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| Toshiba 80GB 16MB Cache 2.5in HDD |
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| Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov | |
| Saturday, 16 June 2007 | |
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Every aspect of a computer is advancing on a regular basis, from processors to monitors to mice. Although the hard drive market was relatively quiet for some time (Western Digital's Special Edition series was about the only exciting product for almost a year), things are stirring once again. Seagate is currently the favorable choice thanks to their reliability, cool operation, quietness, speed, and 5 year warranty, but that doesn't mean the competition is just standing by.
From a laptop perspective, things are looking good for Toshiba's high-end HDD. Two 40GB platters are used to account for the 80GB rating, which is good news since larger platters offer better performance. Last but not least, this drive like so many newer models doubles the previous record by utilizing a 16MB cache. It's no secret that a larger cache is directly proportional to higher transfer speeds (WD's aforementioned SE series proved this). To top things off, a 3 year warranty on 2.5" drives is a step in the right direction (unfortunately 1.8" and optical drives still only carry a 1 year warranty).
With that I decided to test both the original Hitachi drive and Toshiba's offering in my recently purchased Dell Inspiron 8600. While I can't pinpoint the exact model number of the Hitachi (the markings on the sticker fit the description of several different varieties), I do know that it's a 30GB model that spins at 4200 RPM and most likely has a 2-8MB buffer. Clearly the comparison is in Toshiba's favor; exactly how much is what we're here to find out. I realize we're not comparing apples to apples, but that's the main point: upgrading a hard drive should be as dramatic a change as possible. Since this is my school workhorse and mobile gaming machine, I need the best of the best for less and frankly I'm not a big fan of Dell's choice of components. Previous experience has showed that if they can get away with the slowest, cheapest parts, they will. For testing I decided to run Futuremark's PCMark04 HDD Suite, SiSoftware's Sandra 2005 File System Benchmark, and Simpli Software's HD Tach RW 3.0.1 Long bench (32MB zones).
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 June 2007 ) |
