Next: HDTune:

HD Tune is a small program that will graph the performance of the drive from the start of the tracks (outside of the drive/platter) to the end (inside of the drive/platter). The transfer speed can be seen on the graphs below as the Blue line, which is in MegaBytes per Second. This is transfer rate from the media surface (platter) to the host adapter (motherboard), so it represents a true to life raw transfer speed, no cached or buffered reads in this test. Random access times are also graphed, represented by the cloud of yellow dots.

Western Digital Scorpio 320GB 5400rpm

HD Tune: Seagate Momentus 160GB 7200rpm

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Western Digital Scorpio 160GB 5400rpm

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Western Digital Scorpio 250GB 5400rpm

From the graphs above we can see the 320GB Scorpio well ahead of the other drives, even the 7200rpm Seagate in terms of transfer rate from start to finish, this is mostly thanks to its increased bit density, with the heads able to read more date per revolution compared to the other three drives. All the 5400rpm drives, including the new 320GB Scorpio still lag behind when it comes to Random Access Times though, with the Seagate Momentus leading the way thanks to its 7200rpm spindle speed, so the heads don’t have to wait as long for the right sector to come around.

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