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Western Digital Special Edition
Caviar Hard Disk Drives ATA/100, 7,200
RPM, 8 MByte Buffer
Last updated: 12/2/02
 One
often thinks in the terms of a motherboard, processor, or memory upgrade to
boost the performance of a not so old computer. Western Digital has added another
and perhaps more significant element to the equation: the eight MByte buffer
in the Special Edition Caviar ATA/100 Hard Disk Drives. While increasing the
buffer size to boost the performance of the hard disk subsystem of a computer
is not a new idea, Western Digital has done in a big way by quadrupling the
two MByte buffer employed by most 7,200 RPM drives.
 In
the box. The retail version of the drive is packaged in an attractive
box with heavy-duty plastic restraints to reduce the possibility of damage
during transport. The drive comes with everything but the Philips head screwdriver
needed for installation in most computers:
- Cable
- Data Lifeguard floppy disk with...
-
EZ-Install
-
Diagnostics
-
BIOS Check
- Ultra ATA/100 Management
- Quick Install poster
- Installation Guide
- 80-conductor IDE Interface Cable
- Even the screws and an extra jumper
Documentation and Software. The documentation accompanying the
retail version of the drives is really excellent. One side of the amply
illustrated Quick Install poster shows one how to do the hardware installation
step-by-step. The other side handles partitioning and formatting the
drive with EZ-Install on the Data Lifeguard floppy. The software will
format the drive for FAT32 or FAT16, but not NTFS. However, the Windows
XP and 2000 Setups have the capability to convert FAT32 to NTFS formatted partitions.
Installation. We had no problems with the physical installation
of the 80 GByte WD800JB drive used for this review. See our how
to build your own computer articles for details. We did have a problem
installing an operating system on the drives. This problem was not caused
by the drive itself, but with shortcoming
in Microsoft's fdisk program on a Windows
98 Startup floppy that we used to partition the drives; fdisk does not
support hard disk drives with a capacity greater than 64 GBytes. The
solution was to use Free
fdisk which supports drives up to 128 GBytes. Or, use EZ-Install. Once
we got the drives partitioned and formatted correctly, installation of Windows
98, Me, 2000, and XP went without a hitch. See our How to's and FAQs
for details. If you have problems visit the tech support
section of Western Digital's web site which has an extensive set of FAQs
and a comprehensive Knowledge Base.
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