Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10JPVT (1 TB) And Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT (750 GB)
Western Digital sent us the flagship models from both of its product lines, Scorpio Blue and Scorpio Black.
Due to their different spindle speeds, they don’t play in the same league. The Scorpio Black rotates at 7200 RPM, emphasizes performance, and is targeted at desktop replacement notebooks. Hard disks in the Scorpio Blue product line, on the other hand, spin at 5200 or 5400 RPM, depending on the model. They are optimized for low noise and low power consumption, while still offering good performance. The manufacturer sets its sights on many different types of portable devices with the Blue family. And the 1 TB WD10JPVT belongs to that more power-friendly line-up.
Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10JPVT (1 TB)
WD takes no prisoners when it comes to data density, fitting 500 GB onto each platter. The flagship model (WD10JPVT, with a street price around $115) features a SATA 3Gb/s interface, a height of 9.5 mm (0.374“), and an 8 MB cache. The Scorpio Blue family contains 13 other disks.
Be forewarned, the other 1 TB drive (WD10TPVT) is 12.5 mm (0.5“) high, and thus unsuitable for most notebooks.
Western Digital Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT (750 TB)
The Scorpio Black line-up only has six models, ranging from 160 GB to 750 GB. All of them have a SATA 3Gb/s interface, a 16 MB cache, and a 7200 RPM spindle speed. Only the two largest disks are AF-equipped: the WD5000BPKT and our test candidate, WD7500BPKT, which costs $90.
Performance
Western Digital earns top marks. The sequential read and write performance of both drives winds up at the top of their respective segments. The 5400 RPM Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD10JPVT achieves a sequential read speed of 87.3 MB/s and a sequential write rate of 87.2 MB/s, beating Samsung’s Spinpoint M8 HN-M500MBB by a slim margin. The 7200 RPM Western Digital Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT wins against the competition quite decisively, posting a sequential read rate of 98.0 MB/s and a sequential writes as fast as 97.4 MB/s.
Our test shows that the Western Digital Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT has the highest power consumption amongst the samples measured, at up to 3.3 W (the Scorpio Blue hits 2.5 W). Even at idle, the ammeter needle swings to the right more than it does with the other disks, revealing that the WD7500BPKT draws 1.0 W (the Scorpio Blue is lower, at 0.7 W).
