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My impression on the new Hitachi 7k60 HDD

M

mocca

Senior member
I got the new Hitach i7k60 HDD few days ago and have been playing with it for a while now. I write up a short review in case that anyone else is interested in getting the drive 🙂 My test system is IBM T40p with P-M 1.6GHz and ATI FireGL9000. I compare the new 7k60 with three other laptop HDDs I have/had. The three other HDDs are Hitachi/IBM Travelstar 80GN, Hitachi/IBM Travelstar 40GNX, and Hitachi DK23EB. All HDDs are installed in the same system (IBM T40p).

1) Performance: The 7k60 is definitely faster than other 5400 or 4200 laptop rpm and I can feel it even when using the laptop. I ran some benchmark using PCMark2002 and Sandra SiSoft. The three comparing HDDs (40GNX, 80GN, and DK23EB) get about 450-550 on PCMark2002 and 14000-15000 on the Sandra (I forget the unit but it is comparison anyway so the unit is not very important). The average seeking time for the three drives are about 12-13ms. The 7k60 get 900 on PCMark2002 and 22000 on the Sandra. The average seeking time of the 7k60 is 8ms. (10/10)

2) Acoustic Level: The 7k60 is a little bit quieter than the 40GNX and DK23EB but louder than the 80GN. The 80GN is practically inaudible (and I have quite good ears) when idle and barely audible when seeking. The 7k60, on the other hand, is audible in both idle and seeking from the distance about 6-12 inches. The noise, however, is low frequency noise similar to low rpm cooling fan noise. I can hear the idle noise very clearly if I place my ears near the right palmrest when the HDD is (about 2-4inches away). But at 6-12 inches, the idle noise is practically inaudible. To give you some ideas, I rank the acoustice level from the loudest to the most quiet HDDs as follow

Idle: DK23EB > 40GNX > 7k60 > 80GN
Seeking: 40GNX > DK23EB > 7k60 > 80GN

In the acoustic level category, I give the 7k60 (8/10).

3) Heat: The heat level is on par with the DK23EB and a little bit cooler than the 40GNX. The ranking start from the hottest to the coolest is 40GNX > DK23EB > 7k60 > 80GN. In this category, the 7k60 is very impressive consider it is running at 7200rpm and in a small form factor. (9.5/10)

If anyone else have 7k60, please share your experience with the drive. The drive in general is very impressive. The only thing that I dont' like is the acoustic level. From the Dell forum, there are few 7k60 owners claim that the 7k60 is practically silent when idle. This is not the case here. I'm not sure if it is the different in human perception or their system have fan running when they try to hear the HDD noise. The HDD noise is very similar to the low speed cooling fan so if their fan is running (even at the lowest speed), it is difficult to tell which one is the source of the noise. More user/owners opinions on the acoustic noise level is welcome.

Mocca
 
does the 7,200rpm hdd support acoustic management? I remember that my 40GNX didn't, but my toshiba GAX did support acoustic management which made the drive somewhat quieter.

It looks like the 80GN is not a bad drive. As long as is not dog slow then I would rather have quiet than super fast.
 
Yes, the 7k60 supports the acoustic management. You can enable it via IBM Feature Tool and the seeking noise is cut by 30-40%. BTW, I recieve the replacement HDD. The noise level is comparable to the old one I sent back. Contrary to few people on Dell web site, the HDD is definitely not totally silent. It emits noise similar to low rpm fan noise when idle and, what I called, normal seeking noise similar to DK23EB or 40GNX. The acoustic level of the drive is a little bit better than the DK23EB but louder than the 80GN. The drives (both of the 7k60) run pretty cool. If it is idle or the laod is minimal, the HDD temp is about 33-34 celcius. Under very heavy load, the temp raises up to about 43-44 celcius. The temperature usually stay around 35-38 celcius under normal usage. FYI, I use MBM5 and SiGuardian to detect HDD temp. The ambient temperature is around 25-27 celcius in my office here just FYI.

The performance of the new drive I get is a little bit better than the one I sent back and this is based on very similar set up and fresh WinXP installation. On PCM2k2, the new drive get 958-962 while the Sandra test yields about 24000-25000 scores (compare to the one I sent back which is around 910-915 and 22000-22500, respectively). I don't know why the bench scores would be any differences since both drive are the same and presumably produced at the similar time (both are mfg in July, 03). The tests are performed under very similar conditions (i.e., fresh WinXP installation, install video and network drivers, install PCM2k2 and Sandra, fully defrag the HDD, run the tests).

Mocca
 
I bought it from www.googlegear.com. The price is around $326 with free 2nd day shipping. The first one I got have some problems with it and the SMART values indicate that the drive is defective or close to end of life so I sent it back and get a replacement unit.

Mocca
 
I'm considering one of these drives for my Gateway Solo 450SX4, which currently has a 30GB 4200 RPM drive. Googlegear just boosted their price to $360. It was $326 yesterday when I checked.
 
Originally posted by: stingbandel
do you know the different between the e7k60 and the non e that you are getting?
Click to expand...

The e7k60 supposedly runs cooler and slightly quicker and less power consumption.
 
I was also intrigued by the E7K60 and was wondering about the differences. I haven't found anyone who stocks it.
 
yup, same here.... I don't see anyone sells this one yet... not on ebay or any major stores like newegg or googlegear has em.

 
I just completed installation of my new IBM/Hitachi 7K60. Simply put, it rocks. My bootup time seems to be like 1/5 of the time it was before. It's like a a whole different system.

Price is now below $300, which makes it even better.
 
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