Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

Does anyone know if there is any difference between these drives?

The specs are listed quite differently. The Enterprise Drives are rated by hours between failure. Where Desktop drives have stop/start data and error correction.

Price wise the Enterprise Drives are normally 3+ the price of a desktop drive. There use to be a difference in the Warranty Period. Which no longer applies with most mfg having a 3 - 5 yr warranty.

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

I'd say the enterprise drives were higher performance. And that performance came at a cost it would seem. I would bet that's the case anyway.

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

They are probably designed for more of a hammering

An example david?

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

Makes sense, and would probably be a little more resistant to damage due to heat.

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

Most enterprise drives are usualy high rpm 15K drives, faster seek and read times, and prepped for heavy duty cycled. These drives are designed to deal with heat and vibes created by the faster spinning disk. Since these drives can't fail they have better tolerances and higher MTBF.

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

The enterprise drive are designed for more durability than anything else. In other words, in high duty cycle environments. Often performance (mostly access time) is also a consideration since they are in such high duty cycle environments, but the key factor has always been durability, lifespan and high loads.

With this said, many of the drives out there these days listed as "enterprise" class drives are not much different than SOHO standard equipments. Look at the specs (MTBF, power use, and the like) and see if it meets your needs.

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

Hmm, SCSI i suppose are designed as 'enterprise'

Then WD Raptors are SCSI with SATA interface.....

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

And dont forget the price premium we've always had to pay for SCSI. But when you're running a nice array and you boot a machine up and see the controller say "spinning up drives" and everything comes to life and the little lights on the drive caddies blink in unison. It's a good thing. IF an expensive one, lol.

Re: Enterprise Drive vs Desktop Drive
 

Yup...