In our comparison table we only included hard drives that are actually available. So, for example, while Hitachi has announced the DeskStar 7K500, it has not hit the shelves yet, so it is not here. While Seagate's latest hard drive family starts at a minimum capacity of 200 GB, Maxtor offers drives as small as 80 GB. Western Digital even has a 40 GB model. In contrast, Hitachi's DeskStar 7K400 is not even a whole drive family, just a single 400 GB hard drive.
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Header Cell - Column 0
Maxtor
Maxtor
Hitachi
Seagate
Western Digital
Desktop Product Line
DiamondMax Plus 9
DiamondMax 10
DeskStar 7K400
Barracuda 7200.8
Caviar, Caviar SE
Capacities
60, 80, 120, 160, 200, 250 GB
80, 120, 160, 200, 250, 300 GB
400 GB
200, 250, 300, 400 GB
40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 250, 320 GB
Spindle Speed
7,200 RPM
7,200 RPM
7,200 RPM
7,200 RPM
7,200 RPM
Seek Time
< 9.3 ms
< 9.0 ms
8.5 ms
8 ms
8.9 ms
Cache
2/8 MB
8/16 MB
8 MB
8 MB
8 MB
Interface
UATA/133, SATA-150
UATA/133, SATA-150
UATA/133, SATA-150
UATA/100, SATA-150
UATA/100, SATA-150
Geometry
80 GB per platter, max. 3 platters
100 GB per platter, max. 3 platters
80 GB per platter, max. 5 platters
133 GB per platter, max. 3 platters
> 100 GB per platter, max. 3 platters
NCQ support (SATA only)
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Fluid Dynamic Bearing
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Are you looking for a quiet drive? Seagate's eighth generation Barracuda is a calm companion.
The Western Digital WD3200JB currently is one of the fastest 7,200 RPM desktop hard drives.
Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.
