Hitachi recently started shipping a pair of 4 TB hard drives. We can see that they're pretty expensive, but how do they compare to existing 3 TB models in other ways? It’s time for a comprehensive overview of today's high-capacity hard drive offerings.
IOMeter 2006.07.27 Fileserver-Benchmark Webserver-Benchmark Database-Benchmark Workstation-Benchmark Streaming Reads Streaming Writes 4K Random Reads 4K Random Writes
System Software & Drivers
Driver
Details
Operating System
Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1
Intel Inf
9.2.0.1030
Intel Rapid Storage
10.5.0.1026
Comparison Table
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Manufacturer
Hitachi
Hitachi
Model
Deskstar 5K4000
Deskstar 7K4000
Model Number
HDS5C4040ALE630
HDS724040ALE640
Form Factor
3.5"
3.5"
Capacity
4 TB
4 TB
Spindle Speed
5400 RPM
7200 RPM
Other Capacities
1.5, 2 TB
1.5, 2 TB
Platters
5
5
Cache
32 MB
64 MB
Interface
SATA 6Gb/s
SATA 6Gb/s
Operating Temperature
5-60°C
5-60°C
Specified Idle Power
4.9 W
6.9 W
Measured Idle Power
4.7 W
7.3 W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read)
70 G
70 G
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Manufacturer
Hitachi
Hitachi
Model
Deskstar 5K3000
Deskstar 7K3000
Model Number
HDS5C3030ALA630
HDS723030ALA640
Form Factor
3.5"
3.5"
Capacity
3TB
3TB
Spindle Speed
5400 RPM
7,200 RPM
Other Capacities
1.5, 2 TB
1.5, 2 TB
Platters
5
5
Cache
32 MB
64 MB
Interface
SATA 6Gb/s
SATA 6Gb/s
Operating Temperature
5-60°C
5-60°C
Specified Idle Power
4.8 W
6.8 W
Measured Idle Power
4.9 W
7.1 W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read)
70 G
70 G
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Manufacturer
Seagate
Seagate
Model
Barracuda XT
Barracuda
Model Number
ST33000651AS
ST3000DM001
Form Factor
3.5"
3.5"
Capacity
3TB
3 TB
Spindle Speed
7,200 RPM
7,200 RPM
Other Capacities
2 TB
0.75, 1, 1.5, 2 TB
Platters
5
3
Cache
64 MB
64 MB
Interface
SATA 6Gb/s
SATA 6Gb/s
Operating Temperature
5-60°C
0-60°C
Specified Idle Power
6.4 W
5.4 W
Measured Idle Power
7.4 W
5.2 W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read)
63 G
80 G
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Manufacturer
Western Digital
Model
Caviar Green
Model Number
WD30EZRS
Form Factor
3.5"
Capacity
3 TB
Spindle Speed
5400 RPM
Other Capacities
2.5 TB
Platters
4
Cache
64 MB
Interface
SATA 6Gb/s
Operating Temperature
0-60°C
Specified Idle Power
5.5 W
Measured Idle Power
6.1 W
Operating Shock (2 ms, read)
65 G
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.
Ony thing i miss from the review is noice level, atleast a subjective one for all who uses them in a htpc or mediastation, do you have any comments on the noice?
Not sure if there is some sort of pricing glitch going on at Newegg right now, but the Hitachi 7K3000 is currently about $400 plus $7 shipping. That's doesn't sound like the value sweet spot this article mentions multiple times for the 3TB capacities. As also mentioned here, for drives this size, speed is not the be-all-end-all. The $300 Hitachi 5400RPM 4TB drive looks like a much better buy than $407 for a 7K3000.
I'm pretty disappointed that there aren't multiple points of note regarding expected drive lifetimes, warranties, and return policies in this roundup.
I have had an incredible failure rate with hard drives beginning around the time that the move to perpendicular recording became the norm. I am not alone in this regard. I'm pretty sure that the drive manufacturer's are aware of serious reliability issues, but their RMA policies are ridiculous. I would be willing to pay current market prices for a new drive if vendors stepped up their game with quality control and some appropriate policies addressing data security in the event that a drive is returned - the risk of granting someone else access to my banking, tax information, and whatever else was on the failed drive is generally not worth returning the drive. Vendors know this, and take advantage of it. Until the situation changes, or drives return to their previous rock-bottom sale prices, I will do everything in my power to avoid purchasing more hard drives.
I have one 3TB Hitachi and several (>20) 2 TBs mixed from Seagate and WD. I'm impressed with 3TB Hitachi drive, and also I'm very disappointed by Seagate which cut their warranties to 1 year. No more Seagate in my home NAS until they improve the offering. Sorry Seagate, I was a Seagate-only user until you screw up with 7200.11, take advantage of the flooding, rised the prices and cut the warranties.
blackbirdenOny thing i miss from the review is noice level, atleast a subjective one for all who uses them in a htpc or mediastation, do you have any comments on the noice?There hasn't been a truly loud hard drive on the market for many years. It shouldn't be an issue.
Achoo22There hasn't been a truly loud hard drive on the market for many years. It shouldn't be an issue.My Hitachi 2TB drives beg to differ.
When they start chugging along, it sounds like a snow plow clearing a parking lot in my room :(
I see two parameters for each drive: The media transfer speed and the I/O performance. The first one sounds like the speed to read/write to the disk. AFAIK, it's the speed at which the drive actually reads/writes bits to/from the surface of the platter. In that case, what does the I/O performance mean? It sounds really similar to read/write, but reading these reviews, I get the feeling there's more to I/O.