Seagate took a hammering in H2benchw's random writes, but we suspect it's due to its QuietStep acoustics management. And if the noise difference between the 7200.9 and DiamondMax 10 hadn't been so severe, we probably wouldn't address it.

At idle, the Maxtor drive was just barely louder than Seagate's. Maxtor publishes a range of 25-29dB idle noise for one- to three-platter drives, and 32-38dB during seeks, which should work out to 27dB idle and 35dB seek noise for this two-platter drive in a simple world, but real physics might throw in a curve.

Seagate, on the other hand, provides 25dB idle and 28dB seek noise. This means that the Barracuda 7200.9 in full head-bobbing seek mode is nearly as quiet as the DiamondMax 10 at idle! It also means Maxtor's seeks are nearly twice as loud as Seagate's! Ouch!

Without perspective, this might seem harsh, so here's a bit to consider: Seek noise for the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 falls between the original P4 Prescott and the original Athlon 64 Venice CPU fan noise levels. Owners of noisy systems wouldn't notice the added noise, but owners of quiet systems will be annoyed. By comparison, the Barracuda 7200.9 is quieter than even the stock Athlon 64 Venice CPU cooler.

The Samsung SATA drive provided similar acoustical characteristics to the Barracuda, at 25dB idle and 28dB seek. Had Samsung sent a drive with the correct interface for final evaluation, it could have been a good race!