We knew it was only a matter of time before somebody conquered the old 2.19TB partition limit that’s hamstrung drive capacity for the past few years. Since it’s difficult to create a bootable Windows partition on a drive larger than 2.19TB, most vendors have been happily sticking to 2TB drives while waiting for the rest of the computer ecosystem to catch up. But that’s all changing; hard drive vendors are now going full steam ahead on 3TB drives. Seagate and Western Digital already have 3TB external drives, but Western Digital’s four-platter 3TB Caviar Green is the first bootable 3TB drive.

For select values of "bootable."

The 3TB Caviar Green squeezes 750GB onto each platter and boasts 64MB of cache. Its controller is 3Gb/s SATA, not 6Gb/s, but “green” drives aren’t exactly bumping up against the limits of the last-gen SATA spec. But can you use it as a boot drive? And why shouldn’t you be able to, anyway? 

Find out why after the jump.

This morning, Western Digital officially announced (and started shipping) the next generation of its VelociRaptor hard drives, and we’ve got tasty benchmark numbers for you. 

The new Velociraptors are SATA 6Gb/s-enabled and come in 450GB and 600GB flavors (a 300GB bump from the previous-gen’s 150GB and 300GB). Like their predecessors, the Velociraptors spin at 10,000rpm and desktop versions are mounted on IcePack heatsinks that let them fit in standard 3.5-inch SATA hard drive bays. IcePack-less 2.5-inch models are available for enterprise servers, but at 15mm high, they won’t fit in your laptop. 

The new VelociRaptor with its top off.

The much-needed refresh bumps the Velociraptor line back into the enthusiast market, where solid-state drives and super-speedy terabyte drives have nibbled away at their market share. Enough yammering outta us, though; let’s go to the benchmarks!