1TB Hard Drive Roundup

Reviews: Storage

1TB Hard Drive Roundup - Update

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Richard Poelling
Brian

Dec. 4, 2008

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Quality

As for the quality of these drives, only time will tell. It has been my experience that expensive drives can fail just as easily as cheap drives. In the end it is just a matter of how much information you risk, and with 1 Terabyte of information, that is a lot of stuff to lose! I will say that the Hitachi drive felt hotter than either of the Seagate drives. I was able to identify the drive by touch if that is any indication. In the end, if the drive fails, you will be relying on the warranty. Both of the Seagate drives come with a 5-year warranty while the Hitachi comes with a 3-year warranty. In terms of warranty, the WD Green comes with a 3-year warranty, while the WD Black drive comes with a 5-year warranty which is aimed seriously at the direction of Seagate.

Conclusion

I was really quite surprised by the results I got from this round of tests. The 500 GB roundup showed a serious lack of performance on the part of Seagate. I am happy to report that they have remedied that situation. Although Hitachi hit the market first, the performance numbers that Seagate is posting in these benchmarks is quite impressive. On sheer performance, I would say that the Seagate drives are hands-down winners. UPDATE: Scratch that, the obvious winner now has to be the WD Black 1TB drive. Yes, previously I did like the Seagate drives for their performance, but now, I just can’t argue with the WD Black. With that said, I also like the WD Green drive as well. Even though the performance numbers that it posted are not earth shattering, the drive does run very cool. I was able to tell a noticeable difference in temperature of the drives just by touch. For that reason alone, the WD Green drive would be my drive of choice for low noise, low heat applications (hmmm, sound familiar?).

For pricing on these drives you will be looking at about ~~$240~~ $140 for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drive, for the Hitachi Deskstar drive ~~$260~~ $140, and for the Seagate Barracuda ES.2 drive a price of ~~$290~~ $220. For the WD Green drive expect to pay about $130 and the WD Black will set you back $170. Because hardware pricing is always changing, you may find different prices. Partly because of their longer warranties, I would most definitely recommend either of the Seagate drives. The ES.2 drive would be my choice if the additional cost isn't a barrier. If cost is an issue, you can't go wrong with the Barracuda 7200.11 either. Even if performance were the same across the board, I would have to give it to Seagate just for that 5-year warranty! UPDATE: With the addition of the WD Black drive with its top-notch performance and its solid 5-year warranty, there is no reason to look any further for a 1 TB drive. Unless you want a cool running drive, in which case, just go with the WD Green. Of the players I have looked at in this review, I think that WD is probably the best positioned right now in the storage marketplace!

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Page 1: Introduction & Testing Procedure
Page 2: Benchmarking: HD Tach
Page 3: Benchmarking: DiskBench & IOmeter
Page 4: Quality & Conclusion

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