Performance in PCMark

PCMark 2004

PCMark04 benchmarks drives in four different modes: Windows XP Startup is the typical disk subsystem load at system startup; Application Loading is the disk activity at sequential starting-up and closing of six popular applications; File Copying measures the HDD performance when copying a set of files; the General Usage parameter reflects the disk activity in a number of popular applications. These four parameters are used to calculate the overall performance rating.

We ran each test ten times and averaged the results.

The 2.5-inch drives are worse than their 3.5-inch counterparts at booting Windows XP up. The Seagate Momentus 7200.3 and the WD Caviar Black have almost identical results.

It is the firmware algorithms that affect the results of the Application Loading test. The WD Scorpio Black beats the 3.5-inchers while the Seagate Momentus 7200.3 falls behind the 3.5-inch HDDs as well as behind the Hitachi 7K200 which has 100GB platters.

Western Digital is absolutely superior in this test.

The General Usage results are similar to what we have seen in the Application Loading subtest: the WD Caviar Black is ahead of the 3.5-inchers while the Seagate Momentus 7200.3 is behind them.

The overall scores are comprehensible enough. WD’s 2.5-inch Scorpio Black and 3.5-inch Caviar Black share the top position while the Seagate Momentus 7200.3 allows the 3.5-inch 7200.11 model to be third. Take note of the last place of the WD Scorpio Blue: the spindle rotation speed is a very important parameter after all. While this HDD is often competitive to the faster models at processing files or under server loads, it is inferior even to products with half its recording density when employed as a system HDD.