases we setup systems in, the Western Digital 150GB AHFD series Raptor was virtually unseen in our shop.

Until a regular ADFD series died and the only RMA drive we could get back from WD was the AHDFD series.

150GB WD AHFD Series with see-through top

It is pretty neat to see the internals of the drive working after first plugging the drive into a live system via USB.

While waiting for a command from the system, the heads sit right in the centre of the platters given them a 50/50 placement for the quickest access to the outside edge or inside edge of the platters.

Once the drive was initialized, we ran a full format to NTFS and the heads do indeed slowly work their way across the platters from the outside to the inside.

If ever you wanted to know exactly how a drive works internally while processing the various storage commands from a system, this is definitely the way.

Note the warning that accompanies the drive to very careful around the Plexiglas ... to the point that the warranty is void if the cover is damaged in any way.

Neat idea, but not the most practical. :)

This series will probably be a one-off with the advent of the small form factor VelociRaptors that outperform their older siblings by a huge margin ... and do not have the cover real estate to allow for a view port of some sort.

And, there is probably nothing too attractive running under the hood of the new Solid-State Drives either. ;)

Definitely a 10 on the geek kewl factor scale though. We are glad to have had one here to check it out.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

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