Hitachi 320GB 7200rpm Notebook Drive vs. 320GB Seagate SATA 7200RPM Notebook Drive

Any opinions if one is better than the other. Or are all the guts inside the same and just the branding is different?

Thanks!

 

Both will provide nearly similar performance/figures, and there is no major difference between Read/Write performance, Power Consumptions, Surface Temps and Access Times.

It mainly depends upon which drive you can get with the best warranty cover, and at the best price !!

(I remember seeing the 320GB 7200.3 at ZipZoomFly for $130 after MIR, but it is not in stock ATM)

 

Based on these benchmarks Hitachi 7K320 seems faster than WD 3200BEKT.

Based on these benchmarks WD 3200BEKT seems faster than 7200.3.

Based on this information I would say Hitachi 7K320 is faster than Seagate 7200.3 in real world performance. Which is reflected in this benchmark on Tom's Hardware:



Seagate 7200.3 is more power efficient, quieter and cooler.

 

I've always found seagate to be more reliable, hitachi drives failed on me twice now.

 

Thank you for all your advice, I really appreciate it. It is a good thing that prices have come down so much.

 

Its good harddrive prices are becoming more affordable, and probably has to do with SSD technology as an alternative. As for now, mechanical drives will get cheaper, to keep the manufacturers of these drives in business, and keep people from buying ssd's.
I have had Hitachi for many years, and never had a single problem. I cant say that for Seagate or WD. I have had to RMA many drives from both of those manufacturers in the past, and now I only buy from Hitachi.

I own two 7K320's and they seem to be very good drives and quiet too.

K-TRON

 

I have a Seagate 320 7200.3, will post some benchmark soon.

 

The Fujitsu MHZ2 BH model hard drives aren't 7200 but 5400. Don't know how they got it wrong

http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/computing/storage/hdd/mhdd/mhz2040bh-mhz2320bh.html

 

Correct. Tom's hardware made a mistake. It's the BJ series. Very impressive performance.

 

There must be something wrong with the way i run the "PCMark 05 XP-Startup Performance" test, because i got a 9,9 MB/s when testing the Seagate Momentus 7200.3...which seems to be a much better result than the one from Tom´s Hardware.

I am running the XP version like them not Vantage.

Any ideas?

 

Han Bao Quan is getting similar results. (9,7) here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=270564&page=5

I have no idea what's going on.

 

+1

I see wisdom here

I also used to like Hitachi, but that overturned in favor of Seagate

 

From a person who has experience having Fujitsu, Seagate, and Hitachi hard drives, I reccommend you choose Fujitsu if you want rock solid reliability. I have instances where Seagate and Hitachi hard drives failed within a year.... not very impressed with both.

 

Maybe you got bad luck, I've seen people with failed Fujitsu hard drives as well.

 

Yeah man every brand fails sometimes. Just make sure you get good warranty and make good backups.

 

Sorry but I'm not understanding anything more!

I have to replace my Hitachi 7K200 200GB (and put it at my girlfriend black macbook) with a more capacious and fast, but at the end what hard drive you buy?

Here, in Italy, prices for 320GB (taxes included) are this:

-- Hitachi 7K320 euro 137
-- Black WD3200BEKT euro 149
-- Seagate 7200.3 AS euro 95

I'm interested for the best price/performance ratio... like all, of course
Thank you

 

There's no clear cut answer at the moment.

Tom's hardware have WD3200BEKT coming out as the fastest in most non synthetic benchmarks. TechReport clearly show WD3200BEKT is faster than 7200.3.

Andy's benchmarks (Vantage + PC Mark) indicate that 7K320 is faster than WD3200BEKT.

Han's and Prema benchmarks (Vantage + PC Mark) indicate that 7200.3 is the fastest of them all, faster than 7K320 and WD3200BEKT.

One thing is sure though: Seagate 7200.3 uses least power of them and is the cheapest.

Let me know if you need some links.

 

Seagate, performance of all 3 is close enough and Seagate is much less money.

 

At those prices and considering Han's and Prema's benchmarks, I'd also go for Seagate.

 

Ok guys, thanks a lot for the comments!

Finally, after 30 and plus IBM/Hitachi hard drive buyed in the past year, for the first time, I take a Seagate Momentus 7200.3 AS 360GB...

I will post same bench when it take the place of the 7K200 in my notebook

Bye

 

That would nice. Especially if you could run PC Mark Vantage in Vista with exactly the same install (cloned). If you know what I mean.

 

Sorry, I don't have installed VISTA, because it doesn't work with my professional acccounter software, but only with XP

 

I'm very scary

After I bought the Seagate 7200.3 320GB on the webstore... I read on Segate forum.... and listen this!!!

http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=2186

My Hitachi 7K200 is barely audible and this Seagate

 

Interesting. I've seen complaints about 7K320 and 3200BEKT noise, but this is the first time I see complaints about 7200.3 noise.

Here's some date of 7200.3 noise. Turns out it's pretty noisy when seeking.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079/14

 

Yes, but for accuracy is to consider which is the 250GB version not the 320GB affected to this issue.

Please, can you tell me through what software I can change the performance and enable/disable the silence mode in this Seagate bios?
Thanks

 

HD Tune lets you choose between max/performance ans silence.

(Not sure if it's only in the paid version, but you can try it 14 days)

By the way, don't buy 250GB version because it's slower than 320GB.

 

Don't worry, even if you have done well to tell me, I still bought the 320GB version of Segate with code ST9320421AS.

This is the shop link:
http://www.apmshop.it/index.php?op=art&id_art=1571108


Thank you for fast response!

 

does anyone know where i can find the 7k320 in canada?

 

That's not the case of all Seagate! Mine is barely audible, and I have a 10/10 hearing sensitive. It's even quieter than mine old IDE Samsung.

 

You mean A Seagate or this prticular model? I must say I was a bit disappointed too when i saw the chart about the noise . I chose the seagate cuz it was more quiet and cheaper then the other 7200 rpm 320 GB...

I already ordered, so I guess theres no turning back.

But: can anybody tell me if it is correct that th benchmarks of the seagate are the best, and so the seagate is fastest?
Im confused bout first reading seagate was slowest of three...

Thx

 

Dont believe what Toms Hardware says about everything. They make mistakes, as does everyone, but people here like Han have the seagate 320gb drive, and they have tested and proved that the drive is in fact really fast. I think the only pcmark scores for the Hitachi, and WD drives were from Toms or storage review, so they might be wrong too. I am getting my 7K320's on Sunday, and will run Pcmark and get scores up for nbr.

At the moment, the Seagate drive is the fastest according to Han and another seagate 7200rpm 320gb owner.

K-TRON

 

Nice! Now just hold thumbs up for the noise :s

 

Well, I finally got my 320GB 7200.3 installed in my MBP and it's very quiet. Quieter than my old 160GB Hitachi 5k160. The 5k160 was quiet almost all the time, and only really became audible under intensive random HDD use like a search or a defragment. The 5k160's sound characteristic under heavy load was more like a clicking noise.

In contrast, the 7200.3 seems to have a more constant whirling type sound regardless of load. However, it is only noticeable when I put my ear directly over the HDD, like 1" from the case. With my head normally positioned looking at the screen, the HDD noise is not noticeable unless the room is quiet and you are looking for it.

But, I guess a lot of this is personnel perspective, luck in the unit you receive, and the laptop you are installing it in. I do notice a bit of vibration with the 7200.3, the vibration is consistent with something that would cause that quiet whirling sound. However, in the MBP the HDD is under the left palm rest and when I type my wrist is pretty much over the centre of the platters so the platters are spinning around my wrist and that seems to mean I don't feel the vibrations very much. It's more noticeable when my left wrist is moved left or right, as in placed where the edges of the platters would be located. The MBP's metal case probably resonates easier than plastic which is why it's noticeable, but it's really quiet minor since my right wrist doesn't feel it when I rest it on the right palm rest. And I don't feel it on my legs when I put the MBP on my lap. It's one of those things that you'll notice if you are looking for it, but if you just sat down and type you wouldn't feel a thing.

I would run some benchmarks on it, but since I'm using OS X I don't think they'll be very relevent. Even when I install BootCamp, I'm pretty sure it's placed on the slowest parts of the HDD so the results probably aren't realistic.

 

Another 7200.3 320GB installed!

Please there is a way to set Acoustic Management to Hgh Performance on this HD???




This is a first bench!

http://www.pctunerup.com/up/image.php?src=_200809/20080908163005_HDTune_Benchmark_ST9320421AS.png

 

Yes, through Notebook Hardware Control and HD Tune. NHC won't work in 64-bit OSs. And HD Tune might no let you change the AAM in Vista.
AAM won't really help, except decreasing the Access time by a few decimals.

(Recommended AAM Value for most drives is 128)

 

Ok Andy, but on XP32 HD Tune give me an error!

Watch this

http://www.pctunerup.com/up/image.ph...00.3 AAM.PNG

 

Good bench. A burst rate of 1106 MB/sec

 

The HD is connected to Promise controller of my Asus P4C800-E for clone my "old" Hitachi 7K200 on this one.

After clone, I test the Seagate on my Vaio with intel ICH-7 controller.

 

Ok cool. Can you run PC Mark Vantage HDD test when your on the ICH-7 controller? (Vista only)

 

I am sorry, but I installed only XP32bit on my notebook, becouse the software I use for my job doesn't work on Vista!

 

oh right you told me already

 

Sorry guys for not putting up benchmarks. I received the harddrive yesterday, but I have a big project due today and a test tomorrow, so I may not be able to even install the operating system until Thursday night. Sorry for the delays, school is important, and right now I would be able to, but my backup system is not running right, and I cant just start toying with my working one.

K-TRON

 

i just got the hitachi 320gb and it is silent . can't even tell it's running !no vibration nothing ! and fast . comp boots in under 25 sec

 

First impressions and test of my new Seagate 7200.3 320GB

Impression:

- I feel vibration in the chassis of the notebook, which first, with the previous hitachi 7K200 200GB I had never heard
- More silent of Hitachi, that have "low noisy" when seeking.
- Just hottest of the Hitachi 2/3 degrees centigrade in the same condition (measured data clone on my PC)
- He's fastest over Hitachi, but nothing striking!


Tests:

with Asus P4C800 Promise controller







with notebook ICH7-M controller (Vaio FE)




I don't understand why I've a lower value of max transfer rate than other users with the same hard disk, especially the max transfer rate: 89/90 MB/s against my 85 MB/s on intel controller!

However, at the same price I would have chosen the Hitachi, for having spent 100 euro for Seagate, compared with 150 dell'Hitachi and WD, I rest still satisfied

Bye

 

Thanks for posting Colex. Your acces time is a bit high too, which may indicate back ground processes. Or you using your PC during the benchmark.

Here's another user report as posted in the Sony forum.

 

Ok, I replay test in XP safe mode, without any process in background!
My VAIO have a lot process/fake program in background

Thanks PhilFlow
Bye

 

Try safe mode, but it may not be the fastest.
Other option is to manually terminate many processes by pressing ctrl-alt-del.

 

Tried in safe mode, the fastest test all the time with HD Tune is ta-ta.... 2MB/s!!!

Ok, I have manually terminated same process in task manager, like antivirus, iTunes task and many others, those are my score:







But, finally, I like more the last bench with HDTack

I think there is some issue in performance with this HD on my notebook!


p.s., I have 3 partition:
- 6GB, is the Sony ghost partition
- 40GB WinXP system
- 254GB data/documents

and this is a screen of controller driver

 

Hi guys,

Got the 7200.3 in my HP8510w since the weekend. I'm running Vista business 32.
HD tune looks like that for me:


posted a pcmark result here


In any case i bought it to upgrade my 120GB 7200.2, which slowly filled up. I more or less only upgraded to have more room. I guess todays 5400 rpm drives actually would ve been on par with the older 7200.2, but 95'ish euros for the 7200.3 werent too bad either so i got that right away. It clearly outperforms the old drive.

 

GASP!

Segate 7200.3 320GB at 71 EURO in few days in the same Italy shop were I bought it at 93 euro!?

http://www.apmshop.it/index.php?op=art&id_art=1571108