Western Digital VelociRaptor: A Drive with a Bite

Vantage Once Again

The WD VelociRaptor drive generates excellent scores in the PCMark Vantage tests that simulate real-world performance patterns utilizing a variety of actual applications. We added in our Mtron Pro SSD 32GB drive as a comparison. While PCMark Vantage utilizes actual applications for testing, the HD test provides a pure performance look at the hard drive or controller tested. Like our previous testing with iPEAK, the results show the capabilities of the hard drive without the platform penalty. In other words, these tests will indicate the true performance capability of the hard disk and should provide an indication of the drive's performance potential within the platform.

The question now is, how well does the VelociRaptor hold up in actual applications with early firmware? Let's look at our early results. For those who need high synthetic benchmark results, you can skip the rest of this article. Buy an SSD if you can afford it, and if not, buy this drive.