Seagate 3TB Barracuda XT(ST33000651AS)

[illidan]

Seagate Barracuda XT 3TB Specs - ST33000651AS
- Interface - SATA 6Gb/s
- Max Sustained Data Rate - 149MB/s
- Cache - 64MB
- Average Latency (ms) 4.16
- Spindle Speed (RPM) 7200
- Heads/Disks 10/5
- Bytes per Sector 512
- Load/Unload Cycles 300K
- Nonrecoverable Read Errors per Bits Read, Max 1 per 1014
- Annualized Failure Rate (AFR) 0.34%
- Mean Time Between Failures (hours) 750,000
- Limited Warranty - 5 years
- Startup Current +12 Peak (A, ±10%) 2.0W, Standby 0.55W, Operating, Average 9.23W, Idle 7.37W
- 3.5" form factor

Seagate recently started shipping their 3TB Barracuda XT, which with the Hitachi 7K3000, make up the first wave of performance oriented 3TB hard drives. The implications of 3TB capacities are big, consumers now have 50% more capacity to work with on a single drive, purportedly without giving up performance. Up to this month, the only other 3TB option was Western Digital's Caviar Green, but it's not designed to hum along at the same pace. The 3TB Barracuda XT has a lot going for it - a 7,200 RPM spin speed, 64MB cache and updated SATA 6Gb/s interface combine to deliver sustained transfer rates of 149 MB/s. Seagate is also making the 2.2TB barrier less of an issue by including a software package to make the drive compatible with legacy operating systems.

The good news too is that the 3TB 'Cuda XT isn't exactly new, unproven tech either. The drive has been out for months, hidden in external enclosures from Seagate. Externals have often been used as the proving ground for new drives, getting their feet wet in that environment before hitting desktops. Aside from the five 600GB platter count, they're more a progression from the 2TB XT than anything else.

The performance/high capacity blend speaks to a wide audience. Obviously the 50% capacity gain over 2TB drives is a win right off the bat; enthusiasts, gamers and media hoarders can get more out of their storage footprint by just upgrading drives. And while the 3TB XT is certainly speedy enough to be used as a primary drive in desktop systems, the idea of pairing these drives as the storage workhorses behind a speedy SATA 6Gb/s SSD handling the OS is pretty appealing. Not to mention the fact that they can also play well in high-speed external enclosures, NAS systems and the like. But for all of these scenarios to play out, the drives have to be able to perform. We'll dive into the performance, software and everything else in this review.

Izvor: StorageReview.com