In the performed tests, the Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5'' HDD from Western Digital performed faster than the 320GB version; in most benchmarks it was very close to the Hitachi 7K500-500, but there were also situations when it outperformed it with ease.

The Scorpio Black 500GB model continues to be one of the fastest 500GB 2.5'' HDDs on the market, that we should not pass up when considering buying a new drive for our laptop. This model does also come with a nice five-year warranty, compared to the Scorpio Blue that only has three.

The drive is priced about the same as the Hitachi model, 55 Euros. For about double the price, we can look upon the recently launched Scorpio Black 750GB model. This one adopts a newer standard named Advanced Format, replacing the traditional 512 byte hard drive sector with a 4 kilobyte (4,096B) hard drive sector. Also, the drive comes with two 375GB platters, opposed to the 500GB version, which has two 250GB platters.

Overall you'll be hard pressed to find a faster laptop HDD on the market today, while it's a dying segment with SSD drives prices plummeting and size increasing, these HDDs still offer a premium price/GB ratio which is not easy to neglect.

Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5'' HDD Recommended For:

I would like to thank again to Western Digital for allowing to test their latest products!