Don't buy the Seagate 500gb ST9500325AS - Runs very slow

[Eudoxus]

Well, finally I have installed a brand new WD Scorpio Blue 320GB. I have run some HD Tune tests and my feelings are mixed.
+ It's is not as noisy as Seagate Momentus 7200.4 that I replaced.
- But it is still louder than my sotck Fujitsu.
+ It is a bit faster than Fujitsu, although not as fast as some have claimed (Windows experience ratings - Fujitsu 5.4; Scorpio Blue - 5.9; the same as Momentus 7200.4)

Now there are some interesting things showed by HD Tune.
Write test
Maximum:
Fujitsu - 64 MB/sec
Momentus - 92.5 MB/sec
Scorpio Blue - 68.4 MB/sec

Minimum:
Fujistsu - 15.7 MB/sec
Momentus - 43.8 MB/sec
Scorpio Blue - 33.4 MB/sec


Average:
Fujitsu - 50.8 MB/sec
Momentus - 74.2 MB/sec
Scorpio Blue - 54.7 MB/sec


Access time:
Fujitsu - 17.7 ms
Momentus - 17.5 ms
Scorpio Blue 17.1 ms

Burst rate:
Fujitsu - 59.6 MB/sec
Momentus - 52.1 MB/sec
Scorio Blue - 60.5 MB/sec

As you can see Momentus can easily outperform both 5400 RPM drives in terms of throughput but this is as it should be, because it is 7200RPM drive. However, it does not translates in terms of experience when you use your system. As far as I can tell in this regard there is no big difference between all the three drives.
What bothered me a bit is why the burst rate for all three drives is almost the same. It seems strange to me as I have read some reviews which claimed that Scorpio Blue scores more than 100 MB/sec in this test. Could there be some bottleneck in my system?

[bautista.ekonomista]

Well, finally I have installed a brand new WD Scorpio Blue 320GB. I have run some HD Tune tests and my feelings are mixed.
+ It's is not as noisy as Seagate Momentus 7200.4 that I replaced.
- But it is still louder than my sotck Fujitsu.
+ It is a bit faster than Fujitsu, although not as fast as some have claimed (Windows experience ratings - Fujitsu 5.4; Scorpio Blue - 5.9; the same as Momentus 7200.4)

Now there are some interesting things showed by HD Tune.
Write test
Maximum:
Fujitsu - 64 MB/sec
Momentus - 92.5 MB/sec
Scorpio Blue - 68.4 MB/sec

Minimum:
Fujistsu - 15.7 MB/sec
Momentus - 43.8 MB/sec
Scorpio Blue - 33.4 MB/sec


Average:
Fujitsu - 50.8 MB/sec
Momentus - 74.2 MB/sec
Scorpio Blue - 54.7 MB/sec


Access time:
Fujitsu - 17.7 ms
Momentus - 17.5 ms
Scorpio Blue 17.1 ms

Burst rate:
Fujitsu - 59.6 MB/sec
Momentus - 52.1 MB/sec
Scorio Blue - 60.5 MB/sec

As you can see Momentus can easily outperform both 5400 RPM drives in terms of throughput but this is as it should be, because it is 7200RPM drive. However, it does not translates in terms of experience when you use your system. As far as I can tell in this regard there is no big difference between all the three drives.
What bothered me a bit is why the burst rate for all three drives is almost the same. It seems strange to me as I have read some reviews which claimed that Scorpio Blue scores more than 100 MB/sec in this test. Could there be some bottleneck in my system?

First of all, congratulations on your new WS Scorpio Blue HDD. I will also be getting my own replacement Scorpio Blue probably tomorrow lunch (Manila Time) and I can't wait to share to you guys how will this replacement drive perform vis-a-vis the clunky--and cranky--Seagate Momentus 5400.6 I received.

As for your observations, I think I've read some forums claiming that WD's Scorpio Blue line has, in some cases, outperformed the 7200 rpm HDDs by Seagate. On the other hand, maybe it's your system that's preventing your WD to reach the reported 100MB/s speed clip. Nonetheless, I think it's a much better solution than what Seagate currently has under their sleeves.

[bautista.ekonomista]

Had I have a sense of sobreity and clarion thinking in the first place and not based my decision on pure luck, I should've gotten a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB and ditched any plans to even think of purchasing a Seagate Momentus equivalent.

I have been running my T61 for the past 8+ hours straight, and I haven't heard a single knock that has been an intermittent problem with the past Seagate HDDs I had (the previous two which I just had recently but is now back in the arms of the online seller). I still don't know if it will be safe from such problems a few days or weeks from now, but here's me hoping that this will be the last time I'll change the HDD and clone everything from scratch. I know it's quite easy to replace and upgrade the HDDs in Thinkpads but the time lost in performing all the diagnostics and thinking whether the drive will fail yet again just don't make economic sense.

Thanks for all the replies in this post. It really helped me in sorting out this problem. Throwing Seagate hard drives under the bus in one fell swoop sure sounds unfair, to say the least, but given my experience with them, I'd rather place all my marbles in Western Digital HDDs for the meantime.

THanks again!

[Eudoxus]

Glad to hear that you have find a HDD that works.

[GrandMasterKhan]

Are you guys sure about the 250GB 5400 limitation for T61's? Mine came with a 160GB 7200 RPM HDD and I've heard of people putting in 500GB 7200 drives without problems. But they are usually Hitachi's.

[Troels]

Eudoxus,
When making the benchmark of those harddrives, what was the block size defined in HD Tune? (Can be selected under Options icon -> Benchmark -> Block Size)

[Eudoxus]

64KB

[Troels]

Thanks.
Did a test on HD Tune in a 7200.4 500 GB, using 64 KB block size.
For some reason there's always a steep point near the beginning, where it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Don't know why this is.

But here goes:

Maximum:
100.0 MB/sec

Minimum:
36.6 MB/sec

Average:
77.1 MB/sec

Access time:
18.2 ms

Burst Rate:
83.6 MB/sec

CPU usage:
4.5%
I'm a bit puzzled why the burst rate is that different. Are there any settings in the BIOS which could cause this by any means? I too remember reviews stating the Scorpio Blue performing at about 100 MB/s burst rate, so it really ought to be.

EDIT: Reran benchmark.

[Eudoxus]

Well, you at least got 83.6 MB/sec which is way better than on my system. What kind of machine do you have?

[GrandMasterKhan]

The consensus is Seagate is junk and the company deserves to go the way of the do do bird. Either WD or Hitachi is the way to go.

[Eudoxus]

The consensus is Seagate is junk and the company deserves to go the way of the do do bird. Either WD or Hitachi is the way to go.

WD Scorpio Black is reported to vibrate like hell and many members of this venerable forums have advised to stay away from them. But as far as WD Scorpio Blue goes I am overall satisfied. I don't know why but Hitachi is very hard to get here in Europe.

[Troels]

Well, you at least got 83.6 MB/sec which is way better than on my system. What kind of machine do you have?

I know.. it's no T61 or T61p, but a T60p (2623-ddu) which ought to not be too different. Maybe there's something screwy with Lenovos SATA-I "cap" on the T61/p which does this, but not sure what it is. If we can get more people with T61/p to benchmark their drives (any drive would do) we might get a pattern, and Lenovo would have some further explaining to do here.

[Eudoxus]

Well, I am going to use this T61 for a couple of weeks or even less as I am going to get a new machine - T500.

[bill bolton]

The consensus is Seagate is junk and the company deserves to go the way of the do do bird.

That was the consensus on WD a while back when they had problems, and then there was the Hitachi DeathStar debacle, yet you are recommending both WD and Hitachi now!

[bautista.ekonomista]

That was the consensus on WD a while back when they had problems, and then there was the Hitachi DeathStar debacle, yet you are recommending both WD and Hitachi now!