Storage

SPCR's Hard Drive Testing Methodology

Reference|Recommended | Storage
The HDD testing system underwent a major series of upgrades that reflects the growing sophistication of SPCR readers -- and our own increasing awareness of hard drive acoustics issues. The acoustic testing tools of careful listening and SPL measurements remain; they are enhanced with a new vibration testing methodology, as well as measurements of power draw in an effort to predict thermals.

Recommended Hard Drives

Reference|Recommended | Storage
Our reference article about HDD noise, along with a select roster of recommended quiet drives. Latest update 28 April 2010.

Tiché PC HDD Vibration Killer

Audio|Video|Misc | Cases|Damping | Storage
The Tiché PC HDD Vibration Killer is an aftermarket internal hard drive suspension system that is simple but effective and cost efficient.

Seagate Barracuda 3TB: 1TB Platter Behemoth

Storage
The Barracuda 3TB is Seagate's new flagship desktop hard drive with 64MB of cache, a 7200 RPM spindle speed, and huge 1TB platters.

WD Scorpio Black 750GB & Scorpio Blue 1TB

Storage
A close look and listen of the Scorpio Black 750GB and Scorpio Blue 1TB, Western Digital's fastest and largest capacity notebook hard drives respectively. Whether they'll be in short supply due to the flooding of WD plants in Thailand is not clear.

Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000 2TB 5940RPM Hard Drive

Storage
Hitachi's Deskstar 5K3000 series employs a 5940 RPM motor to give it a speed boost over 5400 RPM "green" models. If it can keep noise and power consumption at a reasonable level, it could be the green drive we've all been waiting for.

Icy Dock MB973SP-B SATA Backplane Module

Storage
The Icy Dock MB973SP-B is a simple device that converts two 5.25" bays into an external backplane module for three 3.5" SATA hard drives. It also has some nifty features like individual power switches, extra front eSATA and USB connectors, and an adjustable and replaceable 80mm fan.

HP Proliant MicroServer

Complete|Mobile Systems | Storage
The MicroServer is a unique SFF server in the HP Proliant line that looks more like a small PC or multi-HDD NAS box. Powered not by Atom but a more powerful dual-core, 12W TDP AMD Athlon II, it is the smallest server we've ever seen. We gave our sample the complete SPCR treatment.

SSD Roundup: Corsair F180 vs. Zalman S Series vs. Kingston SSDNow V+100

Storage
In this roundup we examine the performance of three SSDs from Corsair, Zalman, and Kingston. The results should be interesting as they have different controllers, capacities, and prices.

OCZ RevoDrive 120GB PCI Express SSD

Storage
The OCZ RevoDrive 120GB is a high performance solid state drive that utilizes a pair of SandForce controllers in RAID 0. To alleviate any bandwidth limitations, it is housed on a PCI Express 4x card, offering a much fatter pipe than SATA 3/6 Gbps.

Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB & Momentus 750GB

Storage
The Barracuda Green 2TB is an attempt by Seagate to crack the low power consumption and excellent acoustics of low power desktop drives from WD and Samsung. The Momentus 750GB on the other hand doesn't have much to prove, coming from the same stock as the surprisingly quiet Momentus 7200.4 and XT.

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB vs. WD Caviar Blue 1TB

Storage
The Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.C and WD Caviar Blue 1TB represent the latest evolution in mainstream 7,200 RPM hard disk drives. While not as fast as high performance 7,200/10,000 RPM models or SSDs, they are fast enough, reasonably quiet, and very affordable.

MUKii TransImp USB 3.0 Adapter and Hard Drive Dock

Storage
The MUKii TransImp USB 3.0 adapter and hard drive dock are a pair of useful gadgets for anyone who works extensively with PCs and needs the ability to quickly access a hard drive without the bother of hooking it up inside a PC.

New high areal density 2-and-3 TB Greens from WD

Storage
Three Terabyte capacity in a 4-platter drive and 750GB/disc density is excellent, but the 2 TB model in a drive with one less disc might prove to be even better for noise and power. We examine samples of the latest WD Caviar Green models along with an earlier 2 TB 4-platter AV-optimized Green.

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB Portable USB 3.0 HDD

Storage
The Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB is the largest portable bus-powered external hard drive money can buy, supports the new USB 3.0 standard and features a unique interchangeable adapter interface.
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