WD Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB seems slow...

graysky · 28th Mar 2009, 06:02 PM

I just bought a Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB (SATAII, 7200 RPM, 32 Mb cache). I ran a few disk benchmarks on it and found that is seems pretty darn slow compared to my Seagate drives. Does anyone else have this WD drive and would you mind running HD Tach on it if you run windows or hdparm if you run LINUX and report the results.

Here are the results using HD Tach under XP Pro 64-bit:
Random access: 14.3ms
Average read: 89.6 MB/s
Burst Speed 224.9 MB/s

Here are the results under LINUX using hdparm
# hdparm -Tt /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 13500 MB in 2.00 seconds = 6761.12 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 244 MB in 3.02 seconds = 80.92 MB/sec

As a comparison, I ran the same two benchmarks on my Seagate ST3750330AS (also 750 Gb, 7200 RPM, 32 Mb cache):

Here are the results using HD Tach under XP Pro 64-bit:
Random access: 12.9ms
Average read: 91.4 MB/s
Burst Speed 247.6 MB/s

Here are the results under LINUX using hdparm
# hdparm -Tt /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 15880 MB in 2.00 seconds = 7952.77 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 344 MB in 3.01 seconds = 114.19 MB/sec

Chai · 29th Mar 2009, 08:45 AM

I don't know how Linux measure the HDD performance, but the HDTach looks normal to me.

PsYkHoTiK · 30th Mar 2009, 10:42 AM

HDparm wasn't really that consistent for me.

graysky · 4th Apr 2009, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PsYkHoTiK

HDparm wasn't really that consistent for me.

The man page recommends running it multiple times and averaging the results.

Adrian Wong · 4th Apr 2009, 10:46 PM

Hmm.. Both are 3-platter designs with similar platter capacities (250 GB per platter). The faster access speed does suggest that the Seagate drive may have a slightly higher areal density.

Chai · 5th Apr 2009, 09:36 AM

You should have gotten the Caviar Black 1TB model if you want good performance.

graysky · 5th Apr 2009, 05:34 PM

I might just have to return this one and get the 1 TB model then... either that or the new Seagate which I can't find anywhere (the 7200.12).

Chai · 5th Apr 2009, 07:04 PM

But honestly, it doesn't really matter that much unless you are fully utilising the file transfer speed. 1ms faster random seek time is something you should take into consideration also.

Adrian Wong · 6th Apr 2009, 09:46 PM

Yeah, the 1TB WD Caviar Black should be faster. It has 1 TB on 3 platters, so the areal density is 33% higher. Its platter-to-buffer transfer rate should correspondingly be roughly 33% higher.

28th Mar 2009, 06:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
graysky Getting there Join Date: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 177 Reputation: 249 Rep Power: 5	WD Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB seems slow... I just bought a Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB (SATAII, 7200 RPM, 32 Mb cache). I ran a few disk benchmarks on it and found that is seems pretty darn slow compared to my Seagate drives. Does anyone else have this WD drive and would you mind running HD Tach on it if you run windows or hdparm if you run LINUX and report the results. Here are the results using HD Tach under XP Pro 64-bit: Random access: 14.3ms Average read: 89.6 MB/s Burst Speed 224.9 MB/s Here are the results under LINUX using hdparm # hdparm -Tt /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing cached reads: 13500 MB in 2.00 seconds = 6761.12 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 244 MB in 3.02 seconds = 80.92 MB/sec As a comparison, I ran the same two benchmarks on my Seagate ST3750330AS (also 750 Gb, 7200 RPM, 32 Mb cache): Here are the results using HD Tach under XP Pro 64-bit: Random access: 12.9ms Average read: 91.4 MB/s Burst Speed 247.6 MB/s Here are the results under LINUX using hdparm # hdparm -Tt /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing cached reads: 15880 MB in 2.00 seconds = 7952.77 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 344 MB in 3.01 seconds = 114.19 MB/sec __________________

29th Mar 2009, 08:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 27,884 Reputation: 4630 Rep Power: 81	I don't know how Linux measure the HDD performance, but the HDTach looks normal to me. __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

30th Mar 2009, 10:42 AM	#3 (permalink)
PsYkHoTiK "Little" Devil Join Date: 8 Apr 2004 Location: On the "throne" Posts: 14,659 Reputation: 4442 Rep Power: 64	HDparm wasn't really that consistent for me. __________________ Intel SLAPL 4.3GHz @ 1.35v : 2x2GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 1066 : Asus P5K Premium : WD RE3 250GB x2 RAID 0 : 3ware 9650SE-2LP : G92 8800GTS 512mb 820MHz Core : XFi Platinum : Silverstone OP650 : Silverstone TJ-07 : Dtek FuZion CPU : Swiftech MCW60 : MCP655 : Thermochill PA120.3 w Scythe Ultra Kaze CPU-Z: SLAPL : SLA9U : FX-55 : DDR 600 : VX www.techarp.com PsYkHoTiK's Meanderings

4th Apr 2009, 10:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 32,299 Reputation: 3574 Rep Power: 75	Hmm.. Both are 3-platter designs with similar platter capacities (250 GB per platter). The faster access speed does suggest that the Seagate drive may have a slightly higher areal density. __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

5th Apr 2009, 09:36 AM	#6 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 27,884 Reputation: 4630 Rep Power: 81	You should have gotten the Caviar Black 1TB model if you want good performance. __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

5th Apr 2009, 05:34 PM	#7 (permalink)
graysky Getting there Join Date: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 177 Reputation: 249 Rep Power: 5	I might just have to return this one and get the 1 TB model then... either that or the new Seagate which I can't find anywhere (the 7200.12). __________________

5th Apr 2009, 07:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 27,884 Reputation: 4630 Rep Power: 81	But honestly, it doesn't really matter that much unless you are fully utilising the file transfer speed. 1ms faster random seek time is something you should take into consideration also. __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

6th Apr 2009, 09:46 PM	#9 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 32,299 Reputation: 3574 Rep Power: 75	Yeah, the 1TB WD Caviar Black should be faster. It has 1 TB on 3 platters, so the areal density is 33% higher. Its platter-to-buffer transfer rate should correspondingly be roughly 33% higher. __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

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