Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB
Posted 02/03/09 at 10:00:00 PM by Nathan Edwards
Comments
Print
Email
We were pumped when we heard that Seagate had broken through the terabyte barrier with its 1.5TB Barracuda drive—it’s not only the biggest consumer drive available, but also represents the largest jump in capacity we’ve seen. We typically expect capacity increases to be accompanied by performance decreases, but this drive is quick on its feet despite its gargantuan size.
Thanks to perpendicular recording, the Barracuda manages to pack 1.5TB of capacity onto four 375GB platters on a 7,200rpm spindle with a 32MB cache, which allows it to keep pace with four-platter 1TB drives like the terabyte Barracuda and the WD Caviar Black.
We ran our standard benchmark suite–HD Tach 3.0.1.0, PCMark Vantage, and H2benchw—on the Barracuda and compared it to a 1TB WD Caviar Black (http://tinyurl.com/63wc62). The Caviar trumped the Barracuda in both HD Tach and H2benchw’s random-access tests—which makes sense, given that it has less data per platter to trawl through—but the Barracuda swept the field in average read and write speeds. Indeed, HD Tach reported average read speeds of 104.4MB/s and write speeds of 103.8MB/s, besting the Caviar by 16 percent and 30 percent, respectively. The Caviar squeaked past the Barracuda in all but two PCMark Vantage tests,
Seagate claims a sustained data rate of 120MB/s. H2benchw found that although the Barracuda’s max sustained read and write speeds both topped 125MB/s, its average sustained reads and writes were 98MB/s—still 15 percent faster than the Caviar.
Just for kicks, we tested how the Barracuda compared to Western Digital’s screaming-fast Velociraptor in HD Tach. No big shock there: The Velociraptor’s 249MB/s burst and 7.1ms random-access time leave Seagate in the dust. But the Velociraptor’s average read speed is only 4MB/s faster than the Seagate’s, and its write speed is actually slower.
The Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB runs neck and neck with the fastest terabyte drives we’ve tested. And it is the biggest consumer drive on the market. With OEM versions available on NewEgg for about $180, you can have a terabyte and a half for less than two Franklins. That’s kick ass.
Web Addendum: A small but vocal number of users of the Barracuda 7200.11 line, of which this drive is a part, have been suffering from failures due to firmware issues. See our coverage here and here. At the time this review was written, these issues had not come out, and neither our review units nor the several owned by our editors have had any issues.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB
Heart
A huge leap in capacity without sacrificing too much speed or dough.
Appendix
Random access times slower than the WD Caviar Black and Seagate HD103UJ terabyte drives.
Benchmarks
| Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB | WD Caviar Black | Samsung HD103UJ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HD Tach Burst (MB/s) | 209.3 | 232.6 | 204.5 |
| HD Tach Access (ms) | 15.2 | 12.1 | 13.7 |
| HD Tach AVG Read (MB/s) | 104.4 | 89.5 | 96.8 |
| HD Tach AVG Write (MB/s) | 103.8 | 79.9 | 84.4 |
| PCMark Vantage Overall | 5, 093 | 5, 241 | 5, 289 |
Best scores are bolded. All HD Tach scores use HD Tach 3.0.1.0. All h2benchw scores use h2benchw 3.12.
Nice
Submitted by eim23x on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 2:02pm
I on the move already of Seagate 1TB Drive models SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS and SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS. I went ahead and order from zipzoomfly the WESTERN DIGITAL WD1001FALS Caviar Black and the drive shipped plug it into my box and drive shows up i ran WD tests Quick and it failed from now on i will stick with Seagate. WDC dont make the drive like they used too.
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 5:50am
so 375 GB the max size per platter now? I wonder if they're ever going to make a double width drive that has like 8 platters.
or maybe just bring back 5.25 inch HDDs
Nah, we're already up to
Submitted by TheMurph on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 11:30am
Nah, we're already up to 500GB per platter, as seen on the 2TB drive announcements as of late.
And Samsung already has a 3-platter 1.5TB drive ready... even though it spins at 5,400 RPM.
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 11:39am
so basically drives larger than 320-500 GB are essentially platters in RAID 0 in one HDD?
No.. Hard drives are made up
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 1:34am
No.. Hard drives are made up of platters with servo arms and read/write heads on the ends of those arms. If the hdd's platters each have a capacity of 500gb and the drive has 4 platters then that drive have 2Tb of storage. The platters are all stacked on top of each other and bolted together so they spin together. The controller card on the HDD controlls that servo arm tells your OS that you have one huge HDD. It gets complicated when it comes to where data gets stored on these platters.It's not like a raid though.
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 12:21pm
I didn't mean something like RAID more like JBOD either way I take it maximum density has pretty much been reached and the best they can do know is throw more platters in?
I believe 500GB is the max
Submitted by jcollins on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 9:53am
I believe 500GB is the max per platter for the 2TB drives. I doubt they'll make more platter drives because as the platters go up, the cost goes up and the reliability goes down.
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 11:16pm
Some great deal huh? That WD 2TB drive is $299 bucks on NewEgg.com I just purchased my 1.5TB for $129 at Fry's in the Retail box. More than twice the cost for an extra 500Gb. For less than the $300dollars I can buy Two 1.5TB Seagate drives. That's an extra TB for less than the cost of a WD 2tb drive. And my Seagate has a 5year warrenty.
Submitted by Balgaroo on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 11:04pm
This is a review that was originally in the magazine. Of course they will not put the reviews online at the same time they are in the mag, they want to sell the mag. It would kind of defeat the purpose of buying the mag if MaxPC did that.
Still good review and anyone that knows better, well you know better along with the majority of the people that use this site and read the mag.
Maybe they should start posting a date of when the article was written when it gets online.
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 10:59pm
This is the article from the magazine. Good grief I think it was the February issue that came out last month.
Submitted by Postoloff on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 9:58pm
Fus... Yes this drive has been out a couple months. It had firmware issues, and recently again more firmware issues. The recent attack of firmware issues affected all the 7200.11 series (including the E2.S, and I believe Maxtor drives as well), EXCEPT the 250 gig drive.
WD did release a 2tb recently, and I read Seagate was working on one.
Keith... Seagate actually reduced their warrenty from five years to three. They DO stand behind their product 100% though.
He says they are $180 on newegg, and I would be suprised if they were still that high. I'm leaning toward the fact they are more like $130 just like Tiger.
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 11:01pm
The OEM version has a reduced 3year warrenty. The retail box comes with a sweet 5year warrenty. I'll be happy to send you a copy of my warrenty page...
Submitted by FusilliJerry82 on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 9:26pm
Hasn't this drive been out for several months? And plagued with firmware issues?
Largest drive? Didn't Western Digital recently release a 2TB drive?
Seriously, I had to check the date of the article in case I accidentally jumped back some months.
Submitted by jwoelich on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 9:55am
The entire 7200.11 line has been plagued with firmware issues.
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 8:02pm
I picked one of these boys up in Retail box form for a cool $129 dollars at my local Fry's Electronics store last week. It's freaking wicked and well deserving of that kick ass award. It's also loud and there is an option in Device Manager to turn on an Accustic throttling feature. I figure that any type of throttling will slow down the performance. So I put up with that not so noisy hdd. It's noisy but not so that you would really care after a few minutes.
Submitted by dollar99 on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 8:34pm
I've been keeping my eye on this awesome drive by checking out tech shopping sites for pricing and reviews. I'm shocked to see on one site out of about 500 reviews 24% call this drive a bad egg. I'm going to pass for now and keep storing my riduculous amount of data across several more reliable drives.
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 9:00pm
It's got a 5year warrenty. Seagate is definately banking on this driving being extremely reliable.
Submitted by mlee19 on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 10:06pm
where the fuck have you been MPC online writer?! WD has already released their 2TB drive!! It is on newegg for christ sake! 1.5 TB the largest capacity my ass! Besides, why the hell would anyone want a seagate right now? they are all shit canned anyways from bad firmware. I returned my seagate 1TB because of it! Thank god I got my stuff off of there before is could brick on me. The first time it powered up, already had clicks of death! They lost me forever. Im sticken with WD.
Submitted by knexkid on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 5:39am
This article was written in the Magazine, so it is already a couple months old. At the time, it was the biggest HDD, and it is still the cheapest per gigabyte. I got mine on Black Friday for $120!!! Screamin deal and I have not had any issues with firmware because Seagate updated it. I don't have an "infected model" but if you do you can download a firmware update that fixes it.
Must Read Articles
Feature
Review
Feature
Feature
Feature
Most Popular Articles
This Month's Issue
FEATURE How to Get FREE Programs, Services, Software & MoreFEATURE Digital Photo Printer RoundupHOW TOBuild a 3D CameraFEATUREDIY Arcade PCWHITE PAPERHow TRIM Works
Technology News
Computer Cooling Fans
Computer Cases
PC Game Controllers
PC Games
Computer Hardware
Headphones
MP3 Players
Stream Video
Computer Mouse
Monitors
Motherboards
NAS Storage
Networking
Laptop Computers
DVD Burner
Digital Cameras
Portable Storage
Computer Accessories
Smartphone
Antivirus Software
Sound Cards
Speakers
Computer Systems
Thumb Drives
Video Cameras
Video Card Reviews
Water Cooling
Gadgets
- Keyboards
© 2009 Future US, Inc. All Rights Reserved.