Conclusion

If you've already read our review of the 640 GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue (WD6400BEVT), you will remember that we were pretty disappointed with its performance. Despite its higher-density platters and consequently higher transfer rates, the WD6400BEVT could not beat the older 320 GB Western Digital Scorpio. This is mostly due to the "Advanced Format effect".

This time around, Western Digital gave the Scorpio Blue family a new boost in storage capacity and performance by replacing the 320 GB platters in the WD6400BEVT with new higher-density 500 GB platters in the new 1 TB Scorpio Blue (WD10JVT) hard disk drive. They also introduced a new stainless-steel top plate and a more robust headstack design, increasing the drive's shock tolerance to 400 Gs during reads.

We can't vouch for the WD10JVT's increased shock tolerance but we can definitely confirm that it is much, much faster than the WD6400BEVT.

In our real-world tests, the new 1 TB Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT) was at least 40% faster and as much as 50% faster than the WD6400BEVT. It was actually faster than some 7200 RPM hard disk drives!

When we examined the WD10JPVT's performance a little closer using IO Meter, we found that it was significantly faster than the WD6400BEVT in all types of sequential transfers. It was also significantly faster at random reads. However, it was actually slower than the 640 GB Scorpio Blue in random writes.

The WD10JPVT was also a relatively hot drive. It was actually hotter than the 750 GB Scorpio Black and the 500 GB Scorpio Black, which are both 7200 RPM hard disk drives. However, the difference in recorded temperature is pretty small.

Overall, we are much happier with the new 1 TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT) hard disk drive than we were with its 640 GB brother, the WD6400BEVT. It is a much speedier drive, negating the WD6400BEVT's main weakness. Couple that with the significantly larger storage capacity and a much better shock tolerance, and you have what has to be Western Digital's finest Scorpio Blue hard disk drive to date. We certainly like it enough to think it deserves our Reviewer's Choice Award. Congratulations, Western Digital!

You may think that all this comes at a price. It does, but it's a pretty affordable price. You can get one today for just US$ 133 (RM 400). You can check Pricegrabber for the lowest price.

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