Western Digital VelociRaptor slow in testing

[Oxonsi]

I have a 600 GB WD VelociRaptor installed as an extra data drive in my machine. I decided to test its speed with a benchmarking program. The results seem disappointing: the sequential write speed is 124.7 MB/sec, and sequential read speed is 132.3 MB/sec.

By way of comparison, I have an external hard drive attached over USB 3, and the results there are 143.0 MB/sec, and 169.5 MB/sec. It is a descent drive, but only 7,200 rpm.

Am I missing something in expecting the VelociRaptor to outperform a 7,200 rpm external hdd in sequential write / read speeds?

The SMART attributes for the VelociRaptor all seem normal, no errors are detected. It is attached to a newer SATA interface. I also have write caching enabled on it...

Thanks for any thoughts / advice.

 

[SBMfromLA]

I have that same drive.

I have mine connected to a SATA 3 port on my motherboard and it's about 1/2 the speed of a SATA 2 SSD. But the speed varies, depending on the data you're moving around.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Oxonsi.
Sorry to hear you're having some sort of trouble with your drive. It seems like this is one of the legacy models of VelociRaptor. Would you please write the model of the HDD so that I can check its exact specs. In the meantime I'd suggest that you check the drive with DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostic) as well, just to be on the safe side. I'd recommend that you run both tests (Quick and Extended) to see if anything out of the ordinary pops-up. You can download it from here: Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows and here's how to use it:
How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

Please keep me posted.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Oxonsi]

Thanks for the replies.

The model number shows in Windows as WDC WD6000HLHX-01JJPV0. I have had it in my machine for ~2 years now. I've never had any problems with it. I've never tested its speed until now.

I downloaded the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows and followed the instructions. Right-Click on the WinDlg.exe file and choose to Run As Administrator, accept the License Agreement, and click Next. Right after that, the program crashes for me. I receive an error window stating, "DLGDIAG for Windows has stopped working. A problem cause the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available." There are buttons for "Debug" and "Close program." Doesn't matter which button I select, the window closes with no further information.

I'm not experiencing any other issues with my machine. Any ideas?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey again, Oxonsi.

The issues you're having with DLG are pretty odd. I'd recommend that you try the DOS version: Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for DOS.
As for the VelociRaptor HDD, it seems like the transfer speed you're getting is pretty close to this model's speed, but there's still a gap. It is indeed a 10K RPM drive, but it is also a legacy product (an older generation of the VelociRaptor models) from 2010, and the different technology back then results in the difference between the HDDs from 5 years ago and the ones that are made today.
I'd still recommend that you try testing the drive with DLG and hopefully you have no issues using the DOS version. You could also try switching the drive to a different SATA port and a different SATA cable to see if you get the same results.
You can take a look at the drive's specs in this sheet: Specifications for the Serial ATA 6 Gb/s VelociRaptor® (Gen 2) enterprise hard drives

Hope that clears things up a bit.