SAMSUNG MP4 HM320HJ vs. Hitachi 5K500 Benckmarks

I recently bought a Macbook Pro 13 with the standard Apple 5400rpm HDD(5K500). I wanted something faster, so I ordered a SAMSUNG Spinpoint MP4 HM320HJ, from Newegg for about $55. I think the HM320HJ is the same as the Samsung 640GB 7200rpm, just less space. I decided to bench them with CrystalDiskMark:

Here's the standard Apple drive:



And the Samsung MP4 HM320HJ:



Ok copying 3dmark06(584MB) from external HDD to internal HDD:

5K500: 20-23MB per second
HM320HJ: 33-36MB per second

A nice boost

 

The 5K500 wasn't a great drive, the 5K500.B revision was significantly better. That's some good speed on the Samsung though.

 

I think mine might be a revision B. It say on the HDD: 5K500 B-250. Is was made in 2009 I think.

oh, transfer speeds added.

 

41MB/sec sequential read for the 5K500b? Something's wrong there.

The HM320HJ looks like a very nice drive. 320GB on one platter. Can you run HDTune?

 

Is 40MB/sec too slow or too fast?

Also which hard drive do you want me to run HDtune on?

 

Too low. See here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/4783646-post34.html

The Samsung

 

Ok here's HD Tune:



And I looked at health, and it has "Calibration Retry Count" error?

 

116.4MB/sec, that may be the best ever HDTune score for a notebook drive.

You've got some background processes running, as can be seen by the cpu utilization and downward spikes.

 

That is fast!

BTW, the 5k500 is 93% full and may not have been defragged in a while. Hardly a fair comparison.

 

It was a 32GB Bootcamp partition that was 2 days old.

 

Do you know what the "Calibration Retry Count" error means? And should I be worried?

 

Good point.

I don't know and I wouldn't worry about it.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Well CDM says it's 29/32GB full so that may indeed affect performance imo.

 

Kinda off topic, but whats the fastest 5400rpm drive? While this one doesn't vibrate too much, if I can find a 5400rpm thats almost as fast, I take it.

 

So it's not quiet enough?

I think this will be the fastest: Seagate Momentus 5400.7 ST9320310AS 320GB (or the 640GB version).

or Toshiba MK6465GSX 640GB

 

Its quite, but when I put my hand anywhere on the Macbook I can feel it.

I'm also worried about the error on HD Tune.

 

Maybe you can insert some rubber to reduce the vibration.

 

As a system drive I think that the Scorpio Blue 500GB is faster.

The higher density platters of the newer drives actually slow down the response of the system (even if the sequential speeds are much higher).

Note, that I'm basing this on my past experience with ever increasing platter densities.

I don't have direct experience with the drives Phil has mentioned above (nor do I want to - because of the detrimental effect they will have to the performance I desire).

But to put the performance of the Scorpio Blue in perspective; it performed similarly in my VAIO to the stock Toshiba 320GB HD and infinitely better than the Seagate 7200.4's I tried.

Just my 2 cents.

 

The WD5000bevt was the fastest 5400rpm drive for a long time. But going by the PCMark Vantage scores on Tomshardware and real world benchmarks by Xbitlabs I'd say the Seagate and Toshiba I mentioned beat the WD5000bevt in single user environments.

 

Thanks Phil for the update!

Haven't really kept up with 5400 RPM drives since 500GB 7200 RPM drives have been available.

 

Do you know when the Seagate will be released?

 

No I don't.

The 640GB is already available.

If you want a quiet 320GB get the Samsung HM320JI. It's the 5400rpm version of the one you have now.

 

Had the HM320HJ for two weeks. Highly recommend.

Using in a 4-year-old notebook (HP nc8430), replacing an Hitachi 100gb 7200rpm that was dying. I got the Hitachi from HP for a warranty replacement about two years ago. The computer is very noticeably quieter; the drive makes essentially no noise and I've noticed no vibration. The drive is just slightly warm to the touch, even when doing drive-intensive work.

And the computer is way faster, taking about half as much time to boot and open programs. Part of the speed improvement clearly is that I hadn't done a clean reinstall of Windows in a year, but the drive certainly helps a lot. (I did a full install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and loaded back in all software; iow, did not use a ghost image.)

I was about to buy a new notebook (either a Lenovo T510 or Dell E6510). With the HP working so well now, I've put the purchase on indefinite hold. (darn!)

 

gleapman,

I'm sure that even a 500GB Scorpio Blue would feel faster than the 7K100 you had (it is a 4 year old drive, even it you got it only two years ago).

The Scorpio Blue (5400 RPM) will also be quieter and produce less noise, heat and vibration, but will obviously be slower than the Samsung too.

Just trying to put things in perspective (I had a few 7K100's myself - great drives for their time).

Your conclusion about putting off your imminent purchase indefinitely is exactly why I (usually) buy the latest HD's as they become available. Not only do they prolong the useful life of the system by months and years, but they also give me the 'excuse' to do a clean install with the latest O/S too.

With the added benefit of simply swapping in the previous drive if the new one doesn't live up to my expectations.