The Western Digital Caviar drive series enjoys both wide retail distribution along with a stellar retail reputation. Western Digital prides itself on being the "worlds 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 ones goal IBMs Deskstar 5 outdistances the Caviar by a significant margin, albeit at an increase in cost. Quantums Fireball SE, although harder to find, offers better performance for less money. Maxtors 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.
