Leaderboard - Best Hard Drives & SSDs
Updated 1/30/12
The StorageReview Leaderboard briefly describes the drives that we believe are the best in their given categories. Note, however, that these capsule comments are not a substitute for the full reviews of the drives.
Be sure to view the drive reviews database for detailed reviews.
SSD (Solid State Drives)
Performance - With the new breed of SATA 6Gb/s interface SSDs starting to hit the market, the first we've seen based on the SandForce controller is also the fastest, posting ridiculous speeds -- if you want the best of the best, look no further than the OCZ Vertex 3 or OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G.
Mainstream - Buyers can now get a ton of value from mainstream SATA 6.0Gb/s performance SSDs such as the Marvell-based Plextor M3S and Crucial m4 or SSDs like the OCZ Agility 3 or the OWC Mercury Electra 6G which offer the great SandForce SF-2200 processor, but use more cost-effective asynchronous NAND to drive down total price. These models offer the same great performance as faster models, with a small hit on compressible-data writes versus their more expensive brothers.
Value - Just like in the mainstream category, SandForce is showing the strength and value of its SF-2200 processor in some value oriented SATA 6.0Gb/s SSDs like the OCZ Solid 3. Still offering a substantial boost in speed over older models, the Solid 3 brings SATA 6.0Gb/s speeds in at a $99 price-point for the 60GB model.
Boot - Boot SSDs have taken on a new meaning in the latest generation of drives to hit the market. With flash prices dropping, 60GB is the new 40GB, which brings much more capacity for users to work around so they aren't so limited. Drives like the OCZ Agility 3, OCZ Solid 3, Corsair Force 3 and others all help fill this market segment with high-performance but lower capacity models.
mSATA- There are a handful of SSDs that don't fit the traditional mold, or in this case interface. The Intel SSD 310 and Renice X3 uses the mSATA port to serve largely as boot duty in compatible notebooks, tablets and the like.
Specialty- The OWC Aura Pro SSD is a high-performance 1.8" SSD that comes in capacities up to 480GB and features a SandForce SF-1200 processor. If you have break-neck speed in mind, look no further than the OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 which interfaces through an open PCI-Express slot to give speeds surpassing 1000MB/s.
Enterprise SSD (Solid State Drives)
High-End SLC - The SLC SSD category includes drives that are designed for extremely heavy write-intensive workloads and offer exceptional speeds in demanding environments. This category includes the SATA 6.0Gb/s Micron RealSSD P300 and SAS 6.0Gb/s Toshiba MKx001GRZB, both of which offer great steady-state performance in a wide range of workloads.
Endurance eMLC - When the perfect blend of cost and performance needs to be found, eMLC-based SSDs are turned to in the Enterprise environment. This category includes the Samsung SSD SM825, offering near-SLC performance levels with a lower TCO.
PCIe Enterprise SSD (Solid State Drives)
High-End SLC PCIe - When speed, endurance and all out performance are needed, enterprise buyers turn to SLC-based PCIe SSDs. This category includes the LSI SLP-300 WarpDrive, offering six SandForce SF-1500 processors.
Performance MLC - The MLC PCIe category is filled with options like the OCZ Z-Drive 4 and Fusion-io ioDrive Duo, offering exceptional performance in high I/O applications and large storage capacities.
3.5" Desktop Hard Drives
Performance - Our current top choice for consumer performance hard drives is the Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000. Offering capacities up to 3TB, this model offered transfer speeds above 150MB/s, topping the charts and winning our hearts.
Low Power - Thankfully for consumers the green drive space has three very solid entries that when on sale, are all valid choices. However, we have favorites - for always-on applications like home servers, the Seagate Barracuda LP is a nice choice due to its lowest in class idle power consumption and the Western Digital Caviar Green earns a nod for high reliability. But if you need huge capacity, try the fifth generation Caviar Green, which come in 2.5TB and 3TB capacities.
2.5" Notebook Hard Drives
Hybrid Hard Drives - Seagate is the first to re-enter the hybrid hard drive space with the Momentus XT. The drive comes in capacities up to 500GB and beats out all other notebook drives (the VelociRaptor too for that matter) in our real world tests, where the drive is able to effectively use it's extra 4GB flash storage. The 500GB model runs roughly $130, an excellent value for top-line performance. Seagate updated the original XT to the new 750GB Momentus XT, offering a faster SATA 6.0Gb/s interface and 8GB of flash storage.
Performance - In all of our testing, one notebook drive continues to rise to the top - the Western Digital Scorpio Black. After two years, the 320GB Scorpio Black is still a great drive, bested only by the recent release of its bigger brother, the 500GB Scorpio Black.
High Capacity - The Western Digital Scorpio Blue and Samsung SpinPoint M8 hold the spot as best high-capacity 2.5-inch drives. Offering the 9.5mm drive height standard to almost all notebooks, these models offer 1TB capacities with great compatibility. Recently even 7200RPM performance models have reached as high as 750GB, such as the 750GB Seagate Momentus.
2.5" Enterprise Hard Drives
Performance/Enthusiast - A hybrid category more or less created by Western Digital, remains theirs to own with the 5th generation VelociRaptor. Available in 450GB and 600GB formats, these 10,000 RPM SATA drives are the fastest SATA drives available outside of SSDs and have appeal to both desktop power users and enterprise storage markets. They drives are even better in RAID, rivaling mid-range SSD performance.
