Trip wrote:ez2remember, could you post what the general results of the HDD review? like just which is given the highest rating.
Thanks man.
It's strictly in the order I pasted it above.
The Hitacthi gets 6/6 stars..
QUOTE
"Hitachi Deskstar 7K250
VERDICT: Stunning performance at a sensible price
Hitachi bought IBM's storage division over a year ago and the 7K250 is the first disk to be launched under the Hitachi brand, albeit retaining the IBM's original Deskstar name. Hitachi is slightly cagey about the similarities between the 7K250 and the Deskstar 180GXP - the brochure states that both new and proven technologies have been used. But from the searing benchmark results we saw there have definitely been some major changes inside the shiny metal shell.
We tested the 160GB EIDE version, but S-ATA 7K250s are also on offer. Each platter holds 80GB of data - par for the course these days - and seek time is rated at 8.5ms, just like the 180GXP. Fortunately, Hitachi wisely provides an 8MB memory buffer to speed up disk-to-host transfers.
Average access time, according to Intel's IPEAK Disk Analyser, was just 11.85ms - the fastest we've ever seen from a 7,200rpm disk. This equates to an average seek time of a blistering 7.68ms - significantly faster than Hitachi claims. Sequential transfer rates were similarly impressive. Outer zones were clocked at 58.4MB/sec while inner zones remained quicker than every other disk - except the identically performing Maxtor - at 37.1MB/sec. But, those quicker outer zones meant the 7K250 averaged exactly 50MB/sec - faster than both the Maxtor and WD1600JB.
The 7K250 blew everything else away in Paint Shop Pro, finishing almost seven minutes before the second-placed Samsung. Setting up a RAID 0 with two disks cut another six minutes and ten seconds off, making Hitachi top cat once again, although the Maxtor is frighteningly close behind.
But the 7K250 has plenty of other tricks up its sleeve - one of which is the silent running. You'll barely know the 7K250 is there, even when seeking, thanks to the fluid dynamic bearings and other noise-reducing technologies.
The price might not be quite as competitive as Samsung's 60p per GB, but at 67p, the 7K250 certainly won't break the bank. Anyhow, the extra performance is well worth the extra pennies."
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"QUOTE
Samsung SpinPoint P80 (5/6 stars)
VERDICT: Great speed, great value and whisper-quiet operation
Samsung might not be the first name to pop into your head where hard disks are concerned, so be prepared to challenge your prejudices. Samsung hard disks of old were slow beasts, since it appears that the majority of the R&D budget was spent on making them whisper-quiet. Now the firm has cracked that nut and is back in the performance race with a range that rivals the best of them.
The P80 is available, like all the other disks on test, in both EIDE and S-ATA guises. Here, we test the 160GB EIDE model with 2MB of cache, but an 8MB version is also available. 2MB sounds a bit limp these days, and with a claimed seek time of 8.9ms we weren't expecting the turn of speed that this disk showed us.
While other disks failed to meet their quoted seek times, the P80 was right there with 9ms, just 0.1ms off Samsung's time. However, both the Hitachi and WD1600JB were quicker. Sequential transfer rates might have been slower than others, but this measure of speed is only really important if you're an avid video editor or need to regularly move massive files around.
The outer cylinders returned 53.5MB/sec while inner cylinders dropped off to just 28.4MB/sec. Average sequential transfer rates finished at exactly 45MB/sec, which is still a decent pace.
Thankfully, Paint Shop Pro showed the benefit of the quick seek time, completing in just under an hour - the second fastest on show. Once we'd added a second SP1604N into the mix, the benchmark took only 47 minutes and 18 seconds - just 12 seconds adrift of the Hitachi RAID.
On top of this, Samsung's NoiseGuard and SilentSeek technologies work together brilliantly to create one of the quietest disks we've ever (not) heard. Even without the automatic acoustic management enabled, we couldn't hear the disk seeking inside the test rig.
Our only reservation about the P80 is its availability. You'll be hard-pushed to buy one in the UK, although Simply had stock when we went to press. For value though, the P80 can't be beaten so if you can't afford the Hitachi, grab one (or better still two) of these while you can."
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Western Digital WD1600JB (4/6) Noisiest on test, fairly quick
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 (4/6) Noisy seeks, fairly quick
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (ST3160021A) (3/6) very quiet, slow performance
Western Digital WD1200JD (3/6) not quiet, average performer
) and other stuff. Don't know if it was this site, but...