X-bit labs

Hard Disk Drives of Different Types: Hitachi 7K200 vs. Everyone Else (page 14)

Category: Storage

by Aleksey Meyev

[ 05/02/2008 | 05:14 PM ]

Conclusion

The Hitachi 7K200 is a superb hard disk drive with good performance. It is currently the leader among 2.5” HDDs with a spindle rotation speed of 7200rpm. The only downside we can note about it is its low speed of sequential writing, which affects its speed of writing large files. This explains why the 7K200 was occasionally outperformed by the Fujitsu MHW2 BJ which has a smaller buffer and lower-density platters. The average performance level of the new series is indeed higher just as promised by Hitachi.

Comparing HDDs of different form-factors, the 3.5” models were only better in a limited number of tests, mostly involving the reading of large files. When firmware algorithms were more important than sequential speeds (in such tests as copying small files, multithreaded reading/writing), the 2.5” HDDs competed with their larger counterparts quite successfully. They competed mostly with the Seagate 7200.10, which is still a widespread product although the 7200.11 series has already hit the shops. If you take an old 3.5” HDD for comparison, for example the Seagate 7200.7, its speed is going to be lower in general than the speed of modern 2.5” models. So, you shouldn’t think that a 2.5” HDD will lead to a performance hit for your system. It is likely that the only difference you’ll notice is the lower level of noise.

As for the HDDs with lower spindle rotation speeds, the new 5400rpm models with high recording density are quite competitive against older 7200rpm drives as the Fujitsu MHY2 BH showed during this test session. Such HDDs consume less power but provide a larger storage capacity (up to 320GB), so you should think twice if you really need a high spindle rotation speed when you are upgrading your notebook’s disk. On the other hand, 4200rpm HDDs are really slow. You should only use them when their price or low power consumption makes a difference.

On our wish list is the release of Seagate’s new HDD series, the increase of sequential speed in Hitachi’s HDDs to a high enough level, and the introduction of high-density platters in Fujitsu’s products. Hopefully, we’ll not have to wait long to see all of this happen.