Major transfer rate slowdowns for all 1TB 5400rpm/Green external eSATA drives?

[TJCS]

Do all green/5400rpm eSATA 1TB drives get a big dip in transfer rate when approaching full capacity?

The transfer rate of my Fantom external eSATA drive takes a big dip from 70~80 MB/s to around 30~40 MB/s when it is somewhere between 2/3 or 3/4 full. I realize that performance generally degrades when you move closer to the inner tracks on the HDD, but seems like the dip in speed on my Fantom drive is pretty huge (not to mention it is actually a 7200rpm drive).

Will I expect the same performance behavior if I invested in a new eSATA Green/5400rpm drive? I am deciding between investing in a new green/5400rpm or a faster 7200rpm 1~1.5TB drive when there is a deal. I don't keep my external running 24/7, I do backups depending how much changes I make to files.

 

[Elixer]

Which HD is in the Fantom? I never heard of a 7100 RPM HD.

For speed, yeah, they do degrade in performance the fuller it gets.
How are you testing the speeds anyway?

 

[alexruiz]

Do all green/5400rpm eSATA 1TB drives get a big dip in transfer rate when approaching full capacity?

The transfer rate of my Fantom external eSATA drive takes a big dip from 70~80 MB/s to around 30~40 MB/s when it is somewhere between 2/3 or 3/4 full. I realize that performance generally degrades when you move closer to the inner tracks on the HDD, but seems like the dip in speed on my Fantom drive is pretty huge (not to mention it is actually a 7100rpm drive).

Will I expect the same performance behavior if I invested in a new eSATA Green/5400rpm drive? I am deciding between investing in a new green/5400rpm or a faster 7200rpm 1~1.5TB drive when there is a deal. I don't keep my external running 24/7, I do backups depending how much changes I make to files.

If I am correct, the phantom has a WD green EAVS 8MB cache inside.
Seems normal.

I personally think that green drives are overrated, but oh well.

 

[TJCS]

Which HD is in the Fantom? I never heard of a 7100 RPM HD.

For speed, yeah, they do degrade in performance the fuller it gets.
How are you testing the speeds anyway?

My apologies, it is a 7200rpm drive. The HDD inside my Fantom external drive is a Hitachi HDT721010SLA360, here is the spec overview for reference.

I am only reading the transfer speeds from Windows 7 to determine the speeds. I keep old backups copies on my drive until I run out of room ( then I start deleting), so as the drive fills i am noticing that the time it takes to transfer files takes significantly longer.

 

[TJCS]

If I am correct, the phantom has a WD green EAVS 8MB cache inside.
Seems normal.

I personally think that green drives are overrated, but oh well.

You are also correct. But. depending on where/when you bought the Fantom External, it could be either a WD Green or a Hitachi Deskstar. I expected more from the Hitachi drive running at 7200rpm; I guess this is why Fantom sell the Hitachi with the WD Green.

Open question: Will the drive get too hot if I swap a WD Caviar Black inside a the Fantom enclosure with passive cooling?

 

[alexruiz]

My apologies, it is a 7200rpm drive. The HDD inside my Fantom external drive is a Hitachi HDT721010SLA360, here is the spec overview for reference.

I am only reading the transfer speeds from Windows 7 to determine the speeds. I keep old backups copies on my drive until I run out of room ( then I start deleting), so as the drive fills i am noticing that the time it takes to transfer files takes significantly longer.

The Hitachi deskstar 7K1000.B is a very good drive (I had one, it can reach 110 MB/sec)

I suspect, however, that the power adapter of the phantom enclosure is NOT enough to feed the 3 platter 7200 rpm drive. I had a phantom enclosure bought off ebay that I tried to pair with either of 2 7200 rpm high performance drives (Deskstar 7K1000.C or a Samsung F3 HD103SJ) Both of them had trouble reaching 100 MB/sec in the enclosure, while connected directly they were ~140MB/sec

A samsung ecogreen F2 (5400 rpm, HD103SI) benched at its full speed in the enclosure (115 MB/sec)

Is the power adapter 2 amps? If so, as your last post suggests, try a 5400 rpm 2 platter drive. Try testing the deskstar as internal also.


Alex

Edit: The enclosure is very very good at dissipating heat. A drive might get hotter inside your computer.

 

[TJCS]

Thank you for sharing your personal experience on this Alex, and I think you just saved me time and money. I am happy to know that the Hitachi Deskstar is a great performing drive, but I am sadden to say that due to a recent unfortunate failure on my Fantom external I had to RMA it. I received a WD WD10EAVS as an RMA replacement today

The WD drive seems a little slower and uses less power than the Hitachi, but I will test it after HDDScan finishes and see how it goes. How can I check the power rating (I don't see any label on the drive or the power adapter)? Also, there is a warranty sticker that prevents the drive from being opened, so I may wait on opening the drive.

 

[TJCS]

Hey Alex, did you end up keeping your Fantom External with the Samsung F2?

 

[taltamir]

If I am correct, the phantom has a WD green EAVS 8MB cache inside.
Seems normal.

I personally think that green drives are overrated, but oh well.

Well, if anything the green drives prove that speed is overrated... people want more gigs for less dollars. cut down the RPMS to 5400 (saves electricity, noise, heat, etc), and sell them at the lowest price on the market and people will buy them.
I own some green drives, they are slow an unimpressive, but they are cheap enough to be worth it.

ps. actually, the speed needs depends on the use... I have an intel SSD for OS, a WD caviar blue 640GB double platter drive for scratch, and 5x750gb WD "green" drives in RAID6 for my NAS.

 

[TJCS]

Just thought I would share the results of the WD10EAVS in my Fantom External:

The maximum/burst is a bit lower than the Hitachi, but the minimum seems to be a bit higher. Hopefully my sustained transfer rate can stay close to the average once I get to fill the drive.

 

[alexruiz]

Hey Alex, did you end up keeping your Fantom External with the Samsung F2?

I ended selling both of them. The Samsung was a natural fit to the enclosure, but I use the external drives to store a lot of smaller files. Latency makes them feel much slower than a 7200rpm drive. They run cooler no doubt, but just changing folders feels sluggish.

The power adapter shoud have the rating. Mine was "12 V, 2 A".

 

[Emulex]

does anyone actually sit around watch a 1TB drive fill up? last time i looked teracopy wanted to spend many hours - at that point i usually disconnect from that machine (rdp) and come back tomorrow.

 

[alexruiz]

Well, if anything the green drives prove that speed is overrated... people want more gigs for less dollars. cut down the RPMS to 5400 (saves electricity, noise, heat, etc), and sell them at the lowest price on the market and people will buy them.
I own some green drives, they are slow an unimpressive, but they are cheap enough to be worth it.

ps. actually, the speed needs depends on the use... I have an intel SSD for OS, a WD caviar blue 640GB double platter drive for scratch, and 5x750gb WD "green" drives in RAID6 for my NAS.

Agree, speed depend on the use. Using a green drive to store tons of small files makes them sluggish. Using them to store backup images is also not a good use. Why would you buy a 1 GB green drive to use for backup images when a Samsung F3 costs the same, and will whoop the green drive?

Video storing (HTPC, Tivo and similar) suit a green drive better. You will be copying large amounts of data not very often, and the daily use doesn't need full speed.



Alex

 

[alexruiz]

does anyone actually sit around watch a 1TB drive fill up? last time i looked teracopy wanted to spend many hours - at that point i usually disconnect from that machine (rdp) and come back tomorrow.

If you are doing a backup / restore on site, you need the speed.

 

[TJCS]

does anyone actually sit around watch a 1TB drive fill up? last time i looked teracopy wanted to spend many hours - at that point i usually disconnect from that machine (rdp) and come back tomorrow.

I try to leave the HD to do the backup when I can, but sometimes I want to do some disk demanding work on the same machine and brings things to a haul when the backup is running. Also I forgot to mention my backup sizes ranges from 50GB to around 400GB depending on files I am working on.

If you are doing a backup / restore on site, you need the speed.

Roger that.

 

[TJCS]

I ended selling both of them. The Samsung was a natural fit to the enclosure, but I use the external drives to store a lot of smaller files. Latency makes them feel much slower than a 7200rpm drive. They run cooler no doubt, but just changing folders feels sluggish.

The power adapter shoud have the rating. Mine was "12 V, 2 A".

Mine is also a 2 AMP power adapter (the tiny label was hidden on the inside of the adapter when plugged in XD) . Did you find some good new enclosures or better alternatives after you sold your Fantom and Samsung? let me in on the scoop :awe: