Testing Participants

Hitachi

Hitachi is represented in this review with three drives of the Deskstar 7K250 series and one of the Deskstar 180GXP series.

Hitachi doesn’t produce 5400rpm HDDs for desktop computers anymore, and its “value” models just have a smaller cache buffer. One “value” HDD from Hitachi takes part in our tests. The other three drives, including the IC35L180AVV207-1, have 8MB of cache memory. The basic distinction between the 180GXP and 7K250 families is in the capacity of the platters: the drive from the 180GXP series has three 60GB platters, while the other series uses 80GB platters.

Maxtor

Today, Maxtor is shipping three desktop models of 160GB capacity.

These drives all belong to the same family, but one of them, the 6Y160L0, has a smaller cache and 60GB platters (our method of determining the platter capacity of Maxtor drives is described here) The two remaining drives have a 8MB buffer and 80GB platters – good assets to start with.

Samsung

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the 5400rpm 160GB drive, the SV1604N model, into our roundup. So the company is only represented with three 7200rpm devices.

It should be mentioned that 160GB drives from Samsung, unlike those from Maxtor, cannot use three platters due to design considerations. So, we can be sure that 160GB HDDs from Samsung use 80GB platters.

Seagate

Seagate has the widest presence in this review – we’ve got seven participants from this company but also one reservation.

Yes, there are only three drives, but we had two or three samples of each model with different firmware versions. We tested all the drives that we had on our hands to find that the firmware version affects the performance dramatically, as you will see later on.

All the drives are configured identically: two 80GB platters and four heads. The models differ in the amount of cache memory and the interface.

Western Digital

Western Digital is also widely represented, nearly like Seagate:

The drives differ in their design. Note that Western Digital, like Hitachi, produces a 180GB model (three 60GB platters). Then, the two drives with a small cache buffer differ between themselves: the WD1600BB uses 60GB platters, and the WD1600LB – 80GB platters. The latter model also features fluid dynamic bearings that reduce the noise. We have also got two “modifications” of the WD1600JD model – on 60GB and 80GB platters! To differentiate between drives on different platters we refer to them as WD1600JD/60 and WD1600JD/80, respectively.