7200.7 vs Barracuda V

[Bookie]

I'm looking to get another serial ATA drive and of course I won't use anything but Seagate. Noise is an issue which is why Seagate must be used.

What I want to know is, what is the difference between their Barracuda V line and the 7200.7 line? The CudaV's seem slightly higher but I can't really tell why? Their spec are almost identicle. The main thing is the noise issue. Has anyone used both drive and no if there is any difference between the two?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bookie]

well, I guess I'm inpatient. I just downloaded Seagates white papers on these drive and it seems as if the 7200.7 is slightly faster but has a seek acoustic of .1 bel higher than the barracuda V.

I'm still curious if anyone has used the two of these and can notice any difference in seek noise between them.

Currently all my pcs use Barracuda V's (pata) and the loudest moving part on any of my pc's is panaflo 80mm l1a fans, including the power supplies.

With my setup, there's nothing worse than having to hear the harddrive seek.

 

[tallman45]

Found this with a google search

"Sound power is measured in watts or picowatts, and sound power levels are traditionally given in decibels (dB re 1pW), where 0 dB corresponds to 1 picowatt. But frequently these days sound power level is given in bels (1 bel = 10 decibels) rather than decibels to avoid confusion with sound pressure levels. So a machine with a sound power level of 9.8 B (9.8 bels) is a machine with a sound power level of 98 dB."

So if 1 bel= 10db, then it would seem that .1 bel would = 1db

1db may be hard to tell a difference

Specs for the Seagate "SoftSonic FDB motor and SBT (sound barrier technology) for minimal noise ? just 2.5 bels idle acoustics".... Thats 25db which is pretty quiet

Don't know what Wd or Maxtor drive sound rating are but a Barracuda V is clearly quieter.

This does not answer your exact question but I thought it interesting

 

[Bookie]

thanks. I'm going to try out the 7200.7. If it lives up to it's spec then it will be worth it.

 

[DrVos]

A 120GB 7200.7 is enroute to my home and I am anxious see how it compares to my 120GB Barracuda V. I've read that the 7200.7's are slightly louder than the V's and are noticibely louder than the IV's. Idle noise does not seem to be a problem, the noise occurs when the drive seeks. Something to consider is that the 7200.7's do not include the seashield and do not have the Acoustic management that the V's and IV's had because of some patent issue.

 

[BZeto]

I'm going to be purchasing a new 120 gig drive pretty soon and I think I've decided with Seagate, I have a barricuda IV and I have never heard it, very quiet.

So I assume both the 7200.7 and the cuda V's are SATA?

 

[Bookie]

both drives come in sata and pata versions. Make sure you get the correct one.

DrVos, I'd love to hear how that drive works for you.

 

[Bookie]

DrVos, I just checked the whitepapers again and the 7200.7 does indeed have the "Seashell packaging for drive protection against 1,000 Gs of nonoperational shock".

 

[Krueger81]

I have two of those raided together and it doesn't sound loud only when the drive seeks.

I like the throughput but I haven;t been able to bench but seems fairly quick.

Phil

 

[DrVos]

Just a little update on my hard 7200.7 purchase: I installed the 7200.7 the other day and I have to say that it is not louder than my BarV. If anything, it seems that the hard drive seeks are much less noticeable. Plus I upgraded to a 8MB cache, which noticeably helps my load times in games. Woot!

 

[Ionizer86]

Just popped in an 80GB 7200.7 PATA with 8MB cache. It's single platter, so it may be quieter than the other 7200.7's.

This thing is really really quiet! It's idle is quiter than my Maxtor 40GB 5400RPM, and the seek noise is only audible if my PC's lid is off and my ear is within 6 inches of the drive. That aside, it doesn't make audible noise. Finally, a fast, modern drive that's basically silent.

andra Max 2003 stats:
Score: 36453KB/s
Buffered Read : 83 MB/s
Sequential Read : 54 MB/s
Random Read : 8 MB/s
Buffered Write : 80 MB/s
Sequential Write : 53 MB/s
Random Write : 9 MB/s
Average Access Time : 6 ms (estimated)

I have a DM9+ Maxtor 160GB with 8MB cache to compare with, and I have to say that the Maxtor is much noisier. Out of the box, the Maxtor's seeks are very noticeable even with the PC lid on and with my ear 2-3 feet away. The Maxtor AAM software wouldn't work with it, so I used the Hitachi Feature Tool set to lower the noise so that the seek is almost inaudible (it's still there, but a lot quieter).

Sandra Max 2003 stats:
Buffered Read : 82 MB/s
Sequential Read : 48 MB/s
Random Read : 7 MB/s
Buffered Write : 62 MB/s
Sequential Write : 44 MB/s
Random Write : 14 MB/s
Average Access Time : 8 ms (estimated)

So even after the Maxtor's noise is toned down, it's still a tad noisier than the 7200.7 and its performance is a bit slower, especially the seek.