Hard drive recommendations and benchmarks: 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm.

SATA 1 will not limit any traditional notebook hard drive, so it does not matter. Take a SATA1 or SATA2 drive. SATA2 drives are not always faster than SATA1.

The only drive that somewhat limited by SATA1 connections is an SSD: Intel X-25M.

 

I was thinking of getting a 250gb portable drive until I read this part so was I was just wondering is worth to go with extra space.

I understand that 320GB would have less platters than a 250gb one, meaning less heat, noise and power and better performance as stated is that correct?

 

Good that you mention it. The Seagate 7200.3 250GB turns out to be just as fast as 320GB. (even a little bit faster in HDTune)

I will correct that.

 

PhilFlow have you decided yet if you're getting the 7200.3 or if you're going to hang out for the 7200.4?

 

Not sure. First a new notebook My current notebook only supports PATA drives.

But 7200.3 320GB is high on my list once I get a new notebook.

 

Does anyone know how the new 500GB WD drive compares to the 7200.3? I in no way need a larger or faster notebook hdd but I want one anyway. Does the 500gb WD use 2x 250gb platters?

 

Yes it uses 2x 250GB platters.

Performancewise we've seen different results. John got 62MB/sec average here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=307430

Kaltmond got 66MB/sec average:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=305890&page=3

The Seagate 7200.3 scores around 70-72 MB/sec.

So at least in synthetic benchmarks the WD comes very close. Real life benchmarks may show more difference though.

 

The Seagate was delivered last Friday, but I didn't have time to deal with it till Monday afternoon.

I did an NBR search and learned about Seagate's Acronis-based DiscWizard. Downloaded and installed it and then put the new Seagate in the CoolMax enclosure I also ordered from Buy.com.

Followed the DiskWizard instructions and cloned the old Hitachi drive onto the new Seagate, which must have taken an hour and a half, but I didn't check the time. Replaced the Hitachi with the new Seagate in my HP notebook. Fired the computer back up and, voila!, it worked. The computer did need to download an audio driver, but it did that on its on.

I've had the computer on for about three hours this morning, with several programs open, three internet windows with several tabs each, as well as Windows Media Player running a video for the past 25 minutes. The HDD temp finally rose to 53C (127F) with the WMP after holding at 50C prior to the added requirements of WMP.

That said, the new Seagate at 7200 rpm appears to be no hotter than the Hitachi 5400 that it replaced. It's plenty quiet, IMO, and fast, and, if it is hotter, it's insignificantly so.

Bill

 

I stopped reading there.

FAIL.

 

Increased data density. New drive technology.

Are you trying to be awkward with your two posts?

 

Hmm... does anyone have power consumption specs of the new WD500GB drive compared to the Seagate Momentus 7200.3? Anyone have any specs on operating temperatures as well?

Also... seems like Seagate's releasing a new update to their drives? Any news on when the 7200.4 is out or any reported specs on it?

 

I think John has posted some results of the WD5000BEVT power requirements:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=307430

Word on Seagate 7200.4 is that it's expected around mid december.

 

Are you sure the WD Scorpio Blue 3200BEVT 320GB is fast? (320Gb 5400rpm right?) I have two of those in my comp and they achieve quite slow results in HDTune.

 

Seems like your results are limited because of back ground processes. The blue downward spikes and 6% CPU are signs. You should get 51MB/sec average. Don't do anything while running the benchmark and limit all processes (superfetch, indexing, AV, etc)

But yeah the WD32000BEVT is the fastest 320GB/5400rpm drive. HD Tune is a synthetic benchmark and not the best indicator of real life performance. Check Techreport.com or Storagereview.com for real life benchmarks.

 

Tom's hardware had a good article on the Seagate head fab process. There was also a lot of good info about heads in general.

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/476-seagate-hard-drive.html

 

its a great article and all but a lot of the info is BS. Lots of people take toms hardware info to heart, and they really shouldnt. A lot of harddrive myths are left to be in that article, but doing some research you can see that most of its written to satisfy what the people want to hear. If they knew all of the platters were the same, nobody would buy from one or the other, cause in fact the manufacturers of the drive only design the pcb and the head. The rest of the platter is completely the same from one manufacturer to the next.

K-TRON

 

the second phrase of this sentence really condused me because of the complex double negative. "All but a lot" means "a little bit", so what you are saying is that it is a good article, but a small part of the article is BS?

I'm really not following this at all. Are you saying that there are a lot of myths they didn't put in? I went looking for hard drive myths and found a lot of good info, like the TechARP site, but none of those things were discussed in the article. Are you saying the article is BS because it doesn't discuss any of these myths?

Thats kind of like saying if automobile drivers knew that all new cars had Goodyear tires, they wouldn't care which one they bought. Or maybe like saying if tire buyers knew that the rubber all came from the same place, they wouldn't care who they bought their tires from.

The article really didn't talk much about where the platters came from, but I can tell you that where the platter blanks come from is not nearly as important as the treatments that go on them. In the last twenty years, we've seen platter bit density and speed capability exceed that of the heads and then the heads exceed the capabilities of the platter surfaces and then back again. I'm really not sure where we are on that front anymore. But I promise you that Seagate is not sharing it's treatment secrets with Hitachi and WD. But some of the smaller players mentioned in the article very likely have no choice if they want to compete.

 

I just found that the article was well written, but the facts are not all right.
They should have focused more on the real deal, the difference between the drives. All of the harddrive platters are made in Thailand, where Hitachi, WD, Seagate, Fujitsu, Samsung and Toshiba all have their cooperative joint plant. What many peope think, is that WD manufacturers different discs than hitachi, and so forth. In actuallity all of the harddrive manufacturers are using the same exact platters, heads, and motors. The only difference is the controllers for the harddrive, which are made by their respective companies. This is why some drives are more power efficient than others. They have different microcontrollers which control the actuator arms, so power efficiency changes between make. What Toms mentioned was that most of their heads are made in Ireland, which is almost completely untrue. Almost all of the heads are made In Thailand, and Malaysia, not Ireland. The plant they speak of in Ireland is a fraction of what they have in Thailand, and heads are known to come from both. However I can assure you that most are made in Thailand in the same facility the platters are made in. I have talked to a few people at WD, and Hitachi, so I dont buy anything Toms says about harddrive heads

K-TRON

 

What a brilliant article.

fiziks you misread I think: "its a great article and all , but a lot of the info is BS"

 

OK guys, hows this SSD? (OCZ Core 128GB)
It's only $500 in Australia, and is a good capacity.
Is it worth it to buy one of these to replace one of my under-performing and hot 320 5400rpm HDDs?

http://www.skycomp.com.au/product.aspx?id=122661

What about this other one? (OCZ Core II 120GB)
It's a tiny bit more expensive but I heard the Core IIs are much better than the Cores.

http://www.i-tech.com.au/items.aspx?id=32979

Last thing, will this 320GB 7200rpm HDD fit in my laptop?

http://www.jantech.com.au/product.asp?pID=72503&cID=153

 

Qaz, OCZ Core is good as a second drive. As primary drive it can cause stuttering because the random writes can be very slow. You can find the review on Anandtech.com

The Caviar series are desktop drives, so no it won't work.

why don't you kill some background processes and run HDTune again? You should get 51 MB/sec easily.

If that doesn't satisfy you either Seagate 7200.3 or Seagate 7200.4 are interesting alternatives.

 

Ok, heres another run, but with minimal background processes.



Speed is OK, it's just the temps that worry me.

 

47 isn't a problem. Even 57 would not be a big deal. More than that would be something to watch.

WD32000BEVT has a reputation for getting hotter than average.

Have you enabled the enhanced hard drive performance setting in Vista? That can help performance a bit.

 

So, I will most likely get that Core V2 120GB HDD.

You seem to know a lot about Hard Drives, could you help me when I eventually get it? This will be my first ever experience delving into the inner components of a notebook.

First,how do you set a Hard Drive to become the second? And, I'm assuming the second one is the D: Drive, right?

Second, how do I install Windows on one Drive, and use the other as a regular? And which config would be faster; SSD as main or HDD as main?

Third, will there be any performance decrease when using two hard drives of different models and capacities?

Thanks Phil./

 

Well I know a bit but i don't know everything. Luckely there are many others members willing to help. And yes I can help too.

I'd recommend that you first try the OCZ Core V2 as your primary drive. You may get not stuttering at all, as some people have reported.
If you do get stuttering, you should look on the OCZ forum i think, because there are certain ways to prevent it.

Setting up primary and secondary can be done by jumpering master and slave, assuming that your harddrives are on the same channel.

 

And setting up primary and secondary drives is done how? Through BIOS?

 

Primary partitioning: I use Acronis Disk Director. It has a bootable CD. Maybe the trial version does too.

 

Thanks for your help Phil. +rep

Now I have to call my reseller if replacing the HDD will void the warranty.

Youre almost at the big 6K!!

 

Not any more Phil, a fully working fix has just been found: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46804

I've just purchased a Core V1 128GB (for $194.99!) to use as system drive as this has been proven to work.

The Core V2 suffered exactly the same problems before this fix so if you can find a V1 for a good price go for it as they are only very slightly slower than V2. I say go for that deal at Skycomp qaz.

 

Wow if that's really true it is great news. I might get one for my netbook.

I'd like to read some more confirmation though. Tell me if you find some.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4202789&postcount=1661

 

i have a hp pavilion dv2750ee. just want to ask what type of HDD i have or what type of HDD is compatible to my notebook. i want to upgrade anything that can be upgraded. thanks

 

Should be normal SATA. I'd recommend WD5000BEVT 500GB for ultimate capacity or Seagate/WD 320GB/7200rpm for speed.

 

I have a toshiba A200-1AX
i have a 4200 rpm 200 gb HDD which is my primary HDD. I want to have both of them can i make the 320 gb HDD my primary without having to reinstall my windows ? I want to increase the loading speed of games mostly.

can you recommend a 320 gb HDD for around $100AUD ($70 USD). 500 gb ( a bit out of my budget)

here are some that i have found

320GB 2.5" WD SATA Laptop HDD Hard Disk Drive - $105 AUD
320 GB, 3 Gb/s, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM

Samsung 320GB 8MB SATA Internal Hard Drive 2.5 LAPTOP - $114 AUD


Average Latency: 5.6ms
Average Seek Time: 12ms
Cache: 8MB
Features: Fluid Dynamic Bearing Spindle Motor Technology Load/Unload Head Technology Multi-Burst On-The-Fly Error Correction SilentSeek Hybrid Latch System for Reliability and Quietness
Form Factor: 2.5"

SEAGATE Momentus 2.5" SATA 200GB 7200rpm - $ 139AUD

Model:
Specifications 200 GB
Model Number ST9200420ASG
Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s
Cache 16 MBytes
Capacity 200 GB
Guaranteed Sectors 390,721,968
PHYSICAL
Height (max) 9.5 mm (0.374 inches)
Width (max) 69.85 mm (2.75 inches)
Length (max) 100.5 mm (3.975 inches)
Weight (typical) 115 grams (0.254 pounds)
PERFORMANCE
Spindle Speed 7,200 rpm
Average latency 4.17 msec
Random read seek time 11.0 msec
Random write seek time 13.0 msec
RELIABILITY
Annual Failure Rate 0.68%

 

Are you in the USA? or in Australia?

If you are in the USA, check out zipzoomfly and newegg.
ZZF has the 7K320 for $80:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008894

I do not think ZZF only ships within the USA, so if you are in Australia you would have to buy from an australian etailer.

K-TRON

 

I'm in australia.

 

If you want to increase loading speed of games buy a 320GB/7200rpm drive. Peferably WD3200BEKT.

 

+1 on that recommendation.

 

Hello everyone !

I just bought a Toshiba A300 - 1QE notebook.
I can see you have a vast experience in notebook hard disks so I would like to ask your opinion and thank in advance for your response.
First, the laptop came with Vista Home Premium installed. Because I personally don't like Vista (because it uses a lot of resources comparing to xp), I decided to install Windows XP Professional including Service Pack 3.
After changing the BIOS -> SATA mode to Compatibility, I managed to installed Windows XP successfully, but the overall performance was very poor. Could you please take a few minutes to look over hd tune results and write your opinnion ? Tests were made in SATA Compatibility mdoe , not AHCI.
Not being able to install a custom windows xp kit with toshiba sata drivers in ahci mode, I decided to return the laptop, but I am still confused about the transfer speed, because the hard disk does not appear to be broken

 

I've got a dv5t and currently a 250GB 5400RPM. I want more space but I can't decide if I should go with a 320GB 7200RPM or a 500GB 5400RPM. My main concern is that the heat from my laptop would go through the roof. I already have a T9400 and a 9600GT and it gets heated. The speed is my main concern since I already have an external hard drive and I'm just looking for an extra couple of gigabytes with a boost in overall speed.

 

I am looking for a relatively cheap, quiet and cool SATA-II HDD for my notebook.

As this topic suggests, the Fujitsu MHZ2320BH and Hitachi 5K320 are the 'better choices'.

Which disk could I choose best (from the above two), when it comes to both acoustics and temperature (not mentioning the speed in this one)?

 

The 5K320 is the quietest 320gb 5400rpm drive, it also runs pretty cool, so that would be the better choice

K-TRON

 

I'll add some fresh results of my WD3200BEKT (Western Digital 320GB, 16MB cache, 7200rpm).







Compared to the new seagate 500GB 7200rpm drive, wd3200bekt is still faster in IOPS and all random access/write/read-results But not in sequential throughput.



Still very satisfied with my 3200bekt. A fast and quiet little sucker. Hehe.


EDIT: updated with fresh scores of my hard drive.

 

I have an HP dv9500t CTO and just bought the WD 320GB 7200RPM drive only to find it didn't have an adapter for my HDD slot. Does anyone know the specific adapter I need to buy to install it? It needs both a mount and an adapter to fit the SATA port.

Edit: Nevermind, I found it! It's the 434106-001 caddy/adapter.

 

Does your notebook have 2 harddrive-slots?
If not, you should take the old caddy off the harddrive that's in your notebook atm. Otherwise you're doing it correct with a new caddy

 

Hi

I've recently (yesterday) bought a 5k320 320 Hitachi drive. I've installed it in my Thinkpad R61 14"1, which is quite similar to the T61 laptop. The point is that I'm feeling a vibration comming from this drive which I had experienced in a Macbook. WD1600BEVS, which was oryginally installed, the vibration is really hardly noticable. I must concentrate to feel anything.

Is this Hitachi drive behaviour normal, or is it something I should be woried about ? It is kinda getting on my nerves.

Thank You for Your replies

 

Some people has reported vibrations from the 5k320 and 7k320, they replaced the drive with another manufacturer. So i don't think it'll go away.

Mounting rubber-feets or something that's like rubber between the hard drive and the laptop chassis should remove the vibrations and make it sound even less, so try that first, as that is a thing that does much to remove vibrations specially.

 

the harddrive really doesnt effect gameplay. All it effects is the loading time.
I would say two 320gb WD or Hitachi's is your best option. Two members already stated that their seagate 7200.4 drives already died, so you wouldnt want that.

The cpu and gpu effect the gameplay much more than the harddrive.
If you have a 2.2Ghz + core 2 duo, you should be fine.
If you have the 8800GTX you are probably also fine.
I think Dell released a 9800GTX for the XPS1730, but you may want to double check on that
Also upgrading to 4Gg or maybe 6-8Gb of memory will be a better upgrade.

K-TRON

 

I have those rubber rails that are used in Thinkpad, son I can't really do anything more. Shame on me that I haven't asked about the vibrations first, beacause I'm unable to get refund for the drive. Could You suggest any rather quiet, non-vibrating HDD ?

 

I experience my WD3200BEKT louder than the stock silent WD800BEVS my T61 came with. There's the typical windy sound on the drive, although very fast indeed. Wonder if the wind sound is present in all drives of this particular model, some claim is a quiet drive, I'm not sure of that, although it is to be expected it is a 7200rpm.