Internals, Testing Methodology and System Setup
Internals:
Before we dive in, note the change in thickness.
A few screws removed and we get to the goods. Shaving 2.5mm off of an already thin HDD is not an easy task, especially when you're trying to cram in an additional controller and flash memory.
Click the below image for a larger, more detailed view of the controller, 64MB ram cache, and 8GB of Toshiba MLC flash. It's interesting to note the shift to Toshiba toggle-mode flash over the IMFT Sync flash used in prior Momentus XT models.
Testing Methodology
As with prior Hybrid configuration reviews, we will keep things simple. Since most 5400 RPM laptop HDD's perform similarly, we will focus on the caching performance through repeated trace testing (PCMark) and the timing of system bootup. Since Hybrid caching changes performance dynamically as data is cached, we feel these tests give the best overall feel for how these drives will accelerate performance in the real world. Synthetic benches like IOMeter only test the HDD performance unless they are run on a very smart portion of the drive, which is a bit too synthetic to be considered a real world application.
Test System Setup
We currently employ a pair of testbeds. Our trusty Z68 SandyBridge testbed sits along side a newer ASUS P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt.Results between both boards have been +/- 2% of each other – well within the best data scatter of a typical benchmark.
PC Perspective would like to thank ASUS, Corsair, and Kingston for supplying some of the components of our test rigs.
| Hard Drive Test System Setup | |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2500K |
| Motherboard | Asus P8Z68-V Pro |
| Memory | Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR3-2133 CL9 |
| Hard Drive | G.Skill 32GB SLC SSD |
| Sound Card | N/A |
| Video Card | Intel® HD Graphics 3000 |
| Video Drivers | Intel |
| Power Supply | Corsair CMPSU-650TX |
| DirectX Version | DX9.0c |
| Operating System | Windows 7 X64 |
I’m glad to see Seagate
I’m glad to see Seagate coming into this market in a strong way. WD and Seagate definitely had to be planni9ng on deploying these SSHDs for sometime as they knew the spinning disc market is becoming more specialized and less general purpose.
Also interesting is the 3 year warranty! Traditionally Seagate has been on the lower side of warranty coverage length since the now-infamous flood.
Can’t wait to tell my boss to order some of these in.
Speaking of storage I thought
Speaking of storage I thought the following was also interesting!
One SSD Vs. Two In RAID: Which Is Better?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html
What poor grammar and
What poor grammar and spelling! Isn’t there anyone who spell checks or proofreads these articles?
Leave it to “Anonymous” to
Leave it to “Anonymous” to make a comment like that. Poor kid was afraid to tie his name to it.
These are geeks that write this stuff – not English majors.
If you are looking for perfect writings, read a poem.
One does not have to an
One does not have to an English major to use correct grammar and sentence structure. I’d expect that from a sixth grade student. The comment has merit. What’s so hard about spell checking and writing correctly, more to the point- what is the benefit of presenting your thoughts incorrectly? I’m sure “geeks” have to capacity to make the effort to write concisely- don’t you?
Hi,
It looks good on
Hi,
It looks good on synthetic tests, but in real life it is slower that seagate 500gb 7200rpm.
Anybody know when the Seagate
Anybody know when the Seagate ST1000DX001 will be available? I can’t seem to find it ANYWHERE! Please advise.