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FALL 2008 2.5" HARD DRIVE ROUND UP
  
Introduction
HDD technology has been
advancing at an amazing rate lately. Now we
have 500GB in a 2.5" form factor, 320GB spinning at
7200RPM, and so many more options in between.
Here, we shall examine a handful of these latest
drives and see how they all compare.
First, let's look at the manufacturers'
specifications of each model:
| |
Hitachi 7K200 |
Hitachi 7K320 |
Hitachi 5K500 |
Samsung HM500LI |
WD Scorpio Black
|
|
Capacity |
200GB |
320GB |
500GB |
500GB |
320GB |
|
Spindle Speed |
7200
RPM |
7200
RPM |
5400
RPM |
5400
RPM |
7200 RPM |
|
Buffer Size |
16
MB |
8 MB |
8 MB |
8 MB |
16
MB |
|
Drive Height |
9.5
mm |
12.5
mm |
12.5
mm |
9.5
mm |
9.5
mm |
|
Interface |
SATA
3 Gb/s |
SATA
3 Gb/s |
SATA
3 Gb/s |
SATA
3 Gb/s |
SATA
3 Gb/s |
|
Media Transfer Rate |
876
Mb/s |
824
Mb/s |
824
Mb/s |
860
Mb/s |
? |
|
Average Latency |
4.2
ms |
5.5
ms |
5.5
ms |
5.6
ms |
4.2
ms |
|
Average Seek Time |
10
ms |
12
ms |
12
ms |
12
ms |
10
ms |
Power Consumption,
Spin-up |
5.5
W |
5.0
W |
5.0
W |
5.0
W |
5.5
W |
Power Consumption,
Active |
2.3
W |
2.3
W |
2.3
W |
2.4
W |
2.3
W |
Power Consumption,
Idle |
1.0
W |
0.95
W |
0.95
W |
0.7
W |
1.0
W |
Shock,
Operating / Non-Operating |
350
G @ 2 ms
1000 G @ 1 ms |
400
G @ 2 ms
1000 G @ 1 ms |
400
G @ 2 ms
1000 G @ 1 ms |
325
G
900 G |
275
G
900 G |
|
Load / Unload Cycles |
600,000 |
600,000 |
600,000 |
600,000 |
600,000 |
|
Warranty |
3
years |
3
years |
3
years |
3
years |
5
years |
From the specs above, we see the WD Scorpio Black
outshining all others with its 5-year warranty,
something especially valuable with a delicate piece
of equipment constantly subjected to movement,
humidity and temperature changes. The Samsung
drive also beats the 5K500 in the slimness category
at 9.5mm, the same as other notebook HDDs and
external drive enclosures.
Many drives today include a free-fall sensor (FFS).
Such a feature minimizes damage when the drive
detects it potentially being dropped. However,
some notebook PCs have built-in accelerometers which
provide the same protection. So if your system
has it, no need to spend the extra cash on a
FFS-enabled drive.
The next page shows all the test results in Windows
XP. The test platform is listed below:
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