HDD Disk Benchmarks: 7K320, M6 500GB, WD 320GB, ST SSD, etc

Here are some Xbench 1.3 results for various HDD's, and 1 SSD so far.

Tested on MBP 2.6Ghz, 4G Ram, latest 10.5.4. Each test ran 3 times.

The following HDD's were tested:

Hitachi 7k200 7200 rpm - 200gb.
Hitachi 7k320 7200 rpm - 320gb.
Hitachi 5k250 5400 rpm - 250gb.
Western Digital Scorpio 5400 rpm - 320gb.
Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 rpm - 320gb.
Samsung Spinpoint M6 5400 rpm - 500gb.
Super Talent FTM20GK25H SSD - 120gb.

Results below:

Code:

Hitachi 7k200 7200 rpm - 200gb.

Results	45.08	
			
	Drive Type		Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
	Disk Test	45.08	
		Sequential	90.33	
			Uncached Write	110.88	68.08 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	106.92	60.50 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	54.31	15.89 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	133.41	67.05 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	30.03	
			Uncached Write	9.83	1.04 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	89.16	28.54 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	86.85	0.62 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	114.38	21.22 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Hitachi 7k320 7200 rpm - 320gb.

Results	49.06	
	
	Drive Type		Hitachi HTS723232L9A360
	Disk Test	49.06	
		Sequential	95.61	
			Uncached Write	109.96	67.52 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	105.82	59.87 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	60.00	17.56 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	150.94	75.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	33.00	
			Uncached Write	10.98	1.16 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	96.11	30.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	86.69	0.61 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	122.00	22.64 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Hitachi 5k250 5400 rpm - 250gb.

Results	41.00	
	
	Drive Type		Hitachi HTS542525K9SA00
	Disk Test	41.00	
		Sequential	81.72	
			Uncached Write	97.03	59.57 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	86.70	49.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	55.21	16.16 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	111.17	55.87 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	27.37	
			Uncached Write	9.27	0.98 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	73.53	23.54 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	68.51	0.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	99.77	18.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Western Digital Scorpio 5400 rpm - 320gb.

Results	57.64	
	
	Drive Type		WDC WD32 00BEVT-22ZCT0
	Disk Test	57.64	
		Sequential	88.85	
			Uncached Write	100.64	61.79 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	94.84	53.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	59.52	17.42 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	129.23	64.95 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	42.66	
			Uncached Write	16.16	1.71 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	111.73	35.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	69.45	0.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	117.09	21.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 rpm - 320gb.

Results	49.13	
	
	Drive Type		WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0
	Disk Test	49.13	
		Sequential	85.78	
			Uncached Write	123.17	75.62 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	116.25	65.77 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	44.49	13.02 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	134.60	67.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	34.42	
			Uncached Write	11.18	1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	126.24	40.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	84.17	0.60 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	144.11	26.74 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Samsung Spinpoint M6 5400 rpm - 500gb.

Results	36.06	
	
	Drive Type		SAMSUNG HM500LI
	Disk Test	36.06	
		Sequential	57.26	
			Uncached Write	35.07	21.53 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	87.75	49.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	44.93	13.15 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	130.07	65.37 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	26.32	
			Uncached Write	8.86	0.94 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	83.15	26.62 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	58.65	0.42 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	100.00	18.56 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Code:

Super Talent FTM20GK25H SSD - 120gb.

Results	49.12	
	
	Drive Type		Super Talent Tech
	Disk Test	49.12	
		Sequential	49.41	
			Uncached Write	56.96	34.97 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	51.30	29.02 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	27.54	8.06 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	131.58	66.13 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random	48.84	
			Uncached Write	16.16	1.71 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	70.53	22.58 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	1065.06	7.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	204.25	37.90 MB/sec [256K blocks]

 

Interesting... This result shows the Samsung HM500LI is under-performing on the writes although the reads are similar to the 320GB HDDs.

The other parameter which would be very interesting would be an assessment of power drain. This could be relative (eg total battery drain power for the computer under the same operating conditions for each test).

John

 

A graph or picture format would be great.Good job.

 

Is it just me or is the SSD doing extremely poorly? I thought that SSD's were supposed to be the ultimate Godsend to save us from the prehistoric age of slow, battery draining mechanical parts. I'm finding it difficult to read these numbers, but am I wrong in saying that the Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 rpm - 320gb seems to be the best of all of these?

 

I've never been a big fan of SSD since up to now they've been expensive and low capacity. In any case, SSD's potential to outperform regular HDDs is overrated. In terms of sustained transfer rates, I believe the best hard drives can still outperform SSDs. SSD's performance niche is actually in response time and random access since they don't need to wait for the disk to spin around to find stuff. For most users, response time is what counts the most since that is what makes the OS feel faster, but in large number crunching situations that fill the drive I think HDDs will still be the better way to go.

Anyways, great review TomK. Just the information I've been looking for. I've been partial to Hitachi HDDs in the past since models like the 7k200 were the fastest and most power efficient in their class when they were introduced. However, that Western Digital 7200 rpm 320GB drive is looking very good. If it's power numbers are decent I might go with that instead of a 7k320. There isn't any chance you could review the Seagate 320GB 7200.3 is there?

 

Thanks for the tests. How the heck is the 320GB 5400rpm WD drive the best overall drive?

 

SSDs clearly are not all they are going to be, yet. The fast access times are a given, once the throughput starts to dominate and the prices continue to come down, the access speeds, the lower power draw, the throughput and the physical reliability will be a pretty formidable competition for HDs. What are we talking about, maybe 3-5 years from now?

I have a pretty new 2.4 MBP with the OEM 200GB 5400rpm hd. I'm def thinking about putting a 320GB 7200rpm in it and then pretty much after that, my next laptop purchase will probably come with an SSD.

BTW, how are SSDs performing in things like video and video editing?

I could the performance being either a little snappier, or on the other end I could see SSDs not really liking video editing all that much and maybe some errors that show up as glitches in the video or something. Just wild speculation there.

 

Wow you've got some nice disks there. I'd love to see some non-synthetic benchmarks. Synthetic benchmarks like Xbench just don't cut it in my opinion.

 

I believe 320GB 5400rpm HDDs have been on the market a while now, but 320GB 7200rpm HDDs are just starting to arrive. Probably the firmware on the 320GB 7200rpm HDDs are still not optimized yet. Which is terrible since I want it now. I don't believe there is a way for end user's to update their firmware? Otherwise I'll have to wait a few months.

 

those results don't make any sense what so ever to me, it honestly seems like some other variables are at work, I would definitely like to se some other benchmarks.

i honestly think it is defnitely worth the wait for the 500gb 7200rpm drives, that is what I am holding out for, that is the sweet spot for me.

 

I bet the 320GB 7200rpm are already a lot faster than the 5400rpm if you use benchmarks that simulate normal usage. Synthetic benchmarks deliver synthetic results.

I'm looking forward to Storagereview.com running some real benchmarks.

 

The Super Talent SSD's aren't in the same class as the Samsung 2nd generation or OCZ 64GB which is a 2nd gen samsung. I've got both of those in some thinkpads, and you can tell the difference big time compared to any of the conventional HDD's listed here.

I went with these Super Talent SSD due to the size/cost. I'm not an SSD expert etc, but the big thing with SSD's is the latency is much better than std hdd's, and you notice that on many apps like big mail applications, loading apps, etc.

I'm trying to find someone that has the 7200.3 Seagate in stock, once I find one I'll order it and test it out.

I'm not an OSX or benchmark guru, if there is a better app you want me to run to bench these, let me know. All I could find for OSX if the old Xbench app.

I am most likely going to put the WD 320GB 7200rpm scorpio black in my main laptop since it seems to have performed the best, and remove the super talent SSD. I'll keep the 2nd gen samsung in my vista machine for now.

Thanks,
Tom

 

use should give them a test in your vista machine using HDTune and post back with those results if you have the time.

I would honestly think Hitachi's latest 7k320 should be the fastest, but who knows really

 

I don't know much about benchmarking in OS X. In Vista PCMark Vantage or XP PCMark05 are nice, they deliver some non synthetic results. HD Tune is another synthetic benchmark.

Boot times are another good indicator of harddrive performance. Maybe there are some apps in OS X that measures boot times?

In Vista boottimes are logged: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=246&tag=nl.e622

 

500 gb 7200 rpm? We don't even have a proper 500 gb 5400 rpm drive yet XD. The ones that are out now are on two platters as opposed to a single one, so data density hasn't been increased at all... otherwise they'd perform just about as well as 320 gb 7200 rpm drives (since 200 gb 7200 rpm hdds and 320 gb 5400 rpm hdds are about on par in terms of performance due to the higher data density of the 320 gb hdds).

 

Correction: The 500GB 2.5" HDDs use 3 platters (and currently only Samsung have squeezed 3 platters into the standard thickness) whereas most 2.5" HDDs use 2 platters although some of the latest 160GB or small drives are using 1 platter. If the HDD manufacturers have now figured out how to read / write 160GB / platter at 7200rpm then they should be able to handle 200GB or more per platter at 5400rpm.

John

 

I was able to run HDTune on em minus the scorpio black 320gb 7200rpm hdd, as it is running in one of my macs. I'll get another one this week and run it and post it.

I am still looking for the new Seagate 7200.3 if anyone knows of a place that has them in stock.

I've also included the Samsung 2nd generation 64G SSD here.

Tom

 

And the last one, due to upload file limit.

Tom

 

wow thanks for the post man, why is it that you are willing to purchase all of these HDD's???

 

Nice work TomK. Here's the Seagate 7200.3 320GB


WD Black Scorpio 320GB
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20484&d=1215111183

I am not too sure how valid it is to compare HD Tune results ran on different systems. For example: The Seagate 7200.3 gets 141 MB/sec burst rate. The Hitachi 7K320 gets 65MB/sec. Does not seem right to me. Maybe processes running in the background influence the results.

 

I actually just installed a 7k320 in my Santa Rosa MBP and I notice radically more vibration and related sound. The drive is still relatively silent in terms of seek activity, but where the 160gb Fujitsu 5400 that came stock in this machine (and several other equivalent MBPs I have checked floating around) is silent and imperceptible at idle unless you press your ear against the left palm rest, this new drive feels like a desktop drive in the machine just spinning idle: the constant vibration and whirr/woosh is very intense through the palm rests, keyboard, and bottom case. The machine also vibrates audibly against the table on which it is sitting, and using it on your lap it is quite notable.

I have several friends with 7k200s who called them "as quiet or quieter" than the stock drives -- essentially imperceptible -- and I have a hard time imagining they wouldn't feel or hear this.

I swapped back to the old drive and then reinstalled the 7k320 for comparison and to make sure it wasn't an error in installation, and indeed, the stock drive is completely imperceptible and the 7k320 is like picking up a 3.5" 7200 external drive while spinning, if you've ever done that. Pretty unusable as a laptop.

Is there a chance this is a defect? As someone who has run tests on several, I wonder TomK's experience -- does your 7k320 vibrate/make substantial and constant whirring, almost like a fan?

 

Maybe also the design of the MBP plays a part in this? Since it's very thin and very light for it's size, I reckon it's not the best laptop for absorbing noise and vibrations.

 

Yes, the 7k320 had some excess vibration in my testing. As for noise, I didn't notice anything different with the 7k320 over the others - no whirring noise.

I could tell the difference with all the HDD's compared to the ssd's I have installed in the MBP. I left the WD Scorpio Black in my 15" and I can feel it on the left hand side, but it was the least amount of distraction compared to the 7k320.

 

WOW, what a thread. Amazing work their TOMK, thank you very much for the benchmarks.
It seems like the Seagate 7200rpm 320gb drive is the fastest mechanical laptop drive at the moment. Very good performance, 69mb/sec.
I was hoping that the Hitachi 7k320 would be the fastest, but we will have to see what other people get.

K-TRON

 

Well the Seagate has the highest transfer rates. Not the lowest access times. Both Hitachi and WD have lower acces times. Since access times are also important to determine the speed of a drive, were going to need some additional benchmarks to see what drive is 'fastest'.

320GB/7200rpm drives acces times measured with HD Tune:
WD 15.9
Hitachi 16.2
Seagate 17.0

The Hitachi 7K200 200GB scores 14,6.

I am really looking forward to some real life benchmarks.

 

You are not the only one mate, i really want to put one of these 3 drives in my P105 before i head off on a round the world trip, but am caught between waiting for more specs and the need to get it done before i go and not leave it last minute!

I think the rest of the laptop is ok, let me know if you can see anything that may need work...

Toshiba Satellite P105
17inch screen
Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2Gb
Vista Home premium
4 gb ram, (and i know about the 32 bit OS not supporting more than about 3 1/2 gb, but hey, 3 1/2 is better than 3, right?)
Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS
I use a Netgear Rangemax Wireless PC card WPN511 connects to network @ 108....
And a Soundblaster X-Fi Express card (its nice having both PCMCIA and Express card slots )

and the weak point as far as i can see is the HDD, a Fujistu MHV2200BT PL ATA. Only 200Gb and spinning at a lowly 4200rpm.

So, let me know if you see room for improvement and just one quick question, will either one of the above drives, 7k320, 7200.3, or the Scorpio Black 320 slide straight in?
I have built many a PC but this is my first time ripping a laptop apart!
Thanks in advance for your responses,
DJC

 

Here you can see how it performs when compared to hitachi's 7K200 and WD Scorpio 5400rpm: Tomshardware

I agree a harddrive upgrade would be worthwhile.

Yes depending on the laptop it's usually quite easy. All we need now is some application bechmarks on the newer drives. I've asked people to run PC Mark here: link.

 

I did check out Toms Hardware, but unfortunately they have not got any of the three drives i'm looking at, the Hitachi 7K320, seagate 7200.3 or the WD Scorpio Black 320, up on there yet.
There is very limited info on any of these drives, test wise, so i guess my question to the better educated among you is, if you had to go and buy one of these 3 drives, given data to date, which would it be??
Thanks again for the help,
Cheers
C

 

Tough call. But I've seen two complaints about the vibration of the 7K320 and the accesstimes on the Seagate seem a bit high. So maybe I'd go for the WD. Seagate gets the highest transferrates though.

But really I would wait untill some application benchmark results appear. Should not take long now.

 

Here one more for the WD :

http://taiwan.cnet.com/digilife/0,2000089053,20130227,00.htm

And a pic for the Seagate with better accesstimes:

 

anybody got any new benchmarks yet / or links to other people's?

I cannot freaking wait to find out which is the top dog HDD here

 

Yeah, so which one of these will make my days happier? Happier than my current Samsung Spinpoint M6 500GB (HM500LI), which isn't very snappy. I'm thinking to buy WD Scorpion Black...

 

bump....my skin is crawling

 

For what it's worth to others interested, I RMA'd my 7k320 for a Scorpio Black and had nearly as much vibration and sound. It seems to be a general problem with these new, high-capacity 7k drives. (Perhaps the platters are now more dense? No idea why this would appear now and not on the also-dual-platter 7k200.) It's likely not a huge deal on a generic chunky Dell with fans that run all the time, but on a more polished machine which is generally very quiet, like the MacBook Pro, it is extremely, distractingly noticeable.

Sadly I had to trade down to the WD 5k Scorpio 320. Still much faster than the Fujitsu 5k 160 stock drive, but almost identically silent, aside from modest additional seek noise.

 

Just got my Scorpio Black 320GB 7200rpm into my MacBook Pro. No problems with sound or vibration. At least not anymore than my stock 160GB 5400rpm drive or the 200GB 7200rpm Hitachi 7K200.

 

Some great benches here;
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15079

 

Those benches don't tell the whole story. The I/O performance of the Scorpio Black destroys the Seagate, which is the reason I got it today over the Seagate. The Techreport review also mentions this, which is why they rated it the best. That said, the Seagate is still an excellent drive of course!

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079/15