Disk Transfer Rate

This chart shows you the range of platter-to-buffer transfer rates from the innermost track to the outermost track. In other words, it shows you the range of disk transfer rates of the hard disk drives (from minimum and maximum).

Thanks to the use of higher-density platters, the 500 GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue hard disk drive actually beat the 500 GB Western Digital Scorpio Black (a 7200 RPM hard disk drive) in the overall transfer rate range. Its minimum platter-to-buffer transfer rate (at the innermost tracks) was 64 MB/s, 7.7% faster than the Scorpio Black hard disk drive, but at the outermost tracks, it managed an astounding 118 MB/s, making it 11.3% faster than the Scorpio Black.

Platter Data Transfer Profile

We compared the WD5000LPVT's platter profile to that of the 1 TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue (WD10JPVT) and the 640 GB Scorpio Blue (WD6400BEVT). We chose to use these two drives because they are the most recent two-platter 5400 RPM hard disk drives from WD. The only difference is that the WD10JPVT and WD5000LPVT both use the new 500 GB platters while the older WD6400BEVT uses lower-density 320 GB platters.

The maximum platter transfer rate appeared to be about 120 MB/s which progressively dropped across the platter to about 60 MB/s at the last track. The platter quality seems to be reasonable in this sample, with eight visible dips which suggest the use of replacement sectors.

Although the WD5000LPVT uses the same high-density 500 GB platters as the WD10JPVT, it actually starts off a little faster than the WD10JPVT although its transfer rate fell rapidly, with the WD10JPVT being much faster from 200 GB onwards. However, it was faster than the WD6400BEVT right up till the innermost tracks.

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support out work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!