Western Digital Velociraptor 600GB 6Gb/s SATA Benchmarked

We’re please to report the new Velociraptor is fully 30 percent faster than the previous-gen version, with sustained average write speeds hovering over 130MB/s. Once again the Velociraptor is the fastest mechanical hard drive readily available. Random-access seek times are around 7.1ms—about the same as the previous-gen Velociraptor.

Is it any faster on a 6Gb/s SATA controller? A little. Maximum write speeds for the 600GB Velociraptor were slightly higher on 6Gb/s SATA, while the greatest gains were in burst speed. On the 6Gb/s controller, read and write bursts shot up from around 200MB/s to 270MB/s, and Premiere Pro CS3 and PCMark Vantage scores were slightly better as well. Beyond that, most scores were similar.