The Terabyte Battle

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Terabyte HDD Comparison

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ManufacturerHitachiSeagateWestern Digital
ModelDeskstar 7K1000Barracuda 7200.11Caviar GP
Model NumberHDS721010KLA330ST31000340ASWD10EACS
Capacity1000 GB1000 GB1000 GB
Spindle Speed7,200 RPM7,200 RPM> 5,400 RPM
Other Capacities750 GB500, 750 GB500, 750 GB
Platters544
Cache32 MB32 MB16 MB
NCQYesyesyes
InterfaceSATA/300SATA/300SATA/300
Warranty3 years5 years3 Years

Test Setup

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System Hardware
Processor(s)2x Intel Xeon Processor (Nocona core)3.6 GHz, FSB800, 1 MB L2 Cache
PlatformAsus NCL-DS (Socket 604)Intel E7520 Chipset, BIOS 1005
RAMCorsair CM72DD512AR-400 (DDR2-400 ECC, reg.)2x 512 MB, CL3-3-3-10 Timings
System Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar WD1200JB120 GB, 7,200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, UltraATA/100
Mass Storage Controller(s)Intel 82801EB UltraATA/100 Controller (ICH5)Promise SATA 300TX4ICP 5085BL 8-Port SAS/300
NetworkingBroadcom BCM5721 On-Board Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Graphics SubsystemOn-Board GraphicsATI RageXL, 8 MB
System Hardware
Performance Measurementsc’t magazine’s h2benchw 3.6
I/O PerformanceIOMeter 2003.05.10Fileserver-BenchmarkWebserver-BenchmarkDatabase-BenchmarkWorkstation-Benchmark
System Software & Drivers
OSMicrosoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 1
Platform DriverIntel Chipset Installation Utility 7.0.0.1025
Graphics DriverDefault Windows Graphics Driver
Patrick Schmid
2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • andy_newton
    The Barracuda gets bricked after 6 months of use. While Seagate is kind enough to offer a free recovery, I lost 3 weeks of my time waiting. Upon receiving its unbricked with new firmware, the performance has now become terribly slow. It is very much different from the last moments before it got bricked.

    I contacted the customer service again and they give me a B.S. regarding this particular hard drive is not suitable foe use as external Drive.

    I am both terribly surprised and disappointed that tomshardware did not amend any article regarding its performance (post recovery), since those performance charts with its defective firmware should be invalid.

    Instead, Tomshardware continues to praise this hard drive and claims that in toms lab the bricking can not be repeated.

    I am wondering how much money that seagate pays toms to shut up and not to publish any honest review regarding this other affected hard drives.

    Or is it just me (again) waking up in a parallel universe where Seagate has never built any drives with defective firmware.

    -ND
    Reply
  • flagoman
    mmm, you are out of place on your comments, here, couse i dont think that toms would be able to test any hardware for 6 months or until it fails. imagine how late every review would be delayed, its ridiculous,what you are asking what are you six years old??? shezzz... And the company offer you a recovery of the info of your hdd,and actually i found that a great plus, Seagate. but you should had take your info out, and buy a new one.
    Reply