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As we all know your regular PC system components such as the CPU, RAM, motherboard and chipset can play a big part in determining overall performance of your everyday computer system. And though we all are aware that a hard disk plays a similar role, not as much emphasis is put on it.
75% Rating: 
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Seagate ST328040A |
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Seagate Barracuda ST328040A 28GB
HDD Review
As
we all know your regular PC system components such as the CPU, RAM, motherboard
and chipset can play a big part in determining overall performance of your
everyday computer system. And though we all are aware that a hard disk plays a
similar role, not as much emphasis is put on it.
So granted a quick hard disk will not make a
difference in frame rates when playing 3D games (provided you have enough RAM to
minimize swapping) but they sure contribute to the increase in speed under disk
and resource intensive applications, which explains why server requirements
consist of hard disks with extremely high transfer rates. If you take a closer
look at any given server configuration, you will seldom see anything less than
SCSI-2 being implemented. Of course SCSI-2 and beyond are pretty expensive
options for the ordinary home user.
But this certainly doesn't
mean that entry level users shouldn't enjoy the benefits of fast disks.
Thankfully the ATA-66 interface provides a pretty affordable solution for users
looking for higher speed hard drives. Every hard disk manufacturer implements
ATA/66 technology in their drives making it pretty accessible to everyone. Even
here in India, where ATA/66 was slow to catch on, it is in fact difficult to
find ATA/33 drives on the market anymore.
Recently Seagate had announced
their upcoming hard disk which would spin at an astonishing 15,000rpm! Of
course, when this drive is released it will be priced prohibitively expensive,
hence will not reach such a wide market. Even 10,000 rpm drives are out of reach
for most casual users. This now brings us to the more widely available 5,400 and
7,200 rpm drives. With 5,400 rpm being passed off as passe, this leaves us with
the sweet spot of 7,200rpm being the ideal solution when judging with reference
to price/performance.
7,200 rpm drives have attracted a lot of caution due
to the excessive heat emitted from the drive spinning at such a high rotational
rate. But with disadvantages also come its benefits, in this case it is
through added performance. One of the first advantages (and one of the most
obvious) of a 7,200 rpm drive is the fact that more data can be read off its
platters per unit time as opposed to a slower spinning 5,400 rpm. Another
benefit to these faster drives is the reduction in rotational latency which is
presented when the head is positioned on the correct track but has to wait for
the correct sector to come around. Since 7,200 RPM drives spin faster than 5,400
RPM drives, rotational time is decrease along with rotational
latency.
Reviewed here is Seagate's Barracuda ATA ST328040A drive. Here
is a list of its
specifications...
Specifications
- 28.0GB storage capacity
- 8.0ms average seek time
-
7,200rpm rotational speed
- Rotational latency of 4.16ms
- 323 Mbits/sec
maximum internal transfer rate
- > 15 MB/sec average sustained transfer
rate
- 512KB multi segmented buffer
- 4 platters of 7GB each / 8 heads
-
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) enabled
-
Withstands 300Gs of non-operating shock
- 1" x 4" x 5" at 550grams
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