New Performers From Western Digital: 100 GB Hard Disk With 8 MB Cache, Plus A New 120 GB Drive

WD1200 Breaks New Capacity Record With 120 GB At 7200 Rpm

There is hardly any difference between the previously tested 100 GB model WD1000 and the new 120 GB drive. Both hard drives have three platters and a per-platter capacity of 40 GB each. While the 100 GB drive clearly does not make use of its full capacity, WD obviously didn't have to do much more than alter the firmware and maybe run some quality checks in order to activate the remaining 20 GB.

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Western Digital WD1200
Capacity 120 GB (3 Platters)
Rotation Speed 7,200 rpm
Average Seek Time 8.9 ms
Cache Memory 2048 kB
Warranty 3 Years

Test Setup

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Test System
CPU Intel Celeron, 500 MHz
Motherboard MSI 815E Pro (MS-8xxx)
RAM 128 MB SDRAM, 7ns (Crucial/Micron ) CL2
IDE Controller i815 UltraDMA/100 Controller (ICH2)
Graphics Card i815 On-Board Graphics
Network 3COM 905TX PCI 100 MBit
Operating Systems Windows 2000 Pro 5.00.2195 SP2
Benchmarks and Measurements
Office Applications Benchmark ZD WinBench 99 - Business Disk Winmark 2.0
High-end Applications Benchmark ZD WinBench 99 - High-End Disk Winmark 2.0
Low Level Benchmarks HD Tach 2.61
Performance Tests HD Tach 2.61
Settings
Graphics Drivers Intel i815 Reference Drivers 4.3
IDE-Drivers Intel Bus Master DMA Drivers 6.2
DirectX Version 8.1
Screen Resolution 1024x768, 16 Bit, 85 Hz Refresh
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

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.