Western Digital boosts storage capacity of its VelociRaptor high-performance hard drives

The VelociRaptor's primary drawback has been its smaller capacities (300GB max) in a world full of terabyte (and more) drives. Western Digital is making things a little better with the release of new drives with 450GB and 600GB of storage, which, according to the company, consume the same amount of power as older models while boosting performance 15 percent. As with previous VelociRaptors, the retail versions come with IcePack, an enclosure that fits into a 3.5-inch drive bay and includes a built-in heat sink.

While the VelociRaptor can't completely keep up with many solid-state drives, it provides superior performance and more storage than comparably priced SSDs. Still, if you're looking to upgrade your PC with one, it isn't cheap: the 450GB WD4500HLHX is $299 and the 600GB WD6000HLHX is priced at $329. Systems installed with the drives will be available this quarter.