Hard Disk Drives With 640GB Storage Capacity Review

We have tested hard disk drives with a capacity of 1 terabyte and three quarters of a terabyte (750GB), and now it’s time to move one step lower, to 640GB devices. This capacity may look odd because the manufacturers usually try to arrive at some round and nice-looking number. The explanation is simple: every 640GB hard disk drive is based on two latest-generation platters with a recording density of 320GB per platter. That’s why 1-terabyte drives use a three-platter design. But it should be noted that 1-terabyte drives have 333GB platters.
Dual-platter HDDs have always had an ambiguous standing. They are not remembered as “the world’s first to achieve the capacity of so many gigabytes” but still enjoy well-deserved popularity. It is dual-platter drives that used to have the lowest data storage cost per gigabyte. They have only been outdone recently after the considerable price cut on 1-terabyte models. You can also expect very good performance from them: each of the five HDDs included into this review is based on full-size 320GB platters whereas there can be drives with lower recoding density among 500GB and 750GB models.

• Testing Participants

• Samsung SpinPoint F1 DT, 640GB: HD642JJ
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, 640GB: ST3640323AS
• Western Digital Caviar Green, 640GB: WD6400AACS
• Western Digital Caviar Blue, 640GB: WD6400AAKS
• Western Digital Caviar Black, 640GB: WD6401AALS

• Testbed and Methods
• Performance in Intel IOMeter

• Sequential Read & Write Patterns
• Disk Response Time
• Random Read & Write Patterns
• Database Patterns
• Web-Server, Fileserver and Workstation Patterns
• Multithreaded Read & Write Patterns

• Performance in FC-Test
• Performance in PCMark 2004
• Performance in PCMark 2005
• Performance in PCMark Vantage
• Defragmentation
• Power Consumption
• Conclusion