Is there an intrinsic reason WD raptor HD's are expensive

[Sxotty]

Is there an intrinsic reason WD raptor HD's are expensive? Does operating at 10krpm mean you must have 3.5x more expensive parts?

The reason I ask is that you can get a 250GB special edition WD drive @7200 rpm, or the soon to be released 75GB raptor for the same price.

I realize that raptors are @ 10000rpm, I fully realize the speed boost (I have scsi's a 10krpm.)

I just wonder if there is simply a lack of competition or what. My next computer which I am hashing out, I wanted to have dual SATA drives, but I wanted to do raid simply for data integrity, not for speed. I was planning on using 2 SATA drives. I think it would be to hard to go from an 80GB HD to a 37GB (the cheaper raptor) and am thus anxiously hoping that someone else brings a 10k rpm SATA drive to market.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Well I am sure they are somewhat more expensive to produce, but mostly I suspect it's just a case of 'What the market will bear'.

 

[Saem]

SATA is new, which means mass production still isn't into full enough swing, so things will be slightly more expensive than ATA, but that might have disappeared by now. Running at 30% higher RPM than conventional drives is quite a feat. There is also the fact that the platter density is fairly high considering the operating condidions. The disk cache is also fairly large even by todays standards. There is also the fact that it comes with a 5 year warrenty. IIRC it also comes with a cooling system -- some jacket with a fan.

All in all, the drive IS more expensive to produce. Now after all that, there is what the market can bear factor.

 

[beyondhelp]

From what I've read and heard, the Raptors are built more like SCSI drives than IDE Drives and are quite a bit heavier, with more rigid frames, etc. to handle the higher rotational speeds. They are really Targeted at the Entry level and Mid level server Markets, and not the Desktop. Their Firmware is optimized for Server duty.