Conclusion

The 600 GB Western Digital VelociRaptor was a remarkable piece of HDD technology. It was a major improvement over the original 300 GB VelociRaptor, boasting double of everything - storage capacity, buffer size and even interface speed. That allowed the 600 GB VelociRaptor to deliver industry-leading performance in both sustained throughput and random access times.

The new 1 TB Western Digital VelociRaptor improved on that by adding a larger 64 MB cache and higher-density 2.5" platters - from 200 GB / platter to 333 GB / platter - a 66.7% increase in areal density. This allowed it to boost the maximum sustained throughput from 145 MB/s to 200 MB/s!

Our tests revealed that the peak throughput was actually closer to 210 MB/s. That means the new VelociRaptor is almost 75% faster than the original 300 GB VelociRaptor in raw throughput! Sadly, all that tremendous performance is limited to sequential access, and comes at great price.

Western Digital managed to increase the VelociRaptor's capacity and performance by leveraging the Advanced Format Technology, which allowed for higher areal density. Unfortunately, they had to use the 512-byte emulation mode which greatly reduced its random access performance. As a result, the new 1 TB VelociRaptor is much slower at random accesses, especially in writes.

Again, we must point out that this is a problem that affects all current hard disk drives that make use of Advanced Format Technology, because they all use 512-byte emulation for compatibility reasons. For more information on this performance effect, please take a look at The Western Digital Advanced Format Performance Comparison Guide.

In view of this complication, your choice would depend on how much random access matters to you. If you intend to use the VelociRaptor in a server environment, then it would be much better to go with the 600 GB VelociRaptor. However, if you intend to use it in your workstation or gaming PC, then the new 1 TB VelociRaptor's better sequential performance and larger storage capacity will make it the better choice.

Of course, the Western Digital VelociRaptor is not a cheap drive. It is the only 10,000 RPM hard disk drive with a SATA interface, after all. As of the end of July 2012 (click here for the latest price), it costs US$ 270. For the same price, you can buy at least two 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard disk drives, or a good solid state drive like the 240 GB Intel 520 SSD. Of course, the 1 TB VelociRaptor offers 4X as much storage capacity as the Intel 520 SSD, so it all depends on what you are looking for.

For the lowest current prices on Western Digital VelociRaptor hard disk drives, click here!

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