Introduction:

 There are many hard drives out on the market today, but only one stands to be the popular choice for many. The Western Digital (WD740GD) "Raptor" 74GB hard drive appeals to many users as the hard drive of choice. It is great for any workstation or any hardcore gamer. One of the reasons users go crazy for its blazing fast speeds of 10,000RPM. This is the fastest SATA drive out today. It may not be as fast as a SCSI hard drive but it defiantly is right up there, and it does not have the high price you would have to pay for a SCSI hard drive. Now, on to the specifications of the drive and what it looks like.

Western Digital 74gb 10,000rpm "Raptor" HDD

The Drive:

   I apologize for my camera; some of the pictures did not turn out the way I would have liked. So anyway you can see from above that the Raptor looks like any other hard drive. It is built a little tougher though. It's a little bit more bulky that other hard drives, this does not make the drive bigger in dimensions than other drives, it just adds to its solid look and weight. WD made it this way in attempts to be able to more efficiently dissipate heat and cut down on noise. In the rear it has the standard SATA power and SATA data connector. Along side those is just a default power input, either SATA power or default can be used.

   Please refer to the diagram above. Between them you will notice some jumper settings. These are not for the Master/Slave you would see on a normal drive, they represent certain drive settings. You have the option between spread spectrum clocking and PM2 (power up in standby). If you do not understand these settings leaving it at default would be best. So you are probably wondering how you set the drive to Master/Slave. Well with SATA it is set by which connecter you plug it into on your motherboard. "0" usually standing for Master and "1" standing for Slave. Installation time!