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Hitachi Disk Drive
Specifications
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Mass Storage |
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Hitachi's 7K400
Hard Drive Capacity
Reaches 400-GB,
Maxtor's MaXLine III
Advances Serial ATA
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Article
Info |
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Hitachi's 7K400 Hard Drive Capacity Reaches 400-GB, Maxtor's MaXLine III Advances Serial ATA
Created:
August 20, 2004
By:
Patrick Schmid
Rainer Pabst
Category:
Mass Storage
Summary:
Hard drive maker big guns are slowly but surely boosting capacity and adding new features. THG looks at Hitachi's latest drive, which now boasts 400-GB capacity, and Maxtor's newest, which offers native Serial ATA with command queuing features.
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Storage Adapters: RAID, SCSI/SAS, SATA, Fibre 44 |
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Innovation,
Finally
The past year saw
very few changes in
the hard drive
market, as the
maximum capacity
barrier of 250 GB
(reached in spring
2003) remained
unsurpassed until a
few weeks ago. At
the same time,
drives with a Serial
ATA interface are
hardly more
expensive these days
than the Ultra-ATA
solutions. Also,
there is an
increasing number of
drives supporting
command queuing, at
last providing
Serial ATA with
significant added
value.
We took a closer
look at two drives
in our test lab: The
Hitachi-made
DeskStar 7K400,
which features five
platters of up to 80
GB each for an
impressive storage
capacity of 400 GB.
This drive is
available with
UltraATA/100 and
SATA150 interfaces.
The Maxtor MaXLine
III arrived along
with Intel's LGA775
test platform. Two
of these drives were
included as
reference, as they
support Command
Queuing (matching
ICH6) and because
they boast a bulky
16-MB memory buffer.
In introducing the
MaXLine III, Maxtor
debuts its first
native Serial ATA
controller.
Meanwhile, Hitachi
is sticking to a
bridge solution in
its 7K400.
Inevitably, such
drives are not
capable of handling
command queuing
(known from the SCSI
realm), a technology
that is capable of
processing incoming
commands in the most
efficient sequence.
Hard Drives: The
Basics
To understand how
command queuing
works, we should
take a basic look at
how a hard drive
actually works.
Within the square,
gray boxes, we find
the actual, round
discs. Typically, up
to five magnetic
storage discs, known
as platters, are
used. The top and
the bottom side are
written, each side
with a capacity of
roughly up to 40 GB
these days. Greater
storage densities
should be available
in the fall.
Heads handle the
reading and writing.
They are held via
long, comb-shaped
arms above the
platters. A servo
motor moves them
precisely to the
desired position or
into a secure
parking position.
After all, one of
the gravest dangers
for the hard drive
is the so-called
head crash: As the
name suggests, this
happens when one of
the heads crashes
onto the surface.
In principle, the
drives are written,
track by track, from
the outside in,
since the absolute
speed of the storage
disc is greatest on
the outside and the
data transfer rates
are usually best
there. When a track
is written, the
process then moves
to the bottom of the
platter, and then to
the next platter.
That minimizes the
head movements. As
the hours of
operation increase,
so does
fragmentation: If
individual data are
deleted and a new,
larger file is
written, then this
file could easily be
stored in two
locations (and that,
in turn, leads to
additional head
movements.)
What
Can
Command
Queuing
Do?
This
slide
is
part
of
an
Intel
presentation
documenting
the
technical
details
of
the
900
series
chipsets.
Literally,
command
queuing
means
to
put
commands
into
a
certain
order
-
here,
we're
talking
about
the
commands
to a
drive
with
which
data
is
to
be
read
or
written.
However,
the
deeper
meaning
of
command
queuing
is
to
analyze
these
commands
and
changing
the
order
of
commands
depending
on
the
action
that
would
ensue.
The
bottom
line:
wait
times
are
reduced,
as
disc
rotation
and
avoidable
head
movements
are
reduced.
In
the
example
cited
above,
reading
the
four
sectors
would
take
just
one
rotation
of
the
storage
discs,
instead
of
2.5.
This
means
that
the
drive
would
be
available
sooner
to
receive
new
requests.
Command
Queuing
As
Performance
Booster
That
said,
command
queuing
is
certainly
no
method
to
boost
the
absolute
performance
of a
hard
drive.
The
maximum
transfer
rates
as
well
as
the
search
and
access
times
do
not
change.
What
does
happen,
though,
is
that
the
requirements
for
a
multi-tasking
or
multi-threading
environment
are
factored
in.
For
example,
you
might
launch
a
complex
application
while
simultaneously
burning
a
DVD,
and
in
the
meantime
emails
are
pouring
in.
In
such
an
instance,
all
applications
and
services
simultaneously
access
the
drive(s),
meaning
that
optimizing
accesses
via
command
queuing
can
actually
save
a
lot
of
wait
time
in
everyday
user
operations.
You
can
find
additional,
in-depth
information
on
Command
Queuing
in
this
document:
Seagate
Whitepaper
NCQ
| Which Devices Offer Command Queuing?
Intel's ICH6 chip, a component of the new 915 and 925 chipsets, can support native command queuing.
There are two different types: tagged command queuing, which has been quite common in SCSI environments for years, and then there's native command queuing. The native version offers some additional features and a longer queue. Currently, only few controllers are capable of supporting command queuing. They include Intel's ICH6 Southbridge, part of the new 925/Alderwood and 915/Grantsdale chipsets, as well the Silicon Image Sil3124, which is only available as a plug-in card so far.
The Sil3124 by Silicon Image can also handle Command Queuing
| Hitachi DeskStar 7K400 / HDS724040KLSA80
The 7K400 is the first model that can provide 400 GB of storage capacity. However, in contrast to its predecessor, the 7k250, the technology that Hitachi uses this time around is not fundamentally different. The new model uses five platters of 80 GB each, which effectively makes the high storage capacity possible. Smaller versions - for example, a 320-GB model - are currently not available.
While solutions with several platters are quite common in the realm of SCSI, the number of platters in the ATA sector is kept small when possible. The reason is that the risk of damage increases as the number of movable components increases. The problems that IBM encountered with the DeskStar 75GXP a few years back were not due to mechanical reasons, however. The main problem was caused by condensation that built up inside the drive when it was operated over an extended period of time. And IBM simply did not take this factor into consideration at the time.
Be it as it may, the DeskStar 120GXP and the 7K250 series have no problems with high failure rates. In addition, Hitachi would not have made the move to the 7K400 if there had been an increased risk. The bottom line: a good overall impression and, by today's standards, good performance. It comes as no surprise that the 7K400 didn't beat its predecessor, the 7K250, by miles, considering the two models use similar technology.
| Hitachi DeskStar 7K400 |
| Capacity |
400 GB |
| Architecture |
5 Platter of 80 GB each, 10 heads |
| Rotation speed |
7,200 RPM |
| Cache |
8 MB |
| Interface |
SATA-150 or UltraATA/133 |
| Search time |
8.5 ms |
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| Maxtor MaXLine III 7B250S0
The New MaXLine III primarily caters to the Near-Line segment. Specifically, it targets medium to larger amounts of data that users don't have to access often, for example, backup images from corporate PCs or vast databases that act as resources for employees. Alternatively, though, such a drive can also be used to install a home media server that records audio and video files. Maxtor offers two models here with 250 and 300 GB storage capacity, respectively, which is certainly enough for your average data archive. However, MaXLine III's unique feature is its native Serial ATA interface, which can also handle Command Queuing. Apart from the Barracuda 7200.7, it is now just the second drive offering this feature (even though it wasn't scheduled until the release of Serial ATA II). Since the MaXLine III we got was a model from the previous series, the benchmark results have to be taken with a grain of salt, at least in part. We assume that the data transfer rates won't change when the new version is released, while all I/O-laden applications will gain in performance. As a result, we omitted results from the application benchmark Winbench 99 2.0: they do not reflect our experience with the drive. Another factor here is that we will switch our test system in the upcoming weeks, enabling support for command queuing. In doubt, MaXLine III will only live up to its potential once it has an up-to-date controller.
| Maxtor MaXLine III |
| Capacity |
300, 350 GB |
| Architecture |
3 Platters 100 GB, 6 Heads |
| Rotation Speed |
7.200 U/Min |
| Cache |
16 MB |
| Interface |
SATA-150 or UltraATA/133 |
| Seek Time |
9.3 ms |
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Test
System
| Hardware |
| Processor |
Intel Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz
256 KB L2 Cache (Willamette) |
| Motherboard |
Intel 845EBT
Intel 845E Chipset
BIOS BT84520A.86A.0024.P10 |
| Speicher |
256 MB DDR/PC2100, CL2.0
Micron/Crucial |
| Controller |
i845E UltraDMA/100-Controller (ICH4)
On-Board USB 2.0 (ICH4)
On-Board FireWire |
| Graphics Card |
ATI Radeon SDRAM, 32 MB |
| Network |
3COM 905TX PCI 100 MBit |
| OS |
Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600
Service Pack 1 |
| Benchmarks & Measurements |
| Office Applications |
ZD WinBench 99 - Business Disk
Winmark 2.0 c't h2benchw |
| High-End Applications |
ZD WinBench 99 - High-End Disk Winmark 2.0 |
| Performance Measurements |
c't h2benchw |
| I/O performance |
Intel I/O meter 2003.05.10 |
| Drivers & Software |
| Graphics Driver |
5.1.2001.0 (Windows XP Standard) |
| IDE Driver |
Intel INF Drivers 5.02.1003 |
| DirectX-Version |
9.0b |
| Resolution |
1024x768, 16 Bit, 85 Hz refresh |
| Data Transfer-Diagram
Hitachi DeskStar 7K250
Maxtor MaXLine III
| Benchmarks, Continued
Office Application
High-End Application
| Benchmarks, Continued
Performance Measurements
| 
I/O Performence
Conclusion
In many ways, the Hitachi DeskStar 7K400 is identical to its predecessor, the 7K250: Technical data and performance data are nearly the same, although the 400-GB drive heats up a little more. Since the production process has matured over one year, we do not anticipate any problems due to the five-platter design. To further support this premise, Hitachi offers a three-year warranty. So users looking for storage capacity for growing amounts of data get a good deal with the Hitachi model. The debate surrounding the failure risk of a multi-platter drive also has to be rekindled in the context of 2-TB RAID arrays, for example: With just five drives, this can be realized immediately, while eight times 250 GB were required so far. This means the risk of failure is 60% greater than with five drives.
In comparison, Maxtor's MaXLine III focuses on customers who are seeking additional technical finesse, a fact underscored by native Serial ATA with Command Queuing, 16 MB cache and 100 GB per platter. Working with Intel's ICH-6 Southbridge, the Maxtor drive generates high I/O and application performance, which we could not quite reach with our reference test system - the reason for this is the early firmware version, which should operate much faster at the actual time of delivery. However, both models will, for now, be limited to premium users. Indeed, the 7K400's price tag of around $400 does not exactly make it a bargain. But if you don't need to buy a hard drive right away, waiting until the fall may pay off, because Seagate and Western Digital are also working on really large-capacity hard drives as well.
This article appears on line at www.tomshardware.com |
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Disk Capacity |
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The key to
Terrabeast is the Hard Disk Capacity and of
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Read these
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