Maxtor D540X vs D536X vs Seagate U6?

[otheos]

I need some 60GB hard drives for static data, and looking around I decided 5400rpm gave the lowest price/GB.

Now I don't mind slow, but I'd like the fastest possible . I don't care for STR (accessed over 100Mb network anyway), rather access time since there'll be 400Kb-sized JPGs for browsing.

The 540 has 40GB/platter, same for the U6, but the 536 only 33GB/platter.

Only reviews I found was for the U6 (xbitlabs) and how bad the access times were. So I was thinking the 536 with the lower density might give lower access times.

BTW why is Maxtor advertising <12ms and Seagate 8.9ms (maybe Seagate is missing something?).

So what do you reckon?

Note: the WD600 is more than 15% more expensive than the other 5400rpm drives (and less than 6% cheaper than the Maxtor 740 -i.e a 7200rpm drive of 60GB) so it's out of the budget window.

Thank you for your time.

[Richard Cranium]

You may have seen my post regarding the 60gb U6, the user reports it to be TOTALLY silent.

I'm generally unimpressed with maxtor drives, the Seagate looks more promising in general especially in the area of data protection.

To generate noise, several factors are involved. More power, heat and wear are associated with noise, which Maxtors are known for. perhaps not excessive by todays standards but still a consideration.

The weight of the U6 surprised me, it "seems" to weigh in a bit on the hefty side despite it being my first 60gb drive.

My vote goes to the Seagate.

Buy.com had em for $95 when I posted, after $10 coupon. The price went up to some $125~ the week after my post, now back down to $105

http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product...rmat=7#product

[otheos]

Thanks Richard,

noise is not too much of a concern as the drives will be in a dedicated box/storage (240GB) in a seperate room but still good to know as much as possible for the drives.

As far as data protecion goes, it's very important so I'll see where you're coming from before I decide.

Only thing that bothered me about the U6 is the ridiculously high access time (~20ms). Hopefully the 536 may give a lower access time (~ 15ms) using lower platter density.

Thanks for the prices too, here in the UK though everything is a tad more expensive, but I'll check www.uk.buy.com for reference.

[Richard Cranium]

quote
" It's interesting that the graphs of the Seagate U6 and Maxtor DiamondMax VL40 are very similar to each other despite different access times. It's obvious that not everything depends on a graph of linear reading and access time: there are other hidden differences. "

and

" High results of the ZDLabs Winbench place the new generation of Seagate disc into a leading group among 5400 RPM hard discs. Optimization of the internal software makes the highest contribution into it. The Seagate engineers managed to lift the performance when working with usual applications under Windows at the low cost. Low results of the IOMeter shouldn't be attached importance to since one will hardly use such disc in servers. At least it can be used in the IDE RAID to build an inexpensive system with a disc size up to 320 GBytes on one controller! "

http://www.digit-life.com/articles/seagateu6/index.html

If you're concerned with speed in a 60g 5400 drive, the there is only one choice ,

the Western Digital WD600AB

http://www.wdc.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=4

A quick check of pricing puts it at the same exact figure as the Seagate, a surprise to me. Glad I found that information, I'll not order any more seagate U6 Drives. Thanks for the prompt.

DrVette

The 7200 20GB Maxtor works fine though a bit noisy compared to Seagate or WD.

[otheos]

Thanks for the info!

I finally got the Maxtor 536DX. I got a killer price for 6 drives and had the chance to try it (and the 540) to chose. While the 536 gives a lower STR, access times and multitasking are better due to the different design. I have posted a user-review here so loog out for it.

The WD is indeed the current 5400rpm leader but it's price tag puts it among the 7200rpm drives and I think it's a no brainer to spend the extra $5 for 7200rpm drive.

The U6 was not easy to find and test so I am left tasteless.

Thanks again.

If you're concerned with speed in a 60g 5400 drive, the there is only one choice ,

Rich: I bought this for a net price after rebates of around $50 from BestBuy after Thanksgiving. Excellent performance. Quiet as a mouse. Can't hear it.

Have a question for you: What is a good utility to measure drive overall performance? I tried Sandra and it gives different results each time. What do you suggest?

Thanks.

[Richard Cranium]

I don't have a clue as to benchmarking utilities.

Primarily my area of expertise is research, and that is not much.

I do spend a fair amount of time looking for answers on questions however I'm limited as to "number" of posts I can afford to dedicate from 30min to an hour or more looking for results.

So, someone else will have to answer that one.

Sorry
Doc