Hitachi's T7K500 and 7K160 with 160gb platters

[Goldmember]

Today, Hitachi announced new hard drives with 160gb platters.

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 4, 2006 – Hitachi Global Storage Technologies ( Hitachi) today announced two new 3.5-inch hard drives that extend the company's long-standing tradition of performance and capacity leadership. The Deskstar® T7K500 and Deskstar 7K160 feature 7,200 RPM spin speeds and 3Gb/s SATA interfaces to deliver maximum performance in mainstream and high-performance PCs, gaming systems and low duty cycle servers. The new drives use 160GB+ per platter technology to deliver up to one-half terabyte (500GB) of storage capacity in a one-, two- and three-disk design. The reduced platter count and proven Deskstar design platform optimize the drives for high-volume manufacturing and streamlined product qualifications.

Technical Specifications:
Deskstar T7K500
500/400/320/250 GB (GB = 1 billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less)
998 Mb/s max. media data rate
8.5 ms average seek time
7,200 RPM, 4.17 ms average latency
ATA-133/Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s
8 MB data buffer – PATA
16/8 MB data buffer - SATA
26.1 mm in height (max)
118 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density
3/2 platters
6/4 recording heads
350 G (2ms) non-operating shock (2 disk)
300 G (2ms) non-operating shock (3 disk)
6.0 (3 disk)/5.0 (2 disk) watt idle power (Parallel ATA)
7.0 (3 disk)/6.0 (2 disk) watt idle power (Serial ATA)
3.0 (3 disk)/2.8 (2 disk) Bels typical idle acoustics
0-60 degrees C operating temperature
Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) spindle motor

Deskstar 7K160
160/80 GB (GB = 1 billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less)
966 Mb/s max. media data rate
8.5 ms average seek time
7,200 RPM, 4.17 ms average latency
ATA-133/Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s
8 MB data buffer
26.1 mm in height (max)
120 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density
1 platter
2/1 recording heads
350 G (2ms) non-operating shock
4.9 watt idle power (Parallel ATA)
5.9 watt idle power (Serial ATA)
2.5 Bels typical idle acoustics
0-60 degrees C operating temperature
Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) spindle motor

Thanks to digit-life.com for the link.

[lenny]

1W extra for SATA vs. PATA? Wow, that's a large percentage difference! I guess it means the SATA ASICs have not been tweaked as much as PATA?

Choice is good, I guess. 1/2 TB HDs are still hovering above $0.50/GB. And 160GB on one platter is nice.

[winguy]

Excellent. We definitely want to see SPCR review some of these.

[Goldmember]

Unfortunately, it looks like these DeskStars won't be available until Q3 at the earliest. Maybe Samsung will release the T166 soon. I also heard that Maxtor is supposed to be releasing their 160gb per platter drives in Q2. That may have changed though with Seagate taking over mid-year.

Hitachi has also released their CinemaStar drives for DVR applications.
1. Silent seek acoustics for "bedroom-quiet" operation
2. Low power idle for cooler system operation and greater host-product reliability
3. Wider temperature range to support warmer operating environments, especially in confined spaces like entertainment centers
4. Smart Command Transport and adaptive error recovery for optimized video streaming and picture quality
5. Thermal fly height control for improved error rates in varied temperature conditions

Hitachi also plans on reducing noise further according to news.com. "In the future, Hitachi may try to take out some of the air inside the drive chassis and replace it with a different gas to further reduce aerodynamic resistance, Healy added."

[winguy]

7K80 measured 20 dBA@1m at idle, with Hitachi specifying 2.6 Bels. 7K160 interestingly idles at 2.5 Bels.

[winguy]

7K160 in Japan.



Can't wait for SPCR's review.

[Felger Carbon]

7K80 measured 20 dBA@1m at idle, with Hitachi specifying 2.6 Bels. 7K160 interestingly idles at 2.5 Bels.

Which 7K080? There are two of them, an older model with one platter and two heads, and a brand-new model with one platter and one head.

[winguy]

Which 7K080? There are two of them, an older model with one platter and two heads, and a brand-new model with one platter and one head.

I think you're confusing yourself here.

7K80 80GB is 1 platter, 2 heads.
7K160 80GB is 1 platter, 1 head.

They are different models.

[Felger Carbon]

Which 7K080? There are two of them, an older model with one platter and two heads, and a brand-new model with one platter and one head.

I think you're confusing yourself here.

7K80 80GB is 1 platter, 2 heads.
7K160 80GB is 1 platter, 1 head.

They are different models.

Nice try, winguy. Samsung makes the SP08X2N; I have 4 of them. 80G drive. Samsung also makes (or made) a 40G version. It's not called the SP08X2N; it's called the SP04X1N.

There is an 80G version of the new 7K160. It is not called the 7K160; it's called the 7K080. The problem is, there's already an 80G Hitachi called the 7K080; it's got two heads.

I wrote about this earlier. Search on the word "Beware".

[winguy]

7K80
7K160

[Felger Carbon]

7K80
7K160

Today is Aug 5. Go to Google. Search "Hitachi 7K80". You'll get two hits for the old 7K80, with two heads, and one hit for the new one-head 7K80.

edit: alas, the above is dead wrong. Since the old 7K80 is available for ~$42 (Provantage, for example) I assumed that the >$100 (including shipping) on eBay was the new model, as its 7K160 parent had actually appeared on eBay earlier. Alas, the eBay site is trolling for suckers. It's perfectly legal to sell stuff worth $42 for over $100...

[Felger Carbon]

I received my Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 164G (labelled capacity) drive today. I'm using it now as the swap/backup drive mounted in my second optical drive bay a la NoVibes, with Stretch Magic. But I first just placed the drive on the chassis (lying on its side), metal to metal, and I heard no vibration or other noise.

I'd not experienced at judging disk noise, but lets say that nothing jumped out at me. Bought at Directron.com, came well packaged. I'd be interested in hearing others' impressions of this drive now that it's become commonly available.

At $55, I really won't be looking for the 80G version.

It comes with the ability to jumper-limit the drive capacity to 32G, just as the SP08X2N does.

I really bought this drive for its 4.9W idle power vs 7.4W idle of my SP0822N drives. The temperature of my suspended drive in the optical bay has dropped 3.5 to 4C.

[thigobr]

I received my Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 164G (labelled capacity) drive today. I'm using it now as the swap/backup drive mounted in my second optical drive bay a la NoVibes, with Stretch Magic. But I first just placed the drive on the chassis (lying on its side), metal to metal, and I heard no vibration or other noise.

I'd not experienced at judging disk noise, but lets say that nothing jumped out at me. Bought at Directron.com, came well packaged. I'd be interested in hearing others' impressions of this drive now that it's become commonly available.

At $55, I really won't be looking for the 80G version.

It comes with the ability to jumper-limit the drive capacity to 32G, just as the SP08X2N does.

I really bought this drive for its 4.9W idle power vs 7.4W idle of my SP0822N drives. The temperature of my suspended drive in the optical bay has dropped 3.5 to 4C.

How about performance? What is the seek time? Post a screen of HDTach.

[xilencer]

I'm getting very interested in the 7K160. The idle sound power is probably about as low as currently possible from a single platter 3.5" 7200rpm drive, I'm only hoping for a smooth noise character. The record breaking idle power consumption of only 4.9W (IDE model) might tell something about the how low the motor friction must be, hopefully that translates into minimal mechanical whine.

With the release of the new CinemaStar product line there's extra high expectations to be met with the claim of "Silent seek acoustics for "bedroom-quiet" operation". The new DeskStars probably have the same acoustics as the CinemaStars when AAM is enabled. This generation of drives might have the lowest seeking acoustics out there, I expect no less from Hitachi at this point, especially with an average seek time increased to 14.0 from 8.5.

How about performance? What is the seek time? Post a screen of HDTach.

Screen of HDTach at SR forums

[Felger Carbon]

I expect no less from Hitachi at this point

To me, the other attraction of this drive is that Hitachi did not design it, and Hitachi did not make it. I'm no fan of Deathstars, formerly IBM and now Hitachi..

The disk label clearly states "Made for Hitachi in China".

[jackylman]

I expect no less from Hitachi at this point

To me, the other attraction of this drive is that Hitachi did not design it, and Hitachi did not make it. I'm no fan of Deathstars, formerly IBM and now Hitachi..

The disk label clearly states "Made for Hitachi in China".

I'm not sure who "makes" it, but I'm guessing Hitachi still designed it. The whole Deathstar thing is so overblown it's not even funny. That was select models several years back when the business was owned by IBM. I doubt any of the engineers associated with that drive are still around designing Deskstars. Also note that there are still some actual "Deathstars" around and working just fine, outlasting lots of the competition.

To my knowledge, none of the major hard disk makers are making products that are considerably more/less reliable than their competition (please correct me if I'm wrong and you have proof). All I hear is a lot of fanboyism and long-running grudges against certain manufacturers. Get over it.

[xilencer]

Don't know anything about tecCHANNEL but I just found this review with the 7K160 showing acoustic pwnage

(T7K500 is missing however and the article is in german. Also note that the Raptor X is the one with the window, other Raptors are supposedly among the quietest 3.5" drives available, when idle.)

Idle noise page



Seek noise page





Sone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[alfred]

Well I don't know how TecChannel procedes to measure hdd's noises but their results table shows many strange figures :



Just a few examples :
- Maxtor 6H500F0, idle noise 25.5dB : I've been assembling a computer for a friend with this drive and the idle noise is a frightening whoosh, something like 8 or 12 dBA/1m more than a SP120 or T133 in the same environment;
- Raptor 150GB, idle noise 30.8dB (and this means more than 5dB over the Maxtor 500) : I just can't believe the plexiglass has such a bad effect; SPCR had a pretty good idle noise figure for this drive;
- etc.

Anyway -- thanks for the link, xilencer For sure a Hitachi 7K160 SPCR review would be interesting.

[xilencer]

That windowed Raptor X might seem overly loud but then again Western Digital's own specs are a full 10 dBA higher than for the standard model.

[alfred]

Wow... Never saw that And it means that sometimes, WD actually doesn't copy-paste dB specs from one drive to another ! 'How shocking' lol

Anyway -- I still find several crazy numbers in this table. For example I've got a T7K250 to give for free as I just can't stand its idle noise signature. Samsung T133 1dB louder than P120 in idle -- not what SPCR nor some users nor mine found.

[david25]

Hi, just received the 160Gb version

- With AAM off, the seeks are slightly quieter and softer compared to a 7200.9 160gb
- With AAM on, the seeks are mayby slightly louder than the old Barracuda IV

- Performance is a little faster than a 7200.9 160gb (APM OFF)

Overall an excellent drive, one I am keeping after trying a 7200.10 250gb

[david25]

HI, can anyone help with the advance power management settings?

Whats the difference between active idle and the other settings?


Thanks

[Goldmember]

Yeah, APM is a really cool yet confusing feature. I think the following is correct:

The Low Power Idle parks the actuator and heads reducing power, but you might hear the heads loading and unloading.

The Lower RPM Idle essentially slows down the motor, thereby reducing power and noise.

Here is the PDF. It isn't very helpful though.

Hope that helps.

[whiic]

"Yeah, APM is a really cool yet confusing feature."

I agree about the confusiveness. The naming isn't very descriptive and sometimes the naming varies between documents. "Lower RPM Idle" for example is usually referred as "Lower RPM Stand-by".

Apparently here's the power saving modes (highest power consumption first):
1) active (drive is seeking, reding, writing)
2) active idle (drive has been idle only for a short period, or APM is not enabled)
3) low power idle (heads unloaded, normal rpm, requires enabling APM, requires at least 2 minutes of idling before entering this state)
4) low rpm idle (heads unloaded, reduced rpm, requires enabling APM, requires at least 10 minutes of idling before entering this state)
5) stand-by (platters can be spun down by Windows power management, rpm = zero, mechanics unpowered, interface online)
6) sleep (like stand-by but when spun down the drive cannot be recognized again until the computer is rebooted)

Numbers 3 and 4 are unique to Hitachis. Other manufacturer's drives have 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Windows has only one HDD spin-down counter, so the counter either applies to all HDDs or no HDD. APM has an internal counter implemented in HDDs own controller, thus it allows using different time limits for diffferent drives. Also, it allows power saving on drives that are placed on certain IDE/SATA controllers or USB bridges that doesn't allow Windows to pass "stand-by immediate" command to the drive. (Thus it can be used to reduce power consumption of USB drives and drives mounted to digital recorders, etc.)

APMs confusiveness is only surpassed by it's usefulness.

[Goldmember]

APMs confusiveness is only surpassed by it's usefulness.

LOL, so true. You just gave an excellent and informative summary of APM whiic. I think Hitachi should hire you to write the instructions and descriptions!

Take care.

[david25]

Thanks for the help everyone,