Window mods in hard drives have been reserved for the most daring (and often foolish) of modders. Mod no more, however, as Western Digital's latest Raptor comes with its own window.
Using a special crystalline polycarbonate, the new 150GB Raptor X features a window through which you can see the drive's components at work. Like the first two Raptors, performance is also a big feature, with a spindle speed of 10000rpm and NCQ.
WD's engineers are quite smug about this one:
Keep in mind that read/write heads at the end of the actuator arm, which flip-flops the polarity of the magnetic particles on the disk surface, literally flies over the 10,000 RPM surface at one two-thousandth the width of a human hair. Assembly must be conducted in a world-class clean room. And only a world-class group of mechanical, electrical, chemical and magnetic hard drive engineers can design a top and choose the right materials to ensure reliable performance in the most demanding conditions.
We prefer the steamy bathroom (reduces the dust in the air), a Dremel and crossed fingers.