PC enthusiasts are famous for poaching enterprise-class hardware for their personal systems. New technologies tend to debut for server and workstation markets first—just look at the latest processor launches from AMD and Intel—and we don't like having to wait for those developments to trickle down to desktop parts. Even after the latest new hotness has a change to percolate through desktop lineups, enterprise-class hardware can still hold the promise of faster performance, better reliability, and longer warranty coverage: a trifecta of goodness that's hard for any enthusiast to ignore.

Of course there's another element to our penchant for enterprise-class hardware: the sense of almost smug satisfaction we get from deploying otherwise button-down business hardware in systems that are tweaked and overclocked to within inches of their lives, most of which are spent playing games. It's much easier to justify spending money on a system you can legitimately call a workstation, too.

Lately, enterprise-class hard drives have become increasingly popular in enthusiast systems. The 10K-RPM Raptor is perhaps the best example of this trend, but not the only one. Western Digital's RE2 line of 7,200-RPM drives has also become favored among enthusiasts for its delicate balance of performance, capacity, and a five-year warranty. And now there's a new one.

Based on a Caviar SE16 750GB foundation that we already know delivers phenomenal performance with low noise levels, the latest RE2 benefits from tweaked firmware, RAID optimizations, more extensive reliability testing, and extended warranty coverage. Read on to see if those extras are enough to elevate this enterprise drive above not only its desktop counterpart, but also the fastest drives on the market.