MARCH 2005

T E C H N O L O G Y A D V I C E YO U C A N T R U S T

AOL KEYWORD: PCWORLD

W W W. P C W O R L D. C O M
S P OT L I G H T: H A R D D R I V ES

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8

Give Y Storage a Boost our
Lower costs and higher capacity make hard drives a great bargain right now.
funny how your once-ample hard drive seems to be awfully crowded lately. Maybe its all those images from your digital camera. Or perhaps youve been downloading too many albums from the ITunes store. Another potential culprit is the slew of home videos that you might have digitized for a DVD montage.
Fortunately, its a fine time to add a massive new hard drive to your system. The average price per gigabyte is at an alltime lowjust under a buck for the typical Serial ATA interface model, and about 75 cents for tested models that use the earlier but still very common Parallel ATA interface. Whether you want to swap out your old drive for a new 400GB behemoth, or youre ready to make your existing drive part of a two-drive RAID configuration for better speed or for redundancy, weve found a model for you. The PC World Test Center tested units from all five major manufacturers of hard drives: Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung,
Posted with permission from PC World from Volume 23, Number 3. Copyrighted 2005. #1-8828007 Managed by Reprint Management Services, 717.399.1900. To request a quote online, visit www.reprintbuyer.com.
Seagate, and Western Digital. We ran seven SATA drives and six PATA drives through a suite of tests designed to compare write speeds and seek times. Then we examined each drives retail bundle as a whole to determine which package provided the best overall value for the money.
setups in which several drives access the data bus simultaneously.
AFTER SATA drive vendors are already looking beyond the original SATA specification. The next evolution of SATA doubles SATAs peak transfer rate to 300 MBps. Another new feature is native command queuing (NCQ), which enables a drive to store and execute commands independently in the most efficient order possible. Of the 13 drives we tested, only the models from Maxtor and Seagate support NCQ. Whether youre upgrading your hard drive or buying one for a system youre building from scratch, youll need to make a number of decisions. First, decide which interface you want. If you have an older PATA system, you might still consider buying a SATA drive, along with an inexpensive SATA interface card (but make sure that you have an available PCI slot). In our Test Center appraisals, SATA drives did better than their PATA rivals. On average, the SATA group copied files and folders in 17 percent less time than the PATA drives, and copied a single 3GB file in 20 percent less time. You may not see the same gains with a different configuration or an older PC, but the improved cabling can still help your systems airflow. And it will be easier to transfer the drive you get today to the next PC you buy. Other buying criteria include capacity,
SATA-IATED sata hard drives arrived on the scene about two years ago, but theyre becoming the mainstream drive of choice only now. The lag was not wholly unexpected: Since most motherboards supported only the Parallel ATA interface at the time SATA drives debuted, early SATA adopters had to buy PCI adapter cards. Today, however, most new motherboards offer integrated SATA connections (as well as legacy PATA connectors); and market research firm IDC expects SATA drive shipments to outstrip PATA by mid-2005. SATAs refined design represents a step up. PATA ribbon cables are wide and impede air flow; SATA cables are easier to attach and significantly less bulky. SATA drives are simpler to connect and configure, too, with no master/slave jumpers to set. And finally, SATA offers greater bandwidth. Its maximum transfer rate of 150 megabytes per second is an improvement on PATAs maximum rate of 133 MBps. The transfer-rate headroom may not translate into extraordinary performance gains in single-drive systems, but it can pay off nicely in multidrive and RAID

price, rotational speed, and buffer size. Capacity needs are very user-dependent; but graphics, music, and video mavens should go for the biggest size they can afford, since media files eat up harddrive real estate in a hurry. At current prices, 250GB drives are the most economicalabout 68 cents per gigabyte. But newer, 400GB drives are priced just 7 cents higher per gigabyte, making them suitable as a hedge against future storage needs. The great majority of mainstream hard drives spin their platters at 7200 rpm. You should avoid the increasingly rare 5400rpm drives if performance is a primary consideration. Only one manufacturer Western Digitaltoday makes a 10,000rpm ATA drive. The companys 74GB Raptor WD740GD uses the SATA interface; it was designed for use in enterprise RAID configurations. Its no slouch in a desktop RAID 0 setup, either: When we paired Raptors in a RAID configuration, we got outstanding performanceeven though the Raptor lagged slightly behind the average SATA drive in some of our single-drive tests. Because of its relatively small capacity and high performance in arrays, the Raptor is often configured in RAID arrangements in high-end desktops and servers. Gamers and video editors, in particular, can benefit from this type of setup. Though buffer size is a basic drive spec, assessing the merits of different buffer
W W W. P C W O R L D.C O M
sizes is difficult. The PC World Test Centers evaluation of these drives didnt reveal any direct correlation between buffer size and improved speed: In both the PATA and the SATA categories, the fastest drives used 8MB buffers, while several runners-up employed 16MB buffers.
PASS THE SCREWDRIVER of the drives we tested for this roundup, all but one (Samsungs SP1604N) are sold as boxed drive kits. If you buy the full retail kit instead of a bare drive, youll get a few extras you may need. Typically, retail kits come with mounting screws, cables and connectors, diagnostic and setup software, and installation instructions. Installation software accompanied most of the drives we tested, but the majority of the included apps are redundant in light of Windows XPs integrated tools for installing, partitioning, and formatting a drive. Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital provide DOS formatting utilities, too. All of the kits offer usable instructions on paper. Seagate and Western Digital supply quick-install setup posters, while Maxtor includes an installation booklet; Seagates CD-ROM comes with an installation video, too. Hitachis installation guide is available on its Web sitean adequate arrangement if you have access to the Internet prior to installing the drive. One difference we observed among the drives: The SATA connectors on Western

Digitals SATA drives are noticeably bigger and sturdier than those on competing models. While still meeting the SATA standard, the connectors are a bit wider and have two additional male/female friction points on the outside for moresecure fastening. Also, Seagate includes backup software with its drives: CMSs useful (though inelegant) BounceBack Express.
BIG, SPEEDY DRIVES for this roundup we corralled six PATA drives: two versions (200GB and 250GB) of Maxtors DiamondMax 10, Samsungs 160GB SP1604N, two Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 models (250GB and 400GB), and Western Digitals 250GB Caviar SE WD2500JB. On the SATA side, we tested Hitachi Global Storages 250GB Deskstar 7K250 and 400GB Deskstar 7K400, Maxtors 250GB and 300GB DiamondMax 10 units, Seagates 400GB Barracuda 7200.8, and Western Digitals 74GB Raptor WD740GD and 250GB Caviar SE WD2500JD. The WD740GD is a 10,000-rpm drive; all of the others spin at 7200 rpm. Our Test Center evaluated all drives individually (see the sidebar at right for information about tests conducted on two drives in a RAID 0 array). In our benchmark configuration for single drives, the SATA models tended to be impressive performers. In our time trials for transferring 3GB of files and folders, top honors went to Seagates 400GB
Barracuda 7200.8. Maxtors 250GB and 300GB DiamondMax 10 models were runners-up, just over 20 seconds (about 12 percent) off the pace set by the Barracuda. In fourth, a few seconds behind the Maxtor drives, was Western Digitals 250GB Caviar SE WD2500JD, followed by Hitachis 250GB Deskstar 7K250, Western Digitals Raptor WD740GD, and Hitachis 400GB Deskstar 7K400. In the PATA ranks, Western Digitals Caviar SE WD2500JB led the pack on our file-and-folder test, followed closely by Seagates 400GB and 250GB Barracuda drives. A greater gap separated the Caviar SE from the fourth- and fifth-place finishers: Maxtors 250GB and 200GB DiamondMax 10 drives. Samsungs SP1604N, which finished dead last in performance and missed our chart, trailed the number one Seagate Barracuda by 20 percent. Given how close our test results were, all of these drives are easy to endorse. That said, we advise you to get SATA even if that entails buying an affordable PCI controller card. Select a high-capacity, money-is-no-object SATA drive (like our chart topper, Seagates 400GB Barracuda), or balance price and capacity with Maxtors DiamondMax 10 6B300S0. For optimum desktop performance, a RAID 0 array with multiple Western Digital Raptor WD740GD drives is a sure but pricey bet. Jon L. Jacobi

TO P 0

TEST Center

SERIAL ATA HARD DRIVE

Monster-Size Storage
Features and specifications Features and specifications1 8MB buffer Cable, DiscWizard software Cost per gigabyte: $0.93 8MB buffer Cable, Data LifeGuard software Cost per gigabyte: $2.70 8MB buffer Cable, Data LifeGuard software Cost per gigabyte: $0.80 16MB buffer Cable, MaxBlast software Cost per gigabyte: $0.77 16MB buffer Cable, MaxBlast software Cost per gigabyte: $0.88 Performance Performance Comments Overall performance: Very Good Copy files (3.1GB): 156 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 133 seconds Overall performance: Very Good Copy files (3.1GB): 202 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 119 seconds Overall performance: Very Good Copy files (3.1GB): 184 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 134 seconds Overall performance: Very Good Copy files (3.1GB): 178 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 143 seconds Overall performance: Very Good Copy files (3.1GB): 177 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 135 seconds Bottom line Capacious hard drive shone on our copy files test. Includes CMSs BounceBack Express backup software. This pricey drive offers raw speed in a RAID configuration, in which performance can jump by up to 33 percent. Reasonably priced drive uses more-robust SATA connectors than those found on competing drives. Bargain-priced SATA drive offers high performance and plenty of storage capacity for the price. Model provides strong performance; for $50 more, however, you can buy the 300GB version of the drive. 7200 rpm Serial ATA-150 74GB 10,000 rpm Serial ATA-150 250GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA-150 300GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA-150 250GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA-150

ANY OF THESE TEN HARD DRIVES can expand your storage capacity, but only Seagates drives come with backup software.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3400832AS 400GB
$350 (11112) find.pcworld.com/46340
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD
$200 (11113) find.pcworld.com/46348
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JD
$200 (11113) find.pcworld.com/46350
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B300S0
Best $230 (11113) BUY find.pcworld.com/46358
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B250S0
$220 (11113) find.pcworld.com/46360

PARALLEL ATA HARD DRIVE

$285 (11113) find.pcworld.com/46342
400GB 7200 rpm Parallel ATA-100 250GB 7200 rpm Parallel ATA-100 250GB 7200 rpm Parallel ATA-100 250GB 7200 rpm Parallel ATA-133 200GB 7200 rpm Parallel ATA-133
8MB buffer Cable, DiscWizard software Cost per gigabyte: $0.71 8MB buffer Cable, DiscWizard software Cost per gigabyte: $0.68 8MB buffer Cable, Data LifeGuard software Cost per gigabyte: $0.72 16MB buffer Cable, MaxBlast software Cost per gigabyte: $0.72 8MB buffer Cable, MaxBlast software Cost per gigabyte: $0.80
Overall performance: Good Copy files (3.1GB): 210 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 132 seconds Overall performance: Good Copy files (3.1GB): 216 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 135 seconds Overall performance: Good Copy files (3.1GB): 199 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 133 seconds Overall performance: Good Copy files (3.1GB): 224 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 142 seconds Overall performance: Good Copy files (3.1GB): 236 seconds Find files (12.6GB): 148 seconds
Low cost per gigabyte makes this massive drive a terrific bet for digital pack rats who need lots of storage. Like the other Seagate models on the chart, this low-cost drive includes CMSs backup software and a five-year warranty. By a slim margin, this attractively priced drive was the speediest PATA model on the chart on our copy files test. On our large-file copy test, this models performance bested the 400GB Seagates by 25 percent. Like its 250GB sibling, this drive lagged a bit behind the competition on several tests: find files, Nero, and ACDSee.
Best $170 (11123) BUY find.pcworld.com/46344
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JB
$180 (11123) find.pcworld.com/46352
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B250R0
$180 (11123) find.pcworld.com/46356
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6B200P0
$160 (11133) find.pcworld.com/46354
HOW WE TEST: To test performance, we copy a 3.1GB folder and a large 3.1GB.zip file to the Windows Desktop, scan a 6.2GB folder with McAfee VirusScan 8, search through 12.2GB of files on the drive for a text string, time how long the drive takes to perform several tasks in ACD Systems ACDSee PowerPack 5.01, create CD-ROM images with Nero Burning ROM 5.5.7.6, and time how long the drive takes to compress files with WinZip 8.1. CHART NOTES: See find.pcworld.com/10860 for details on PC Worlds Star Ratings. See find.pcworld.com/46530 for further test results.