Price Guides, May 2005: Storage

SCSI Drives

Below, you can check out our breakdown of each SCSI drive per GB. Not all of the SCSI products available are listed, but some of the newer Seagate 15K.4 drives are included as a point of reference.

Product	Size (GB)	Approximate Cost (May '05)	Cost Per GB
Seagate Ultra320 146GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 80-pin	146	$314.05	$2.15
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 80-pin	73	$199.00	$2.73
Fujitsu Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB	73	$203.55	$2.79
Fujitsu Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB	147	$437.50	$2.98
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 80-pin	73	$229.50	$3.14
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 68-pin	73	$235.00	$3.22
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 68-pin	73	$235.00	$3.22
Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 68-pin	147	$480.00	$3.27
Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K IV 80-pin	147	$530.00	$3.61
Seagate Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 80-pin	73	$264.42	$3.62
Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 80-pin	147	$538.00	$3.66
Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 68-pin	147	$538.00	$3.66
Seagate Ultra320 73GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 80-pin	73	$289.00	$3.96
Seagate Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 80-pin	300	$1,199.00	$4.00
Seagate Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 68-pin	300	$1,199.00	$4.00
Seagate Ultra320 147GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 68-pin	147	$590.00	$4.01
Seagate Ultra320 146GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.7 80-pin	146	$598.99	$4.10
Maxtor Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 80-pin	300	$1,256.00	$4.19
Maxtor Ultra320 300GB 10000RPM 8MB Atlas 10K V 68-pin	300	$1,256.00	$4.19
Seagate Ultra320 37GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 68-pin	37	$178.94	$4.84
Seagate Ultra320 36.7GB 10000RPM 8MB Cheetah 10K.6 80-pin	36.7	$185.99	$5.07
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 68-pin	73	$375.50	$5.14
Hitachi Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Ultrastar 15K73	73	$402.50	$5.51
Fujitsu Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB	36.7	$204.00	$5.56
Fujitsu Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB	73	$438.00	$6.00
Maxtor Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 80-pin	36.7	$249.89	$6.81
Maxtor Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 68-pin	36.7	$258.64	$7.05
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 68-pin	73	$520.32	$7.13
Seagate Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 80-pin	73	$535.00	$7.33
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 80-pin	73	$539.30	$7.39
Seagate Ultra320 37GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 80-pin	37	$286.95	$7.76
Seagate Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 68-pin	73	$566.95	$7.77
Seagate Ultra320 37GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.3 68-pin	37	$288.00	$7.78
Maxtor Ultra320 73GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 80-pin	73	$583.16	$7.99
Maxtor Ultra320 36.7GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 68-pin	36.7	$297.00	$8.09
Seagate Ultra320 146GB 15000RPM 8MB Cheetah 15K.4 80-pin	146	$1,200.08	$8.22
Fujitsu Ultra320 18.4GB 15000RPM 8MB	18.4	$156.00	$8.48
Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 68-pin	147	$1,276.34	$8.68
Maxtor Ultra320 147GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K II 80-pin	147	$1,276.34	$8.68
Maxtor Ultra320 18.4GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 80-pin	18.4	$160.00	$8.70
Maxtor Ultra320 18.4GB 15000RPM 8MB Atlas 15K 68-pin	18.4	$160.00	$8.70

Most likely, the people who need to buy a 15,000RPM SCSI drive have very little desire to scrape a dollar here or a dollar there by analyzing the current cost per GB (when CDW has the lowest price on a product, you know it's not your John Q public type of component). However, it is very interesting to see that the price on some of the more affordable SCSI drives is actually very competitive with some of the high end SATA Raptors. Whether or not you'd rather have two tiny Raptors in a RAID 0 configuration compared to one large Raptor is almost a matter of religion, but a 73GB Fujitsu 10RPM drive over a more expensive 73GB Raptor is surely a no brainier, if you have the bus capability, that is.

There has been some talk about 15,000RPM SATA II drives on the horizon; we may even see some demonstrations in time for Computex this year. The 15,000RPM Seagate 15K.4 drives are all over the place now, albeit at a price that is a little out of our reach. High performance SATA II 15,000RPM drives would certainly prove an interesting alternative to SCSI, but such drives would probably be marketed at a steeper price than a similar SCSI drive, much the same way that Western Digital Raptors are priced worse than the equivalent SCSI drive.