I have just got a new HDD and I wanted to test the sequential read speed (the whole disk). I used:pv /dev/sda > /dev/nullThe disk is 500GB WD VelociRaptor (WD5000HHTZ). At the beginning the read spead is 194 MB/s but gradually it drops. At the end it was reading only about 118 MB/s. I am wondering if this is normal, and perhaps has something to do with the disk internal geometry. I did not expect such great variation. Besides, 118 MB/s is really slow, even for a normal HDD. The VelociRaptor is supposed to be a high end HDD for desktops.
Varing speed when reading sequentially from a HDD
hard disk;performance;hardware
It is not unusual to have significant speed differences between the inner and outer tracks of an HDD.See also this answer.