The Western Digital Caviar drive series enjoys both wide
retail distribution along with a stellar retail reputation. Western Digital prides itself
on being the "world’s most recommended hard drive." However, middling
performance and noisy operation combine to preclude Storage Review from joining the rest
of the world. If ATA performance is one’s goal IBM’s Deskstar 5 outdistances the
Caviar by a significant margin, albeit at an increase in cost. Quantum’s Fireball SE,
although harder to find, offers better performance for less money. Maxtor’s
DiamondMax, the retail twin of the Caviar, can be just as easily obtained, usually costs a
bit less, and provides slightly better performance. The most notable trait of the Caviar
was the noise the actuator/head assembly made when seeking; it was substantially louder
than every other drive in this roundup. All in all, the Caviar delivers mediocre
performance at a rather high price, and thus is not recommended.
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