Reviews
Western Digital Caviar SE 3200JB
Very un-Raptor like... and that’s a good thing
W
e all love Western Digital’s 10,000rpm Raptor drive, but its measly
74GB capacity is barely enough for our swap file. In the face of the
competition’s 300GB, 400GB, and soon-to-be-released 500GB drives,
WD had to do something. What it’s done is release an all-new, 7,200rpm 320GB
Caviar drive with an 8MB buffer.
Unlike every other high-end consumer drive released in the last year, the
3200JB is a parallel ATA drive (we’re told a SATA version is in the pipeline). As
the benchmarks show, its performance is by no means record-breaking, but it’s
no slouch, either. Its average sequential read speed of 54.5MB per second is
neck-and-neck with the current 7,200rpm record-holder: Seagate’s 7200.8 drive.
Access times are exactly within spec for a 7,200rpm drive, and though its burst
rate of 80MB/s is on the slow
side, a hard drive’s burst
rate isn’t a good indicator of
overall performance—a drive
bursts (reads from its buffer)
only infrequently.
In the application index,
a test that runs a script of six
real-world applications and
measures how long it takes
a drive to complete the tasks,
the 3200JB scored a 20.7.
Anything over 20 on this test is
pretty good, but the 3200JB’s
performance is lacklusterwhen compared with Maxtor’s DiamondMax 10 score of 26.6.
The 3200JB is lacking in one other area: noise. This is one of the quietest—
if not the most quiet—drives we’ve ever tested. Even during benchmarking,
when its read/write heads were thrashing around like groupies in a data-gath-
ering mosh pit, the drive was nearly silent. WD also claims the drive runs very
cool, a claim borne out by our highly scientific finger-on-top-of-the-case-during-
operation test.
In the end, the 3200JB doesn’t break any performance records, but it
embodies everything we love
about 7,200rpm hard drives: It’s
quiet, it’s fast, it has tons of stor-
age space, and it’s totally afford-
able. It’s not as fast as Maxtor’s
or Seagate’s 7,200rpm offerings,
but it neatly splits those goal-
posts in terms of price, perfor-
mance, and features.
—JOSH NOREMHigh capacity, dead quiet, decent performance.POTATO SKINSCAVIAR
Slower than the competition in “real-world”
benchmarks.
$250, http://www.wdc.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 8
LG 16x Super Multi DVD Burner
No leeway for this three-way
I
f you have anything to say to DVD-RAM, say it now.
The rapidly increasing speed of write-once and even
rewriteable DVD media has DVD-RAM with one foot in
the grave, and the undertaker’s looking antsy. Undeterred,
LG Electronics has trotted out the 16x Super Multi DVD
rewriter that can write to DVD-RAM at 5x speed, as well as
to DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W discs.
In a sadly typical state of affairs, 5x DVD-RAM media
was not available at press time, nor do we have any indication of when
it will be. Writing 4.25GB to a DVD-RAM disc at 3x, however, netted a
time of 39:39 (min:sec); so in theory, a 5x disc shouldn’t take much lon-
ger than 25 minutes to fill. The write speeds could be even faster, but
by default, DVD-RAM writes and then verifies the data. The verification
process can’t be skipped, but the additional security is why DVD-RAM is
popular for data backup. Unfortunately, LG chose not to support the use
of DVD-RAM discs in their cartridges, thus defeating one of the format’s
protective features.
The drive’s performance in the more popular DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W
formats was, on average, fairly impressive: DVD+R speeds led the way,
taking a scant 5:43 (min:sec) to burn 4.25GB to a single-layer DVD+R disc—
breaking the previous record set by Plextor’s 16x DVD burner! The Super
Multi can write to specific brands of 2.4x double-layer media at 4x speed,
burning 8.3GB to a double-layer disc in 26:21 (min:sec). While not spectacu-
lar, it’s not embarrassing, either. The Super Multi also supports 8x DVD+RW
rewriting, and now that the media has finally arrived, we’re duly impressed
with this drive’s speed, writing 4.25GB in a swift 7:34 (min:sec).If you must have DVD-RAM in your repertoire, you won’t feel bad
about owning this LG as either a sole or supplementary optical drive. But
it’s not a top performer, and
it can’t accept DVD-RAM
discs in their protective
cartridges. If endurance and
fortitude are what you want
in a DVD backup, we recom-
mend using TDK’s Armor-
Plated recordable discs.
—LOGAN DECKERLG’s Super Multi may be the last hurrah for DVD-RAM.Acceptable burn speeds; DVD-RAM support.QUADROPHENIASCHIZOPHRENIA
Acceptable burn speeds aren’t enough. DVD-RAM
is moribund.
$150, http://www.lge.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 7
Dare to Compare WD3200JB Seagate 7200.8
HD TACH 2.61
Avg. access time (ms) 13.3 13.2
Avg. sequential read
speed (MB/s)53.72 55.38Burst rate (MB/s) 78.6^116
H2BENCHW
Avg. access time (ms) 13.5 13.1
Avg. read speed (MB/s) 54.5 55.2
Avg. write speed (MB/s) 42 53.9
Burst rate (MB/s) 79.8 105.5
Application index* 20.7 24.4
Warranty 3 years 5 years
Best scores are bolded. * Application index is the geometric mean of
a drive’s performance in six real-world applications.The 3200JB isn’t quite as fast as
its competitors, but it’s dead
quiet and runs as cool
as a cucumber.MA XIMUMPC MAY 2005