On our benchmarking we used two different configurations. The first one we used (labeled set 1 below) was the same used to collect performance data from other hard disk drives we tested. Since we didn’t have the hard disk drives we reviewed in the past with us anymore, we had to keep this configuration for comparing the results obtained by the hard disk drive being reviewed with the ones obtained by other models, even though the motherboard used had SATA-150 ports. We decide to install the reviewed hard disk drive on a SATA-300 motherboard, and we did so, using the configuration listed as “set 2”. Because of these two configurations we could also see if there was any noticeable performance loss by installing a SATA-300 hard disk drive on a SATA-150 port.

Hardware Configuration (set 1)

• CPU: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
• Motherboard: Chaintech CT-9CJS Zenith (Intel 875P)
• Memory: Two 256 MB PC3200 TwinMOS memory modules in DDR Dual Channel configuration
• VGA: Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro
• Video resolution: 800x600x32

Software Configuration (set 1)

• Windows XP Professional using NTFS file system
• Service Pack 1A
• Direct X 9.0A
• Intel Inf driver version: 5.00.1012
• ATI video driver version: 7.88 (6.14.10.6343)

Hardware Configuration (set 2)

• CPU: Athlon 64 3200+
• Motherboard: ECS C51G-M754 (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410)
• Memory: Two 256 MB PC3200 TwinMOS memory modules
• Video resolution: 800x600x32

Software Configuration (set 2)

• Windows XP Professional using NTFS file system
• Service Pack 2
• Direct X 9.0c
• nVidia nForce driver version: 8.22
• nVidia GeForce driver version: 81.98

Benchmarking software used

• DiskSpeed32

We adopted a 3% error margin. So, performance differences below 3% cannot be considered meaningful. In other words, products where the performance difference is below 3% must be considered as having similar performance.