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Hard Disk Rates & Review(India)
  1. Ultra ATA
  2. SATA
  3. Misconception of HEAT
  4. Hard Disk Prices
  5. Conclusion

Hard Disk Drive Interface:

SATA & ATA/Ultra ATA are the two interfaces which are available in the market(Ignore SCSI Interface by the time).These interfaces determines the data tranfer rate i.e Media Rate(Mbps) of the hard disk & thus increases the overall system performance.

Ultra ATA100/133 or PATA:

This interface is called as Parallel ATA which has been used over 17 years & reaching its limitations.Thus it leads to a new interface called SATA.
Ultra ATA Hard Disks are available in 5400RPM,7200 RPM.RPM means rotations per minuter of magnetic media inside the hard disk.U can select depending on the type of application u use..


Ultra ATA 5400 RPM:Value for money, entry level drives. Good for regular PC applications like MS Excel, Word and Power Point.

Ultra ATA 7200 RPM:High-end series available in various capacities. Good for applications like Internet Explorer, Movie Maker, Photoshop, VC++.It costs RS100 more then Ultra ATA 5400.Called as Puma in Samsung.Called as Baracuda in Seagate.

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SATA:

SATA uses two pair of lines & each pair controls their respective signals i,e from SATA contoller to motherboard & motherboard to SATA contoller.Each pair sends only 1 bit at a time & thus eliminating signal distortion caused by timing restrictions of Ultra ATA.

Ultra ATA uses 5V wheras SATA uses 0.5V.So lower voltage of SATA consumes less power & less electromagnetic problems over Ultra ATA.This leads to longer data reliablity & increase in lifeterm of SATA.Standarad Ulta ATA & SATA hard disk Component Design Life is of 5 years only.

Ultra ATA uses Master/Slave jumper settings to get detected by motherboard.This is eliminated by SATA.

Data Cable for data transfer & signals:SATA uses a thin cable consiting of 7 pins only wheras Ultra ATA uses 40 pins.This provides a better ventilation inside the cabinets & proper airflow.

SATA1.0 data transfer rate is 1.5Gb/s which is 10 times faster then 150MB/s of Ultra ATA 133.

SATA has improved data protection through new algorithms which enhances much data reliabilty.

Atpresent,SATA Hard Disks are available in SATA1.0 & SATA 2.0 version.
SATA Version Approximate Data Rate Approximate Bus Speed Compatibility
SATA 1.0 150MB/s 1.5Gb/s Launched in Mid 2002
SATA 2.0 300MB/s 3.0Gb/s Launched in Early 2005 & compatible with 1st generation
SATA 3.0 600MB/s 6.0Gb/s Will be available in Mid 2007 & compatible with 2nd generation
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Misconception of HEAT:

This problem is present both in SATA & Ultra ATA for higher capacity hard disks such as 160GB,200GB.
The use of 2 platters reduces heat compared to the use of 3 platters in hard disk.So opt for 2 platters hard disk.Platter means electromagnetic disk presnt in the hard drive.

So this heat problem is present in large capacity of hard disks.So SATA is a better choice to decrease the heat.A good well ventilated cabinet with a fan placing opposite to hard disks reduces the heat considerably by a large amount.A good well ventilated cabinet is quite enough to get rid of heat problems.
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Prices September 2005 updated.

Model NO Interface Spindle Speed Buffer Size Warranty Price
Hitachi
1)HDS728080PLA380 SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 80GB 5Yr RS3000
2)HDS728040PLA320 SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 40GB 5Yr RS2800
3)HDS722525VLAT80 PATA 7200RPM 8MB 250GB 5Yr RS6250
4)HDS722516VLAT80 PATA 7200RPM 8MB 160GB 5Yr RS4400
5)HDS722512VLAT80 PATA 7200RPM 8MB 120GB 5Yr RS4000
6)HDS725050KLA360 SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 500GB 5Yr RS21000
Western Digital
7)WD740GD SATA 10000RPM 8MB 74GB 5Yr RS8900
8)WD360GD SATA 10000RPM 8MB 36GB 5Yr RS5200
9)WD1200SD SATA 7200RPM 8MB 120GB 5Yr RS4500
10)WD1600SD SATA 7200RPM 8MB 160GB 5Yr RS4900
11)WD2500SD SATA 7200RPM 8MB 250GB 5Yr RS7100
12)WD3200SD SATA 7200RPM 8MB 320GB 5Yr RS9400
13)WD2500KS SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 250GB 5Yr RS7300
Samsung
14)SP0411N PATA 7200RPM 2MB 40GB 5Yr RS2600
15)SP0411C SATA 7200RPM 2MB 40GB 5Yr RS2700
16)HD080HJ SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 80GB 5Yr RS3300
17)HD120IJ SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 120GB 5Yr RS4300
18)HD160JJ SATA2 7200RPM 8MB 160GB 5Yr RS4800
Seagate
19)ST340832AS SATA 7200RPM 8MB 400GB 5Yr RS23500
20)ST330831AS SATA 7200RPM 8MB 300GB 5Yr RS12000
21)ST3250823AS SATA 7200RPM 8MB 250GB 5Yr RS8500
22)ST3200826AS SATA 7200RPM 8MB 200GB 5Yr RS6800
Maxtor
23)6B250S0 SATA 7200RPM 16MB 250GB 3Yr RS7000
24)6B300S0 SATA 7200RPM 8MB 250GB 3Yr RS8500
25)6Y080M0 SATA 7200RPM 8MB 80GB 3Yr RS3100
26)6Y120M0 SATA 7200RPM 8MB 120GB 3Yr RS3900
27)6Y160M0 SATA 7200RPM 8MB 160GB 3Yr RS4500
28)6Y200M0 SATA 7200RPM 8MB 200GB 3Yr RS5500
29)6Y250M0 SATA 7200RPM 8MB 250GB 3Yr RS6700
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Conclusion:

So the best deal among all the hard disks is quite a tepid task.So follow these tips before buying an hard disk.

Acess Time:Its the amount of time it takes for hard disk heads to move to a specific adress location on magnetic platter.
Hitachi Hard Disks had the best acess time.
Samsung Spin Point PL40 posted poor acess time.

Read & write speed:
Western Digital WD740GD posted the best read and write speeds.
Seagate ST340832AS posted the second best read speed & worst write speed.
SAMSUNG SP0411C posted the slowest read speed & worst write speed.
CPU Utilisation:
Highest CPU Utilisation is posted byMaxtor Diamond Max10.
Lowest CPU Utilisation by Hitachi 7K500,Samsung SP0411N,MAxtor Diamond Plus 9.

Window XP startup test:
Hitachi scored the fastest.
Western Digital comes next.
Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 took the longest time.
Hitachi SATA 80GB hard disk is the best value award & posted good performance then others in some areas.
Samsung Hard Disk except in sequential read,it showed below average performance but its the best hard disk in terms of low temperature & less noise generation compared to others.So if performance is not a deal then Samsung is a better choice for a good backup storage in terms of cost.

Within a family of hard disk of the same company,this conclusion will not differ much from one model number to another.
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Reference:IC Chip Magazine,Toms Hardware
Any comments or other active doubts?...Welcome!
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