The VelociRaptor BLFS

At first glance, the VelociRaptor BLFS looks like any other 2.5" notebook hard drive but there is a significant difference. Unlike regular 2.5" notebook hard drives which are 9.5 mm thick, the WD VelociRaptor is 15 mm thick. So, it is not possible to slide it into your notebook, if you are already thinking of doing that! Just take a look at this comparison of the VelociRaptor BLFS with a 2.5" WD Scorpio notebook hard drive.

Unlike its predecessor, the flashy Raptor X, the VelociRaptor BLFS is an innocous-looking Western Digital hard disk drive with the standard white label on the top plate. The underside is also SOP for Western Digital - totally bare of any surface-mounted components.

The label has all sorts of interesting information for the geek in us - model, serial number, date of manufacturer and even the number of available sectors in LBA mode. Hey, check that out - this drive was made right here in Malaysia! The factory's just down the road from my place.

The VelociRaptor HLFS

With the IcePack heatsink installed, the VelociRaptor HLFS now conforms to the industry standards for 3.5" hard disk drives. It will fit into any standard 3.5" drive bay and is even ready for backplane mounting.

The VelociRaptor HLFS has the same white label as the BLFS. In fact, both BLFS and HLFS drives we had were made in Malaysia. The HLFS really looks like a BLFS drive mounted onto the heatsink but there are some small differences in performance between the two models. For more information, take a look at A Tale Of Two VelociRaptors.

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