Western Digital Scorpio Black

The Scorpio Black is Western Digital's family of 2.5" high-performance mobile hard drives running at 7200 RPM. They are available with capacities ranging from 80 GB to 320 GB.

All WD Scorpio hard drives support the following features :

Low power consumption -With technologies like IntelliSeek, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption and SecurePark, which reduces power by parking the heads during low power idle mode, this drive delivers 5400 RPM-equivalent power consumption in a 7200 RPM drive.

Quiet - In a notebook drive, silence is golden. WD's exclusive WhisperDrive combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to yield one of the quietest 2.5-inch hard drives on the market.

ShockGuard - WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.

SecurePark - WD's SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear and improved shock tolerance.

The model we are reviewing is the 320 GB Scorpio Black, which is the highest capacity drive of the family. Let's take a look at it!

Packaging

The Scorpio Black hard drive we obtained for this review was an OEM-packed unit. Like most OEM-packed hard drives, it came in just a sealed anti-static plastic packet with nothing more than a sachet of dessicants to keep it dry. Other than the sparse packaging (and the lack of any documentation), this drive is no different from the retail version, right down to the 5-year warranty.

All you need to do is just cut open the plastic packet and slide out the drive. Be sure to ground yourself before handling the drive as static can damage it. In particular, you should try to avoid touching the exposed PCB located at the base of the drive.

If you like your packaging or need to deliver this hard disk drive by mail, you can always opt for the retail version of the drive. It comes with its own box and proper padding to ensure the drive survives a mail delivery. Of course, the retail package comes with a price premium.

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