Western Digital Caviar WD2000BB ATA 100

Western Digital knows that its WD2000BB isn't particularly fast, but it's cheap. This was the first drive to hit the 200GB mark in late 2002, using three platters with a 66GB density. At the time this was impressive but, compared to more recent drives using up to 83GB per platter, this is no longer the case.

The proof is in the 9.9ms average seek time. In addition, the drive only has 2MB of cache and it continues to use ball bearings in the motors, as Western Digital has been slow to adopt FDB motors. This makes the WD2000BB look rather aged. It battled with the two 7200.7 models for the title of 'slowest drive in the round-up'. Western Digital seems to be well aware of this situation and has cut the price to £99, making this an incredibly cheap drive that costs just under 50p per GB, so despite its age you cannot afford to ignore this model if you're looking for a secondary drive.

Contact: Western Digital 01372 360055
www.wdc.com