The WD400BB's measured
access time is 13.9 milliseconds, somewhat of a disappointment when specs indicate that the unit should feature a score closer to 13.0 ms. With the new
DiamondMax Plus 45 shaving quite a bit of time off of Maxtor's traditionally high access times, WD's drive earns the dubious distinction of the highest access time featured in a current drive.
There are quite a few readers eagerly awaiting the sequential transfer rate results from the new breed of 20 GB/platter 7200 RPM units. Like Maxtor's new drive (which features just 15 GB/platter), the WD400BB fails to beat the IBM Deskstar 75GXP on its outermost tracks, posting a speed of 33.6 MB/sec. On the other hand, the drive's inner-zone score is easily the most impressive we've recorded to date from an ATA drive at 23.5 MB. A look at the WinBench 99 outer zone transfer rate of 33 MB/sec is maintained through nearly half of the drive's capacity... quite unusual, and definitely not a bad thing.
WinMarks...
