Four Ways to Maximize Storage Value at the Price/Performance Sweet Spot: Mid-Range Drives from Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate and WD Compared!- Page 3/6
May 17, 2006
By
Thomas Soderstrom
Seagate 7200.10 300GB
The little brother of its acclaimed 750GB drive, the 7200.10 300GB is so new it's hard to find any information beyond promotional flyers! Also available in 16MB-cache versions, our ST3300820AS model ties an 8MB cache to a SATA 3Gb/s interface. The largest change from Seagate's "early" 7200.10 320GB of just a few weeks ago is the use of two higher-density platters rather than three, which should reduce heat and noise. Seagate credits the 7200.10 series' density to perpendicular-bit technology, but we've already seen platters up to 160GB in its most recent 7200.9 longitudinal-bit design.
Seagate provides SATA power and data connections, but no outdated 4-pin power socket. A small jumper block is marked "factory" in most documentation.
SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 150 modes are configurable, but Seagate pins its hopes to auto-negotiation by not mentioning any configuration method in drive documentation. A site search returned the actual purpose of Seagate's "factory" jumper: It provides a method to force SATA 150 mode for those few controllers that require this.
Western Digital WD3200SD
The only "Enterprise Series" drive in our comparison, Western Digital's RE series features an enhanced warranty and extended wear protection for a tiny difference in price, offering added value to a far wider market than the business environments for which the product is targeted.
We put a lot of thought into making a specific request to Western Digital for its highest-value drive, which we believed would be the Caviar RE 250GB SATA 3Gb/s model WD2500YD. Our contacts unfortunately did not have so small a drive in hand, and substituted the 320GB WD3200SD SATA 150 version with 8MB cache. Assuming they're not indicative of larger supply problems, public relations' allocation issues have no real affect on the consumer -- but will they put WD at a disadvantage in our value analysis?
The WD3200SD interface provides both SATA and 4-pin power connectors, which should not be used simultaneously. A jumper block enables SSC (Spread Spectrum Clocking) and PM2 (Power-Up in Standby) modes.
The WD3200SD is only drive in this comparison to use the older SATA 150 interface, increasing compatibility at the cost of some loss in burst rate from cache transfers. Transfers from the platter are unaffected, as SATA 150 is easily fast enough for even the highest-speed disks.
Having the greatest capacity of drives tested also means the WD3200SD is the only drive in this comparison to use three platters. We did not notice a significant difference in heat, however.
Western Digital provided the WD3200SD in a professional service kit, including a SecureConnect SATA cable, four screws, one jumper, and a disk utility CD. We need not concern ourselves with these accessories, as this comparison uses "bare drive" pricing.
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