According to its specs, the lct15 should achieve an
access time of 12 milliseconds (
seek time) plus 6.8 milliseconds- 18.8 milliseconds.
WinBench 99 measures an access time of 18.0 milliseconds. So, thankfully, the Fireball beats its specified access time, though when we're up here at relatively stratospheric levels half a millisecond doesn't mean much (0.5 ms -does- mean a lot in the realm of 15k drives, though, where access times are a third of what we see here). Interestingly, an access time of 18 milliseconds means that the lct15 access data just a hair slower than the 5400rpm, 8.9 millisecond
Seagate U10. The U10 errs on its specified access time in the opposite direction... and by a significant margin. The difference according to specifications should be over 4 milliseconds. The actual difference is less than half a millisecond.
The lct15 combines state of the art areal density with its rather slow spindle speed. The net result on sequential transfer rates is a bit on the slow side. The lct15 clocks in at just a shade over 20 MB/sec in its outer zones. This is significantly slower than category leader Maxtor, who's 5400 rpm DiamondMax 60 pumps nearly 28 MB/sec off of its outer tracks. Even the 10 GB/platter U10 manages over 24 MB/sec. As a result, even if STR did play a significant role in everyday tasks (something we doubt), the lct15 won't fare well compared to the competition.
But don't take our word for it... let's take a look at more results.
WinMarks...
