The T7K250 is Hitachi's first drive to offer 125GB per platter, making our 250GB model HDT722525DLA380 a two-platter solution. The newer SATA 3Gb/s interface should boost transfers from its 8MB cache, but the main reason for any noticeable performance improvement would be higher platter density, allowing more bits to pass under the head per revolution.

The Deskstar supports a choice of SATA power or 4-pin Molex power, allowing flexibility in installation. A sticker above the connectors warns against using both at once, as this could cause "unpredictable results".

By now, all SATA drives support the 3Gb/s (3 gigabits per second) interface natively, and SATA 3Gb/s has displaced the older SATA 150 (150 megabytes per second) interface. The T7K250 supports both standards, and comes programmed at 150MB/s for better compatibility. Changing to 3Gb mode requires modification of the drive BIOS via Hitachi's Feature Tool, available in both diskette and bootable CD images from the company's download page.

Hitachi sent a full retail package including a shiny box, utility CD, SATA data cable, and four mounting screws. Because we're using "bare drive" pricing in our value assessment, we can ignore these accessories.

The latest in its midsized SpinPoint series, the SP2504C also features 125GB per platter, for an efficient two-platter design. Once again, the newer SATA 3Gb/s standard is expected to produce increased performance for its 8MB cache, while increased platter density allows more bits to pass under the head per revolution.

Compared to the Hitachi model, Samsung adds a jumper block and removes the 4-pin Molex power plug. We no longer see this as a drawback, as nearly all recent power supplies include SATA power, and nearly all SATA equipped motherboards come with 4-pin Molex-to-SATA power adapters.

The SP2504C supports both 3Gb and 150MB/s transfers from its native SATA interface, using a jumper to determine transfer mode. Pre-configured as SATA 3Gb/s, changing to SATA 150 requires the builder to supply his or her own (standard sized) jumper.