Western Digital Caviar WD2500JD SerialATA

A serialATA with 250GB capacity.

When Western Digital launched its 36GB Raptor SATA drive, it was aimed squarely at the enterprise market, hence its small capacity. It was taken aback by the demand of home users and gamers wanting a super-fast drive, the only complaint from this market being the size. Western Digital has gone some way to answering their needs, however, with the Caviar WD2500JD.

As you may have guessed from its model number, the WD2500JD has a capacity of 250GB, but with a slower spin speed than the Raptor - 7,200rpm as opposed to 10,000rpm. Based on the popular WD2500JB ATA drive, Western Digital has incorporated PATA to SATA bridge chips into the drive to enable the newer interface.

To achieve its huge capacity, the WD2500JD uses three 83GB platters and has a quoted seek time of 8.9ms. Like its Ultra ATA sibling, it uses an 8MB buffer. Western Digital provides both the standard four-pin Molex connector and a proprietary 15-pin power connector.

The WD2500JD isn't as quiet as some of the latest drives available at present - you'd certainly notice it in a silent system - and when it's being driven hard it does get hot, so make sure it's in a case with adequate ventilation.

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