The StorageReview Leaderboard
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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. Contemporary hard drives may be sorted by a variety of performance and environmental metrics in the StorageReview Drive Performance Database. Custom head-to-head comparisons can be created through any selected sort. |
| Budget Storage | Samsung SpinPoint P120 | Lowest Price: |
250-gigabyte hard disks have fallen well below $100. Our choice is the least expensive of the lot, Samsung's SpinPoint P120. Though not a performance leader in most areas, the drive nonetheless combines competent productivity performance with admirably low noise levels.
While it still runs a bit over $100, a nod must also go to Samsung's larger SpinPoint T166. The 500 gigabyte flagship combines leading performance with the quietest operation one can ask for in a 3.5" drive and comes highly recommended.
Past Leaders: None
| 2.5" Notebook Drive | Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 | Lowest Price: |
At under $100, the Travelstar 7K500 offers not only the best in performance, but the highest capacity for a notebook drive. In almost every case, the Hitachi will prove fastest because it performs most single tasks fastest.
| Desktop / Single-User | Western Digital Raptor WD1500 | Lowest Price: |
WD's newest Raptor delivers the best single-user performance one can buy regardless of interface and spindle speed. For those with more expansive budgets, Hitachi's Deskstar 7K1000 offers performance that matches and in many cases even exceed's that of the Raptor while offering more than six times the storage of WD's petite unit.
Past Leaders: Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 (4Q 2005); Maxtor MaXLine III (4Q 2004); Hitachi Deskstar 7K400 (3Q 2004); Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 (4Q 2003); Western Digital Caviar WD2000JB (4Q 2002); Western Digital Caviar WD1200JB (1Q 2002); Western Digital Caviar WD1000JB (4Q 2001)
| Light-Duty Server | Seagate Barracuda ES.2 | Lowest Price: |
Past Leaders: Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS (2Q 2006); Western Digital RE2 WD4000YR (1Q 2006)
| High-Capacity Server | Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 | Lowest Price: |
Mainstream server performance now rests at 15,000 RPM and Seagate, as usual, leads the charge in combining 300 gigabytes of capacity with a 15K RPM spindle in the form of its fifth-generation Cheetah 15K.5.
Past Leaders: Fujitsu MAT3300 (4Q 2005); Maxtor Atlas 10k V (1Q 2005); Maxtor Atlas 10k IV (1Q 2003); Fujtisu MAP3147 (4Q 2002); Seagate Cheetah 10K.6 (3Q 2002); Maxtor Atlas 10k III (2Q 2001)
| High-Performance Server | Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 | Lowest Price: |
Seagate's largest SCSI/SAS offering also serves as one of the fastest around, merging high-performance with high-capacity into a single product. At a significantly lower gigabyte/cost ratio, the firm's Savvio 15K.1 squeeze out a few more IOps and brings additional power/cooling benefits to the table.
Maxtor Atlas 15K II (4Q 2005); Fujitsu MAS3735 (2Q 2003); Maxtor Atlas 15k (2Q 2003); Seagate Cheetah 15k.3 (3Q 2002); Seagate Cheetah X15-36LP (2Q 2001)