Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Capacities Model Number Capacity ST340014A 40 GB ST38001xA(S) 80 GB ST312002xA(S) 120 GB ST3160023A(S) 160 GB Lowest Real-Time Price: Introduction Over the last three years, hardware enthusiasts have watched with increasing disappointment as Seagate took the respected Barracuda name and slapped it onto successive series of drives featuring more and more mundane performance. Though the Barracuda ATA IV and V featured impressively low noise floors, their performance trailed category leaders Western Digital and Hitachi by significant margins. A user purchasing a Barracuda ATA drive did so for its low noise, not its leading performance.

With the serial ATA 'Cuda V, Seagate finally debuted a drive featuring an 8-megabyte buffer as well as the only drive to eschew a PATA-to-SATA bridge. While this first attempt exhibited some improvement over the standard parallel ATA (2-meg) unit, the SATA Barracuda nonetheless trailed WD's and Hitachi's disks by a significant margin.

In a fashion that surprised some watchers, Seagate quickly followed up on the Barracuda ATA V with the Barracuda 7200.7. The former series, with its 60 gigabyte platters, represented somewhat of a transitional product as Seagate ramped up production of units with 80 GB platters, a size regarded as more "standard" by the industry.

The Barracuda 7200.7 family delivers a somewhat confusing array of varying configurations. All feature 80 gigabytes per platter and specified 8.5 millisecond random read seek times. The standard ATA-100 units, available in sizes from 40 GB to the flagship 160 GB, come with a 2-megabyte cache. The ATA-100 "Barracuda 7200.7 Plus" comprises 120 GB and 160 GB models with 8-megabyte buffers. Finally, serial ATA versions spanning 80 GB to 160 GB come standard with 8 megabytes. Notably absent on the 7200.7 is the "SeaShield," a metal plate found on earlier models that protected electronics mounted along the underside printed circuit board. Keep in mind that the SATA 7200.7 does not feature a traditional 4-pin molex power connector but rather requires the new L-shaped SATA power connector either incorporated on the power supply (rare) or through an adapter (found in some retail SATA controller kits).

These days, warranties covering ATA drives confuse many readers. According to Seagate, the Barracuda 7200.7 Plus (model numbers ST3120026A and ST3160023A) come backed by three-year programs. All other 7200.7's, including the serial ATA models, are protected by a standard one-year warranty.

We offer a qualified apology for the length of time between the 7200.7's appearance in the channels and the publication of this review. According to Seagate, ATA drives are now on a very lean "build to order" program that makes it more difficult to supply samples to the press. After an extended delay, we decided to use SR's scarce financial resources to secure an ATA-100 unit for review. Ironically, about two weeks after we concluded formal testing on our own unit, Seagate finally delivered an ATA-100 sample. The numbers that follow were drawn from our purchased unit.

Figures for the SATA unit were procured from a sample graciously provided by long-time sponsor HyperMicro. Keep them in mind for your next storage purchase and be sure to mention StorageReview.com in your HyperMicro order for free UPS ground shipping.

Results for the standard ATA-100 and serial ATA 7200.7s follow. Though we have yet to put a 7200.7 Plus to the test, it is reasonable to assume that results for the SATA drive represent the performance that one may expect from the Plus series.