Not All 500 GB Hard Drives Are Created Equal

Test Setup And Throughput Diagrams

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System Hardware
HardwareDetails
CPUIntel Core i7-920 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard (Socket 1366)Supermicro X8SAX Revision: 1.0 Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R BIOS: 1.0B
RAM2 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX
HDDSeagate NL35 400 GB ST3400832NS 7,200 RPM, SATA/150, 8 MB Cache
Power SupplyOCZ EliteXstream 800W OCZ800EXS-EU
Benchmarks
Performance Measurementsh2benchw 3.12PCMark Vantage 1.0
I/O PerformanceIOMeter 2006.07.27Fileserver-BenchmarkWebserver-BenchmarkDatabase-BenchmarkWorkstation-BenchmarkStreaming ReadsStreaming Writes
System Software and Drivers
DriverDetails
Operating SystemWindows Vista Ultimate SP1
Intel Chipset DriversINF Chipset Installation Utility 9.1.0.1007
AMD Graphics DriversCatalyst 8.12
Intel Matrix Storage Drivers8.7.0.1007

Samsung Spinpoint M6 HM500LI

Samsung Spinpojnt M7 HM500JI

While the Spinpoint M6 drops to ~37 MB/s minimum throughput, the Spinpoint M7 maintains at least 41 MB/s. Peak results differ more significantly.