Conclusion

We will do some summarizing now. First of all, we can name the fastest 1-terabyte drive in all our tests. It is the WD RE3 (WD1002FBYS). This is the best buy if you prefer maximum performance. But if you don’t like its high price, you can take the WD Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) which is somewhat slower but costs much less. The Hitachi Deskstar E7K1000 (HDE721010SLA330) is third in terms of sheer speed.

Then, we also wanted to see the effect of increased recording density and larger cache on HDDs’ performance. It is not easy to answer what is better, actually. Taking the three drives from Western Digital’s Green Power series, we can see that it’s better to have both: the WD10EADS with higher-density platters and maximum cache is the fastest of them.

If we consider those tests that do not reveal the HDD’s maximum capabilities but check its performance under real-life conditions, we can see that a larger cache is better than higher recording density. But it should be noted that this doesn’t refer to products from all brands. Western Digital’s HDDs can utilize a large cache most efficiently, though.

And finally, is the mysterious Seagate SV35.3 worth the money? We guess not. For example, the WD10EADS has lower power consumption and lower noise but delivers higher performance. It is actually much faster than the SV35.3. Yes, the SV35.3 did well in the multithreaded tests but has last places in the others.

When it comes to choosing an optimal hard drive for home, we can recommend the Hitachi E7K1000 and Western Digital Caviar Black. Both can do well as a system disk. The WD is somewhat faster while the Hitachi is quieter and consumes less power.

The WD Green Power WD10EADS will be the best and only choice for a quiet and cold home multimedia center.

Accoridng to the results of our today's test session we decided to award Hitachi E7K1000 and Western Digital Caviar Black with our Editor's Choice title as the best HDD choice for a performance home computer system and Western Digital Green Power WD10EADS - with our Editor's Choice title as the best home theater PC hard drive: