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New Enterprise Hard Drives: 6 Gb/s SAS And 200 MB/s
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1. Enterprise HDDs Have Reached 200 MB/s!

With SAS 6 Gb/s HBAs and infrastructure now available, this seems to be the perfect time to examine the latest enterprise hard drive offerings from Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate. Samsung and Western Digital would probably claim that they offer enterprise-class drives as well, but their products are more suitable for business solutions rather than enterprise applications because they don’t yet offer SAS.

Today we're looking at eight different SAS models from Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate offering up to 600GB of capacity.

The Big Shrink

Our three players have been working towards switching their enterprise products from 3.5” to a 2.5” form factor for various reasons. The first is I/O performance, because 15,000 RPM 2.5” enterprise drives deliver the best I/O operations per second (IOPS) results. Secondly, efficiency and storage density are key factors. Smaller hard drives require considerably less power, but deliver comparable performance, which results in increased power efficiency (performance per watt). 

Storage density is usually defined as a measurement of data stored within a given space. But in the enterprise, higher storage density typically also often infers higher performance per space. All other things being equal, more hard drives deliver more IOPS and better throughput. Finally, higher storage density can lead to reduced overal costs when using fewer drives to reach higher capacities.

Enterprise Adjustments

The Seagate Constellation reaches 500GB, while our other contenders are all 146/147GB or 300GB models. Compared to the 2,000GB units available in the desktop space, this appears almost pathetic. However, hard drive makers stopped pursuing high enterprise drive capacities at top performance levels long ago. If you want high capacity in the “enterprise” drive segment, you look to purpose-built 24x7 versions of mainstream, high-capacity products. Hitachi has the Ultrastar A7K2000, Samsung has its Spinpoint RAID class, Seagate has the Barracuda ES.2, and Western Digital has its RAID Edition drives.

All of these are desktop-class designs that were modified for performance and reliability in enterprise environments. These are the only reasonable choices for high-capacity storage. But since we’re focusing on performance in this article, we’re going to only look at performance-oriented drives.

2. 2.5”: Fujitsu MBD2300RC (10,000 RPM, 300GB)

The MBD2300RC is Fujitsu’s 2.5” mainstream enterprise hard drive (MBD2 RC). The drive family is available at 300GB or 147GB capacities, and it comes with the new 6 Gb/s SAS 2.0 interface. This faster link speed can be particularly beneficial when reading or writing from or into the drive’s 16MB cache memory. 

Admittedly, the cache size isn’t particularly large, and the 247 MB/s interface bandwidth didn’t really require SAS 2.0. The benchmark results aren’t all that great, either, as Seagate’s Savvio 10K.2 and 10K.3 typically deliver higher I/O performance, and the 10K.3 clearly wins on throughput. However, Fujitsu’s 300GB MBD2300RC makes a strong comeback in the PCMark Vantage application benchmark, showing that the drive might have been optimized for workstation and PC-type applications rather than server workloads. For typical Windows tasks, the Fujitsu MBD2300RC drive is almost as fast as some 15,000 RPM models—not bad!

Finally, this drive really shines with regard to power consumption. The 3.5W idle power draw is impressive enough that only Seagate’s 7,200 RPM Constellation can beat it. Other 2.5” enterprise drives require up to 6.8W and average almost twice the idle power. Fujitsu’s peak power consumption is also excellent; no other 10,000 RPM drive slips under the 6.2W power mark. Yet, Fujitsu isn’t that efficient when it comes to delivering a limited data stream. At full HD video playback, the MBD2300RC required 5.0W. Hitachi and Seagate both beat that and also consume less power during workstation-type I/O operations.

Looking at this Fujitsu drive from a performance per watt standpoint, the MBD2300RC does great at streaming reads and provides average results for workstation I/O efficiency. If you want to maximize for efficiency rather performance, the MBD2 RC is your drive.

Throughput Diagram

The Fujitsu MBD2300RC doesn’t break records, but it does deliver solid throughput. More results and comparisons can be found in the upcoming benchmark section.

3. 2.5”: Fujitsu MBE2147RC (15,000 RPM, 147GB)

Fujitsu’s second sample is the MBE2147RC. This model is limited to either 73.5GB or 147GB, but it is also one of the latest SAS 6 Gb/s designs. Different from the MBD2 RC we discussed on the previous page, the MBE2 RC family is a 15,000 RPM racer. The increased rotation speed increases maximum throughput from about 125 MB/s to almost 150 MB/s and the 102 MB/s average to almost 130 MB/s. 

We found the impact on access time and I/O performance much more significant. This drive’s 5.3 ms access time is second-fastest in this review, putting it head-to-head with Seagate’s Savvio 15K.2, which is faster in Web and file server environments, while Fujitsu dominates in our database and workstation testing. Yet the Savvio 15K.2 prevails over Fujitsu when it comes to throughput and access time. Last but not least, the MBE2 RC delivers the highest PCMark Vantage application results. This, combined with high workstation I/O, makes the MBE2147RC the perfect workstation hard drive.

Once again, Fujitsu continues to impress with excellent power consumption figures. Not even 10,000 RPM drives can improve on Fujitsu’s 4.2W at idle. The MBE2147RC is also the most efficient 15K drive at maximum streaming, including at full HD video playback, where a constant but limited stream of data has to be delivered. As a result, the MBE2147RC is a real winner in both of our efficiency tests. We also recommend comparing this drive with the previous generation, the MBA3147RC, which we also included in the benchmark results charts.

Throughput Diagram

Almost 150 MB/s is an excellent result for a 2.5” SAS drive. However, it can’t beat Seagate’s Savvio 15K.2, which edges out the field at around 160 MB/s.

4. 2.5”: Hitachi Ultrastar C10K300 (10,000 RPM, 300GB)

Hitachi throws its hat in the 2.5” enterprise hard drive ring with the 300GB C10K300. There’s also a C15K147, which we did not receive for this review. The latter still utilizes 3 Gb/s SAS, while the C10K300 steps up to 6 Gb/s SAS.

While our two Fujitsu drives didn’t demonstrate a bandwidth advantage for the faster interface, Hitachi manages to reach the highest interface bandwidth in this test at 341 MB/s. Keep in mind that this an interface speed, meaning it applies to activity between the system and the drive’s 64MB cache memory. The 7.1 ms average access time is an average result for 2.5” 10,000 RPM drives. The Ultrastar C10K300 can outperform the Fujitsu MBD2300RC and Seagate Savvio 10K.3 in different I/O benchmarks, but there is no clear winner here, unlike in the PCMark Vantage application test.

Unfortunately, Hitachi’s 6.4W idle power seems high compared to its two direct competitors, but Hitachi does well in limiting power consumption in some situations, such as full HD video playback. Only the Savvio 10K.3 and 7,200 RPM drives are more efficient in this application. Hitachi’s peak power consumption never exceeds 6.9W, but this still lands it in the bottom ranks of our efficiency tests. The drive is solid, but it only ekes out wins over its competitors in certain tests, such as PCMark and some I/O benchmarks.

Throughput Diagram

5. 2.5”: Seagate Constellation (7,200 RPM, 500GB)

The Constellation family, available in 3.5” format at up to 2TB, is now replacing Seagate’s Barracuda ES. However, the Constellation brand also includes 2.5” models, giving Seagate some differentiation while the competition seems set to pick either high density/performance or high capacity. 

We looked at the 500GB 2.5” Constellation (ST9500530NS, SATA/300), a cost-effective version for workstation PCs, blade servers, network applications, and high-reliability near-line storage. There’s also a 6 Gb/s SAS version (ST9500430SS). The Constellation drives come with 32MB cache in the 160GB and 500GB SATA models, but cache drops to 16MB if you opt for a SAS/600 interface. The 7,200 RPM spindle speed obviously prevents performance records, but it is the basis for best-in-class efficiency if you look at enterprise-class capacity per watt.

The Constellation ST9500530NS showed the lowest surface temperature in this review, reaching only 47°C (116°F) after 30 minutes of intensive operation. It delivered peak throughput of 95.2 MB/s on our reference test system, which is a bit more than the Savvio 10K.2 can transfer (91.8 MB/s). Seagate’s SAS version is a bit faster at 102 MB/s, and it also delivers slightly better I/O performance. However, have a look at the PCMark Vantage results before making a buying decision. The SATA/300 model is clearly faster than the SAS/600 brother in this benchmark.

The SATA model has another advantage: it only requires 3.0W idle power, marking the lowest power result in this roundup. In contrast, the SAS/600 model required 5.1W. We never measured more than 4.4W for the SATA version, which is a great result for low-power enterprise storage. But there’s always a trade-off somewhere. In exchange for efficiency, you’ll find the Constellations at the bottom of many benchmark charts.

Throughput Diagram

6. 2.5” Seagate Savvio 10K.3 (10,000 RPM, 300GB)

The Savvio 10K.3 is already Seagate’s third-generation 2.5” SAS drive, while Fujitsu and Hitachi have younger product lines. However, this doesn’t translate into a general advantage for Seagate. The 10K.3 delivered a 7.1 ms access time, which Hitachi’s C10K300 and the Fujitsu MDB2300RC matched.

Seagate’s Savvio 10K.3 reached up to 133 MB/s read throughput. Hitachi was a bit faster, Fujitsu a bit slower. Seagate dominated file and Web server benchmarks; Hitachi won in the database and workstation tests. However, both the Fujitsu MDB2300RC and the Hitachi C10K300 were superior in the application-heavy PCMark Vantage benchmark. This particular test is more suitable for desktop environments, but it reflects what happens when you utilize these drives in workstation PCs. Finally, Seagate beat Hitachi’s idle power, but it had to surrender to the very efficient 10,000 RPM Fujitsu drive. Yet, the Seagate Savvio 10K.3 had the lowest power at delivering a defined stream of data, such as HD video playback (4.4W versys 4.9W for Hitachi and 5.0W for Fujitsu).

In the end, performance per watt for streaming reads and workstation I/O was average or slightly above average. This isn’t exciting, but it’s still acceptable considering that the Seagate drive has been around longer. All 10K.3 Savvios utilize SAS 2.0 at 6 Gb/s, and you can choose between 300GB and 146GB options.

Throughput Diagram

The Savvio 10K.3 is Seagate’s first SAS 6 Gb/s 2.5” enterprise hard drive. Its 130+ MB/s throughput is great, but not best of class anymore. However, performance and efficiency are solid.

7. 2.5”: Seagate Savvio 15K.2 (15,000 RPM, 146GB)

The Savvio 15K.2 is similar to the 10K.3, but it runs at an accelerated 15,000 RPM spindle speed. As a result, it has to be compared to Fujitsu’s MBE2147RC (2.5” SAS) and Seagate’s Cheetah 15K.7, which currently holds our throughput record of 203 MB/s. 

The Savvio 15K.2 managed a maximum read performance of 161.3 MB/s on our reference test system—still an outstanding result. Its direct competitors are the Cheetah 15K.6 (in the previous 3.5” generation) and the Ultrastar 15K450 by Hitachi (also previous-generation). The Savvio 15K.2 delivered much better minimum throughput, and it definitely won the access time shootout, requiring only 5.0 ms for average access. The 307 MB/s interface bandwidth showed that the 6 Gb/s SAS-based Savvio 15K.2 can operate off of cache memory faster than it would have if confined to SAS/300.

This drive dominates the I/O benchmarks, winning two out of four and finishing second after Fujitsu’s MBE2147RC in the two other tests. However, it is clearly a server hard drive, as it proved only average or above average in the PCMark Vantage application suite. Victory in our power consumption tests goes to Fujitsu, as its 15,000 RPM 2.5” SAS drives had significantly less power consumption during idle and streaming reads. Then again, Seagate’s Savvio 15K.2 is more efficient at workstation-type I/O and at streaming HD video, which we used to test power consumption at a limited workload. Fujitsu follows close behind, crushing the field on workstation efficiency, while Seagate rules streaming efficiency (performance per watt).

Throughput Diagram

Impressive results. This 2.5” 15,000 RPM SAS 6 Gb/s drive beats most of the competition, except Fujitsu’s counterpart.

8. 3.5”: Seagate Cheetah NS.2 (10,000 RPM, 600GB)

Seagte’s 3.5” Cheetah NS.2 is supposed to combine high capacity and high performance. Unlike the Constellation, the Cheetah NS.2 aims more at great value than maximum efficiency. The drive comes in capacities of 600GB and 450GB on a SAS 6 Gb/s interface. If you prefer 4 Gb/s FibreChannel, you can also get a 300GB model.

All NS.2 drives have 16MB cache and a 10,000 RPM spindle speed, which prove ample enough to reach 160 MB/s on our 600GB sample. Although the NS.2’s peak throughput was as high as on a Savvio 15K.2, the minimum dropped to 87 MB/s. We measured a pleasing 7.0 ms access time and up to 297 MB/s on the interface. Amazingly, I/O performance was quicker than on 10,000 RPM, 2.5” SAS drives by Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate. The NS.2 showed varying PCMark Vantage application performance.

A 7.5W idle power sounds comparatively high, but keep in mind that this is a four-platter, 3.5” hard drive. Compared to the 12.2W to 14.4W idle power of the 15,000 RPM, 3.5” drives, the’s NS.2’s 7.5W seems more than acceptable for a 10,000 RPM enterprise drive. The highest power consumption we measured was 10.4W, which occurred during workstation I/O operations. Power draw during streaming and HD video playback was lower. Since many of the 2.5” drives required less power, the Cheetah NS.2 doesn’t have a chance to win the streaming read efficiency category or workstation I/O efficiency. However, in its class (low cost per gigabyte and high capacity per watt for enterprise environments), it does very well.

Throughput Diagram

9. 3.5”: Seagate Cheetah 15K.7 (15,000 RPM, 300GB)

Finally, the Cheetah 15K.7 is currently the fastest hard drive when it comes to throughput. A 203 MB/s read maximum is quite impressive; no competitor comes even close. Similarly, the 15K.7 stands alone on minimum read throughput at 122 MB/s. Write performance results echo these numbers. 

Although flash SSDs do reach faster throughput, you should be careful with those alternatives. They may not always be able to maintain their promised throughput while hard drives in a controlled environment typically do. The only exception are I/O-heavy applications, in which hard drives don’t stand a chance (not even with the 15K.7’s 5.7 ms access time and I/O results, which that are only slightly behind the Savvio 15K.2 and Fujitsu’s MBE2147RC).

The downside to all of this screaming performance is power consumption. The drive’s 13.5W idle power may be less than previous Cheetah 15K generations, but we still saw power numbers reach up to 16.2W. As a result, this Seagate’s efficiency results are not very impressive. Large, high-performance 3.5” drives still justify their designs with high throughput, but we believe that this Cheetah 15K will be the last of its kind. The advantages of the 2.5” form factor are just too obvious.

 

Throughput Diagram

Very impressive. This drive nails more than 200 MB/s.

10. Comparison Table And Test Setup

Comparison Table

Manufacturer
Fujitsu
Fujitsu
Hitachi
Model
MBD2 RC seriesMBE2 RC seriesUltrastar C10K300
Model Number
MBD2300RCMBE2147RCHUC103030CSS600
Form Factor
2.5"2.5"2.5"
Capacity
300GB147GB300GB
Spindle Speed
10,000 RPM15,000 RPM10,000 RPM
Other Capacities
147GB 73.5GB147GB
Platters
2
2
2
Cache
16MB16MB64MB
TCQ/NCQ
YesYesYes
Interface
SAS/600SAS/600SAS/600
Surface Temperature
57°C58°C56°C
Specified Operating Temperature
0-55°C0-55°C5-55°C
Specified idle Power
3.4W4.1W3.4W
Measured idle Power
3.5W4.2W13.4W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read)
100 G (100 ms)100 G (100 ms)60 G
Warranty
5 years5 years5 years

               

Manufacturer
Seagate
Seagate
Seagate
Model
ConstellationConstellationSavvio 10K.3
Model number
ST9500530NSST9500430SS ST9300603SS
Form Factor
2.5"2.5"2.5"
Capacity
500GB500GB300GB
Spindle Speed
7,200 RPM7,200 RPM10,000 RPM
Other Capacities
160GB160GB146GB
Platters
3
3
2
Cache
32MB16MB16MB
TCQ/NCQ
YesYesYes
Interface
SAS/600SAS/600SAS/600
Surface Temperature
47°C49°C58°C
Specified Operating Temperature
5-55°C5-55°C5-55°C
Specified Idle Power
2.6W2.9W3.5W
Measured Idle Power
3.0W5.1W5.9W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read)
70 G 
70 G 
70G
Warranty
5 years5 years5 years

                  

Manufacturer
Seagate
Seagate
Seagate
Model
Savvio 15K.2Cheetah NS.2Cheetah 15K.7
Model Number
ST9146852SSST3600002SSST3600057SS
Form Factor
2.5"3.5"3.5"
Capacity
146GB600GB600GB
Spindle Speed
15,000 RPM10,000 RPM15,000 RPM
Other Capacities
73GB300GB, 450GB300GB, 450GB
Platters
2
4
4
Cache
16MB16MB16MB
TCQ/NCQ
YesYesYes
Interface
SAS/600SAS/600SAS/600
Surface Temperature
59°C48°C60°C
Specified Operating temperature
5-55°C5-55°C5-55°C
Specified Idle Power
4.1W6.2W11.7W
Measured idle Power
6.0W7.5W13.2W
Operating Shock (2 ms read)
60 G60 G60 G
Warranty
5 years5 years5 years

 
Test Setup

System Hardware
Hardware
Details
CPU
Intel Core i7-920 (45nm, 2.66 GHz, 8MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard (Socket 1366)
Supermicro X8SAX
Revision: 1.1, Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R, BIOS: 1.0B
RAM
3GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX
HDD
Seagate NL35 400GB
ST3400832NS, 7,200 RPM, SATA/150, 8MB Cache
Power Supply
OCZ EliteXstream 800W
OCZ800EXS-EU
Benchmarks
Performance Measurements
h2benchw 3.12
PCMark Vantage 1.0
I/O Performance
IOMeter 2006.07.27
Fileserver-Benchmark
Webserver-Benchmark
Database-Benchmark
Workstation-Benchmark
Streaming Reads
Streaming Writes
System Software and Drivers
Driver
Details
Operating System
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
Intel Chipset
Chipset Installation Utility 9.1.0.1007
AMD Graphics
Radeon 8.12
Intel Matrix Storage
8.7.0.1007
11. Benchmark Results: Access Time And I/O Performance

I/O Performance

12. Benchmark Results: Throughput And Interface Performance

Throughput Comparison

Streaming Comparison

Interface Bandwidth

13. Benchmark Results: Application Performance

Overall Score

Individual Scores

14. Power Consumption

15. Efficiency And Temperature

Drive Surface Temperature

16. Performance Summaries And Conclusion

Conclusion

We included several additional hard drives in the benchmark charts to provide some points of reference for our review candidates. Obviously, the latest hard drives deliver considerably higher performance than their predecessors. One example is Seagate’s Cheetah 15K, which went from 128 to 203 MB/s throughput in two drive generations. At the same time, power consumption went down by a significant amount, making all of today’s enterprise hard drives drastically more efficient than previous products.

However, tests also show that the days for traditional 3.5” drive are numbered, at least in the enterprise, where maximum performance and efficiency are essential. Increased data densities allow 2.5” high performance drives to close the gap with their 3.5” brothers. Fujitsu’s MBE2147RC and Seagate’s Savvio 15K.2 are impressive examples of diminutive 2.5” drives outstripping the fastest 3.5” competition on IOPS, and they’re not very far behind on throughput-intensive workloads, either.

Despite having pulled almost even on performance, these 2.5” drives require just half the power of their 3.5” counterparts. The only real reasons left to stay with 3.5” environments are legacy/compatibility considerations and high performance requirements.

Seagate provides hard drives for every possible business case. The Cheetah 15K.7 delivers highest throughput, the Savvio 15K.2 has the best I/O numbers, and the Savvio 10K.3 tackles efficiency. The Constellation pairs mainstream capacity (500GB) with low cost and high efficiency by using a 7,200 RPM spindle speed, and the Cheetah NS.2 balances solid capacity, performance, cost, and efficiency for traditional 3.5” 10,000 RPM customers. Each drive does very well in its segment but doesn’t necessarily belong outside of these target scenarios.

Should we expect the manufacturers to cover all bases? For Seagate, perhaps. The firm has been the hard drive market leader and it knows more than anyone else that one size can’t fit all. The other hard drive makers make compromises. Hitachi focuses on throughput and application performance, losing a bit on I/O. Fujitsu optimizes its 2.5” drives for maximum efficiency, which results in a solid but not groundbreaking 2.5” 10,000 RPM drive. The 15,000 RPM Fujitsu MBE2147RC, however, is impressive. It manages to be stand evenly with Seagate’s Savvio 15K.2, despite its low power consumption. Hence, this Fujitsu drive is our choice for both high density enterprise performance environments and for workstations.