IDE drives (more properly called ATA drives) have come a long way
since they were first introduced in 1985 as a replacement for the
ST-506/412 interface. Today, one can find 512k buffers, 5400 RPM
speeds, sub 10ms seek times, and the much ballyhooed UltraATA 33
MB/sec transfer rate. We also stand before yet another advance;
Seagate's latest Medalist Pro and IBM's Deskstar 14GXP promise 7200
RPM rotation speeds. As is often the case though, higher figures
in popularly quoted specs don't always seem to correlate to better
benchmark figures. Although there are some 8 GB drives available
and many >8 GB products have been announced, the 6.4 GB capacity
is the highest at which every major manufacturer is currently shipping
at least one drive.
Storage Review began testing these drives using Intel's PIIX v3.01
Bus Mastering Drivers. After the initial benchmarking was completed,
however, we found, as have many others, that the default drivers
in Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 provide better performance with
DMA enabled.
For this test, we used an Abit LX6 motherboard (v1.1, bios v C7Q),
a 266 MHz Intel Pentium II processor, a 64MB 10ns SDRAM DIMM, and
a Matrox Millennium II PCI 4MB (bios v1.2, Powerdesk v3.80). The
boot drive (Western Digital Caviar AC31600) contained Windows 95
OSR 2.1 patched with Intel's 82371xB INF Update and Microsoft's
REMIDEUP.EXE fix. The test drive in question was the sole device
located on the secondary controller built into the motherboard.
The drive's DMA box under System Properties' Device Manager was
checked. The tests were run at 1024x768 with 24 bit color at 85
Hz using small fonts. Here is a link to the test
bed information. All drives were formatted with Fat 32 to the
largest possible drive size. ZDBop's Startup Manager was used to
prevent the loading of background applications. ZDBop's WinBench
98 v1.0's Disk Test Suites were run on all test drives. These test
results represent the average of five runs.
Quantum Bigfoot TX
Quantum Bigfoot TX
A notable omission in this
review is Quantum's Bigfoot TX 6.4GB unit. The 5.25" form-factor
Bigfoot is positioned as a low-cost alternative to traditional
3.5" low-profile drives. The Bigfoot is not intended to
be a high-performance drive, however, and lags significantly
behind 3.5" drives in performance. Nevertheless, Storage
Review readers may be very interested in its performance. The
Bigfoot is the drive most commonly found in major retail-brand
systems such as Compaq and Hewlett-Packard. Storage Review plans
to take a look at the Bigfoot TX in the near future.
Fujitsu is not as well-known a hard drive name as some of
the others featured in this review; nevertheless, we were very
eager to test the MPB3064AT in hopes of finding a diamond-in-the-rough.
The drive sports an >10ms seek time, 5400 RPM rotational
speed and a 256k buffer, all par for the course in this roundup.
Unfortunately, we were ultimately disappointed with the numbers
that the drive posted. In both the Business and High-End Disk
WinMarks, the Fujitsu was at the bottom of the charts. The drive
isn't sold by many vendors, but those that do sell it have attractive
prices on it. Nevertheless, Storage Review does not recommend
this drive.
Ziff Davis WinBench 98 - IBM Deskstar 5 DHEA 36480
Business Disk WinMark
98
1362 KB/sec
SS/Database
1202 KB/sec
WP
1668 KB/sec
Publishing
1270 KB/sec
Browsers
1554 KB/sec
Task Switching
1726 KB/sec
High-End Disk WinMark
98
3910 KB/sec
AVS/Express
3.1
2382 KB/sec
Frontpage
97
3092 KB/sec
Microstation
95
7586 KB/sec
Photoshop
4.0
3200 KB/sec
Premiere
4.2
7440 KB/sec
PV-Wave
6.1
2828 KB/sec
Visual C++
5.0
8722 KB/sec
Disk/Read Random Access
15.0 ms
Disk/Read Transfer Rate
Beginning
10300 KB/sec
End
6460 KB/sec
Disk/Read CPU Utilization
5.2%
Transfer
Rate
10334 KB/sec
IBM, still the largest computer corporation today, is not
commonly-known for its hard drives. When one thinks of ATA drives,
the Maxtor and Western Digital models that one sees at major
retail outlets are what come to mind. Even so, IBM's Deskstar
5 took top honors in both the Business and High-End Disk WinMarks.
Despite its high speed, the drive was astonishingly quiet, operating
unobtrusively in the background with little noise. There are
some reports that the Deskstar does not run properly in overclocked
systems with bus speeds at 75 or 83 MHz; Storage Review has
informally used the unit on an Abit LX6 and FIC PA-2007, both
clocked at 75 MHz, with no problems. The IBM is a little pricey
when compared to the competition, though not prohibitively so.
Top performance garners the Deskstar 5 this roundup's performance
recommendation.
Ziff Davis WinBench 98 - Maxtor DiamondMax 86480D6
Business Disk WinMark
98
1234 KB/sec
SS/Database
1170 KB/sec
WP
1462 KB/sec
Publishing
1110 KB/sec
Browsers
1338 KB/sec
Task Switching
2210 KB/sec
High-End Disk WinMark
98
3552 KB/sec
AVS/Express
3.1
2108 KB/sec
Frontpage
97
2994 KB/sec
Microstation
95
6262 KB/sec
Photoshop
4.0
3056 KB/sec
Premiere
4.2
6640 KB/sec
PV-Wave
6.1
2520 KB/sec
Visual C++
5.0
7790 KB/sec
Disk/Read Random Access
17.6 ms
Disk/Read Transfer Rate
Beginning
11900 KB/sec
End
7400 KB/sec
Disk/Read CPU Utilization
5.3%
Transfer
Rate
11854 KB/sec
Maxtor, unlike many of the other drives in this roundup,
enjoys a strong retail presence. One can walk into any CompUSA
or Best Buy, for example, and see, along with Western Digital,
Maxtor DiamondMax drives in many different sizes. Common perception
among retail consumers is that of the two brands, Western Digital
always provides superior performance at a higher price. We were
thus pleasantly surprised to find that the DiamondMax bested
the Caviar in almost every major performance category. The drive
also operates considerably quieter than the Western Digital
offering. When combined with a typically lower price, the decision
becomes clear: Of the drives one commonly finds in retail stores,
the Maxtor is the better buy.
Ziff Davis WinBench 98 - Quantum Fireball SE QM36400SE-A
Business Disk WinMark
98
1254 KB/sec
SS/Database
1128 KB/sec
WP
1522 KB/sec
Publishing
1144 KB/sec
Browsers
1426 KB/sec
Task Switching
1822 KB/sec
High-End Disk WinMark
98
3722 KB/sec
AVS/Express
3.1
2306 KB/sec
Frontpage
97
2920 KB/sec
Microstation
95
7032 KB/sec
Photoshop
4.0
3038 KB/sec
Premiere
4.2
6952 KB/sec
PV-Wave
6.1
2720 KB/sec
Visual C++
5.0
8220 KB/sec
Disk/Read Random Access
16.3 ms
Disk/Read Transfer Rate
Beginning
11800 KB/sec
End
7170 KB/sec
Disk/Read CPU Utilization
5.9%
Transfer
Rate
11758 KB/sec
Though it does not enjoy as significant a retail presence
as Maxtor and Western Digital, Quantum drives are quite often
found as the stock unit in retail systems. Quantum has two offerings
in the 6.4 GB Ultra ATA range, the performance-oriented Fireball
SE along the value-oriented Bigfoot TX (see sidebar). Despite
a relatively low 128kb buffer size, the Fireball SE trailed
only IBM's Deskstar 5 in performance, edging out Maxtor's DiamondMax
to finish second in both the Business and High-End Disk WinMarks.
The Fireball is also very reasonably priced through mail-order,
OEM packaging. Above-average performance along with competitive
pricing make the Quantum Fireball SE an easy value recommendation.
Ziff Davis WinBench 98 - Seagate Medalist Pro ST36451A
Business Disk WinMark
98
1210 KB/sec
SS/Database
1044 KB/sec
WP
1492 KB/sec
Publishing
1146 KB/sec
Browsers
1322 KB/sec
Task Switching
1676 KB/sec
High-End Disk WinMark
98
3498 KB/sec
AVS/Express
3.1
2146 KB/sec
Frontpage
97
3126 KB/sec
Microstation
95
6648 KB/sec
Photoshop
4.0
2570 KB/sec
Premiere
4.2
6086 KB/sec
PV-Wave
6.1
2586 KB/sec
Visual C++
5.0
8056 KB/sec
Disk/Read Random Access
16.7 ms
Disk/Read Transfer Rate
Beginning
7866 KB/sec
End
5032 KB/sec
Disk/Read CPU Utilization
4.0%
Transfer
Rate
7872 KB/sec
In some ways, Seagate's Medalist Pro is similar to Quantum's
Fireball SE. Although a recognized name, Seagate does not have
a strong retail presence. Like the Fireball, the Medalist Pro
is competitively priced. In some ways, the Medalist Pro is very
different from the Fireball SE. Instead of the paltry 128k buffer,
for example, it offers an ATA-hefty 512k. And, unlike the Fireball,
the Medalist Pro disappoints with substandard performance. The
drive finished close to the bottom of the pack, ahead of only
the last-place Fujitsu drive. The ST36451A is apparently being
phased out in favor of the promising 7200rpm Medalist Pro series.
Seagate's current offering, though, cannot be recommended.
Ziff Davis WinBench 98 - Western Digital Caviar AC36400
Business Disk WinMark
98
1218 KB/sec
SS/Database
1042 KB/sec
WP
1488 KB/sec
Publishing
1162 KB/sec
Browsers
1384 KB/sec
Task Switching
1628 KB/sec
High-End Disk WinMark
98
3532 KB/sec
AVS/Express
3.1
2192 KB/sec
Frontpage
97
2880 KB/sec
Microstation
95
6738 KB/sec
Photoshop
4.0
2710 KB/sec
Premiere
4.2
6562 KB/sec
PV-Wave
6.1
2664 KB/sec
Visual C++
5.0
7456 KB/sec
Disk/Read Random Access
16.5 ms
Disk/Read Transfer Rate
Beginning
10300 KB/sec
End
6110 KB/sec
Disk/Read CPU Utilization
5.2%
Transfer
Rate
10288 KB/sec
The Western Digital Caviar drive series enjoys both wide
retail distribution along with a stellar retail reputation.
Western Digital prides itself on being the "world's most
recommended hard drive." However, middling performance
and noisy operation combine to preclude Storage Review from
joining the rest of the world. If ATA performance is one's goal
IBM's Deskstar 5 outdistances the Caviar by a significant margin,
albeit at an increase in cost. Quantum's Fireball SE, although
harder to find, offers better performance for less money. Maxtor's
DiamondMax, the retail twin of the Caviar, can be just as easily
obtained, usually costs a bit less, and provides slightly better
performance. The most notable trait of the Caviar was the noise
the actuator/head
assembly made when seeking; it was substantially louder than
every other drive in this roundup. All in all, the Caviar delivers
mediocre performance at a rather high price, and thus is not
recommended.
