list of drives with fluid dynamic bearing

shunx · **Posted:** Thu Dec 12, 2002 6:16 am

What current and upcoming drives other than Barracudas use fluid dynamic bearing?

Rusty075 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 12, 2002 7:31 am

Most of the midlevel and up Maxtor drives are available with FDB's. As well as the newer drives from Western Digital and IBM. There may be more, those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Check their websites for more info.

shunx · **Posted:** Sat Dec 14, 2002 2:25 am

ok, just curious. I noticed that the only drive that is competitive with Seagates so far is the IBM 180GXP.

JohnMK · **Posted:** Tue Dec 17, 2002 6:19 am

I don't know for sure, but I think you can't currently get FDB from WD.

GamingGod · **Posted:** Tue Dec 17, 2002 12:37 pm

wd has liquid bearings, like in the wd800jb, the j is for liquid bearings, wd800bb is ballbearing.

shunx · **Posted:** Thu Dec 19, 2002 11:13 pm

According to StorageReview, the WD JBs are 6dBs louder than the Barracuda IV, unfortunately. As such I am no longer assuming a quieter drive due to the use of FDB.

Rusty075 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2002 12:12 am

A FDB will be quieter than the same drive with conventional bearings. But not all FDB's are created equal. Seagate puts noise over performance, while WD considers performance more importance than noise. It's all a matter of priorities

powergyoza · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2002 1:14 am

To quote from the WD2000JB/BB review on http://www.storagereview.com:

Quote:

Western Digital plans to offer fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) motors on the WD2000BB as an option. No word on whether the JB will receive the same treatment yet. The 2000BB (and obviously the JB) reviewed here both feature ball bearing motors.

So no FDB's on the WD's yet. For now it's the Seagate 'cudas, Maxtor DM+8 & 9 and IBM Deskstar 180's (for IDE).

GamingGod · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2002 7:19 am

than why do they call the jb models, fluid dynamic bearing? i have seen that in places, maybe not on newegg, but im sure i saw it on wd drives.

powergyoza · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2002 9:55 am

When I searched http://www.wdc.com for anything on bearings, the only relevant thing I got only was this:

http://www.wdc.com/library/eide/FDB.pdf

It doesn't sound like WD is introducing any FDB drives yet. Otherwise there'd be some major announcement.

Rusty075 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2002 10:49 am

It does seem odd that WD has been talking about FDB's in their press packets since last summer, but doesn't yet have any drives on the market with them.

As an aside Fujitsu and Toshiba also sell FDB drives

GamingGod · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2002 12:19 pm

oh hell, i just checked again, the j is for 8mb cache, sorry i was wrong, i could of sworn that they had fluid bearings though.

Rusty075 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2002 5:11 pm

Here's an update on the Western Digital fluid dynamic bearings issue.

I fired off an email to the boys at WD:

Quote:

Hello,

What WD hard drives are currently available with fluid dynamic bearings (FDB)? I read your press releases that say they optional on some drives, but I can't seem to find which drives specifically are equipped with them. Is there a model # designation for FDB drives?

Thank you in advance.

And their response was:

Quote:

Our FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) drives have only been released in small quantities so far. These drives should be more available in the near future. The FDB drive will have LB in the model number. An example would be WD800LB.

Not a perfect answer, (how long is the near future?) but better than nothing. At least now you know what model numbers to search for.

list of drives with fluid dynamic bearing

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