Along with the 7200.1, Seagate sent a Momentus 100GB 5400.2, which is their latest 5400 RPM drive. So we'll get to see how much the faster spindle affects performance on these relatively small platters. Also, we'll be including results from Hitachi's first gen 7200 RPM drive, the 7K60. Finally, I had an old 10GB 4200 RPM drive from an old notebook, so we can also find out how far notebook drives have come in the past 5 years.

On paper, the Hitachi 7K100 holds a few advantages over the Seagate Momentus 7200.1. Seek time is lower, it requires less power, and it can sustain higher shock levels. And of course there is price - The 100 GB 7K100 ranges from $240 at Newegg.com down to $200 at Page Computer. However, the 100GB Momentus 7200.1 only goes as low as $300 at such places as ZipZoomFly and Tiger Direct. Having 2 years less on the warranty isn't looking so bad now!

The Test

All tests were performed on an NF4 desktop system using an adapter to convert pin layout.

It should be noted that the Hitachi drives can have their settings defined using HGST's Feature Tool. You can download a bootable CDROM ISO, and change settings in a program that looks like this:

The most relevant setting in terms of performance is the acoustic management setting. At the default setting, it runs as silent as possible. As it turns out, this significantly affects performance, so should you find yourself buying this drive, it is suggested that you turn down the acoustic management a bit.

Next Page: (HD Tach)

Page 1: Introduction Page 2: Specifications; Test Setup Page 3: HD Tach Page 4: PCMark 05 Page 5: IOmeter; Conclusion