Seagate Savvio 10K.1
Note: Since the publication of this review, this drive has been retested under Testbed4, a newer hardware/software/benchmark platform. Please see this article for updated results. This review remains for reference purposes only.
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Beforehand, the predominant metric when it came to server-class drives was the classic cost per gigabyte (a paradigm that still drives most of the desktop market). While continuous movement to electronic forms of storage fueled capacity requirements, the need to serve information to more and more users simultaneously requesting data also grew. From this environment grew a newer model, cost per I/O transaction serviced. With their faster spindle speeds and smaller-diameter platters (reduced from the standard 3.5 inches to just under 3 inches), 10,000 RPM drives such as the Cheetah quickly displaced their 7200 RPM ancestors in the modern data center.
A few more years passed; the need for speed grew. Industry research indicated that to satisfy the need for swifter random I/O, many system administrators intentionally used only a portion of their drives' capacity in an attempt to shave even more from access times. Terabytes of space went unused. Finally, Seagate was again first to address the issue with the Cheetah X15, a drive that yet again reduced platter diameters (this time to about 2.6 inches) as well as bumping up spindle speeds to an awesome 15,000 RPM.
Today, many in the industry argue that another fundamental paradigm shift is taking place. The total cost of ownership when it comes to maintaining drive arrays includes not only the drives themselves but also supporting chassis, racks, cooling, and data center space. While firms gain improvements in random I/O performance through "short stroking" drives, they do not realize any savings when in power, space, and cooling requirements. The drive remains just as large and just as warm as when it brings its full capacity to bear. But, if applications exist that nonetheless demand short-stroking to maximize I/O speeds, why not design a drive's casing around the smaller-sized platter? As demonstrated in the summer's take on RAID arrays, high-depth, highly-random applications benefit from the use of multiple spindles. If one can fit more spindles into an equal amount of space, multiple gains arise.
A smaller platter, of course, yields better random access times. Multiple spindles deliver more I/Os per second. If such an array does not demand more space, power, or cooling, a net savings arises in the total cost per transaction.
Seagate's Savvio (pronounced "sah-vee-oh," as in "savvy I/O") aims to address this market. Rather than focusing on cost per gigabyte or even cost per I/O, the Savvio attempts to tackle a more complex cost per transaction per cubic foot equation. The first-generation Savvio 10K.1 features a diminutive 2.5 inch chassis about the size of a deck of playing cards and nets a 70% savings in space when contrasted with a traditional low-profile, 3.5" form factor drive. It combines a workhorse 10,000 RPM spindle speed with two platters to yield a flagship capacity of 73 gigabytes. Seagate specs the Savvio's seek time at 4.1 milliseconds and equips the drive with a standard eight-megabyte buffer.
In addition to saving space, Seagate claims that the drive's smaller profile and two-platter design consumes about half the power and thus generates half the heat of a traditional SCSI drive. The shorter, more rigid actuator arms permit increased reliability through reduction of unintended head-surface contact. The firm backs the drive with a five-year warranty.
The Savvio is currently available equipped with Ultra320 single-connector (80-pin) and fibre channel interfaces. It is important to note that the drive's small size (and perhaps its target market- the server arena) precludes a desktop-friendly 68-pin Ultra320 version.
Though currently available only with 73 gigabytes of storage and only with a 10,000 RPM spindle speed, Seagate is sure enough of the 2.5" form factor that they have already stated the upcoming 3.5" 10K.7 will be the last of the venerable Cheetah 10K line. Does the Savvio have what it takes to fill some (literal and figurative) big shoes?
In the following tests, the 73 GB Seagate Savvio 10K.1 is compared against the following drives for the following reasons:
| Fujitsu MAP3147 (147 GB) | 3.5" competing unit |
| Hitachi/IBM Ultrastar 146Z10 (147 GB) | 3.5" competing unit |
| Maxtor Atlas 10K V (300 GB) | 3.5" competing unit |
| Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 (147 GB) | Manufacturer's 3.5" unit |
| Western Digital Raptor WD740GD (74 GB) with TCQ enabled | Enterprise-oriented 10K RPM 3.5" SATA drive |