Hitachi Deskstar 7K250

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD Capacities Model Number Capacity HDS722540x 40 GB HDS722580x 80 GB HDS722512x 120 GB HDS722516x 160 GB HDS722525x 250 GB Lowest Real-Time Price: Introduction Since the days of the lowly Deskstar 5, IBM's ATA drive line has always vied for the desktop performance crown. If not the outright speed leader, Big Blue invariably was a close second. Landmark drives include the Deskstar 14GXP which, along with the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 2500, holds claim as the first 7200 RPM ATA drive and the Deskstar 75GXP, whose five-platter design delivered a then-unprecedented 75 gigabytes of capacity mated with blazing fast performance.

The 75GXP (and to a lesser extent, its successor, the Deskstar 60GXP), however, is better remembered for a high failure rate and the extraordinary amount of press and discussion that followed. IBM abandoned its unique five-platter designs in favor of a more conservative three platters. In the mean time, rival Western Digital scored a performance coup with its Caviar WD400BB. From that point, WD never lost stride through introducing 8-megabyte buffers, debuting the first 7200 RPM 100 GB ATA and 200 GB drives, presenting what remains the only 10k RPM ATA drive series, and last but not least, maintaining a stranglehold on ATA performance leadership.

Since then, IBM sold its famed hard disk division to Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, Ltd. Though Big Blue retains a 30% interest in the division, it is Hitachi, through its Global Storage Technologies division, that oversees day-to-day operations. Taking some time, the transition resulted in a quieting of releases. The Deskstar 180GXP, for example, arrived a bit later than the 60 GB/platter units from the competition. Even so, the 180GXP's performance and noise levels rivaled that of category leaders.

Over the summer, the 7K250 became the first drive to be announced natively under the new Hitachi name. Like the Western Digital Caviar WD2500 and the Maxtor MaxLine II, the flagship Deskstar 7K250 utilizes three 83-gigabyte platters to achieve a 250 gigabyte capacity. Hitachi specs seek times at 8.5 milliseconds. The 7K250 is available in a wide range of capacities in both parallel and serial ATA interfaces. Both 2- and 8-megabyte buffer sizes are available in the PATA lineup- the smallest drives come only with 2 MB, the flagship with 8 MB, while other sizes available in both. Reflecting the premium market that SATA remains associated with, all serial ATA units come standard with 8 MB of cache. Hitachi warrants 8 MB units for three years; 2 MB drives come with a one-year warranty.

Our sample, an SATA drive, features a newer 15-pin power connector that supports hot-swap functionality. It also, however, includes the legacy 4-pin molex power connector that assemblers have come to love and hate. Either may be used to power the drive.

Like all other designs save only Seagate's Barracuda series, the 7K250 utilizes an onboard parallel-to-serial bridge. Though converters usually exact a performance penalty, high-level performance remains the ultimate arbiter. All other things being equal, if a bridged design outperforms another that uses a native setup, it should be the obvious choice- as always, it's bottom-line rather than module-level performance that matters.

The following tests pit the Deskstar 7K250 against other contemporary serial ATA drives. The 10,000 RPM WD Raptor, technically in a different class, appears for reference's sake. Note that Seagate's latest available SATA drive is the 80 GB/platter Barracuda 7200.7. Though we have reviewed the 7200.7 in the past, recent driver and BIOS updates forced a retest of all SATA drives. Unfortunately, Seagate has been unable to supply StorageReview with a new sample. Rather than omitting an entry from Seagate entirely, these tests include results from the Barracuda ATA V, a drive that has been retested under updated conditions. Let's see how Hitachi's newest stacks up!