Perfect Notebook Storage: Seven 2.5” 500 GB Drives

Features
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Comparison Table And Test Setup

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Manufacturer Fujitsu Hitachi Samsung Toshiba
Model Number MJA2500BH Travelstar 5K500.B HTS545050B9A300 Spinpoint M6 HM500LI MK5055G
Form Factor 2.5" (9.5mm) 2.5" (9.5mm) 2.5" (9.5mm) 2.5" (9.5mm)
Capacity 500 GB 500 GB 500 GB 500 GB
Spindle Speed 5,400 RPM 5,400 RPM 5,400 RPM 5,400 RPM
Other Capacities 750 GB 120, 160, 250, 320, 400 GB - 120, 160, 250, 320, 400 GB
Platters 2 2 3 2
Cache 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB
NCQ Yes Yes Yes Yes
Interface SATA/300 SATA/300 SATA/300 SATA/300
Operating Temperature 5-55°C 5-55°C 5-55°C 5-55°C
Specified Idle Power 0.6 W 0.8 W 0.7 W not specified
Measured Idle Power 0.7 W 0.8 W 0.9 W 0.7 W
Operating Shock (2ms, read) 350 G 400 G 325 G not specified
Warranty 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years
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Manufacturer Seagate Seagate Western Digital
Model Number Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT
Form Factor 2.5" (9.5mm) 2.5" (9.5mm) 2.5" (9.5mm)
Capacity 500 GB 500 GB 500 GB
Spindle Speed 5,400 RPM 7,200 RPM 5,400 RPM
Other Capacities 120, 160, 250, 320 GB 160, 250, 320 GB 80, 120, 160, 250, 320, 400 GB
Platters 2 2 2
Cache 8 MB 16 MB 8 MB
NCQ Yes Yes Yes
Interface SATA/300 SATA/300 SATA/300
Operating Temperature 0-60°C 0-60°C 0-60°C
Specified Idle Power 0.8 W 0.7 W 0.9 W
Measured Idle Power 0.9 W 1.0 W 1.0 W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read) 350 G 350 G 350 G
Warranty 3 Years 3 Years 3 Years

Test Setup

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System Hardware
Hardware Details
CPU Intel Core i7-920 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard (LGA 1366) Supermicro X8SAX, Revision: 1.0, Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R, BIOS: 1.0B
RAM 2 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX
HDD Seagate NL35 400 GB ST3400832NS 7,200 RPM, SATA/150, 8 MB Cache
Power Supply OCZ EliteXstream 800W OCZ800EXS-EU
Benchmarks
Performance Measurements h2benchw 3.12PCMark Vantage 1.0
I/O Performance IOMeter 2006.07.27Fileserver - BenchmarkWebserver - BenchmarkDatabase - BenchmarkWorkstation - BenchmarkStreaming ReadsStreaming Writes
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System Software and Drivers
Driver Details
Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
Intel Chipset Drivers Chipset Installation Utility 9.1.0.1007
AMD Graphics Radeon 8.12
Intel Matrix Storage 8.7.0.1007