Review of new Seagate 500g 7200rpm laptop hard drive

When my 1 year old Hitachi laptop hard drive died in March, I started shopping for a bigger one. That's when I found the new Seagate Momentus 7200.4 model ST9500420AS with 500 gigs of space at 7200rpm.

At that time though, the drive was out of stock everywhere as Seagate seemed to have stopped production to fix some engineering problems. Since even now (May 2009) this is the biggest and fastest consumer 2.5 inch drive available, I decided to wait for it.

In the mean time, I read reviews on it, which were mixed. Some people who got their hands on one of the first run models reported them slow, noisy, buggy and hot. Other owners reported back that the drives were fine. Two more good reviews issued from barefeats and hardwarelogic.

After about 2 months of waiting, these drives were for sale once again, this time with updated firmware 2SDM1. This is the one I bought online from WiredZone for $133 with free shipping. It's just a brown box, egg foam and anti-static bag. No glossy fanfare, manuals or any of that. I don't know if that's typical.



Before evicting the old (warranty replacement) Hitachi 200g 7200rpm, I decided to take some crude benchmarks of it so I'd know whether the new Seagate was any better. Say goodbye to HTS722020K9SA00 Made in Thailand:



Hello Seagate Hecho in China:



After copying a bootable backup onto an external firewire drive with the excellent SuperDuper! cloning software, I was ready to swap drives. Disassembly instructions for the model 3,1 MacBook Pro are at iFixit. If you have a Bugs Bunny video, then you won't have to unhook the delicate ribbon cable that connects the keyboard to the motherboard.



After the swap, I booted from the external firewire drive and used SuperDuper! to clone back onto the new empty internal hard drive. Then a reboot and everything is running on the new Seagate.

Now, for the comparisons, which may not be quite fair because the Hitachi was almost full for the benchmarks, while the Seagate was mostly empty.

Boot Time

Hitachi	Seagate
Apple Logo: 51 sec Login Window: +33 sec Total: 84 secs	Apple Logo: 16 sec Login Window: +40 sec Total: 56 secs

Xbench

Hitachi

Seagate

Results 43.50 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.5.6 (9G55) Physical RAM 4096 MB Model MacBookPro3,1 Drive Type Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00 Disk Test 43.50 Sequential 79.03 Uncached Write 108.92 66.88 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 110.86 62.73 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 40.92 11.98 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 125.34 62.99 MB/sec [256K blocks] Random 30.01 Uncached Write 9.76 1.03 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 97.19 31.11 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 77.83 0.55 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 130.73 24.26 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Results 52.73 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.5.6 (9G55) Physical RAM 4096 MB Model MacBookPro3,1 Drive Type ST9500420AS Disk Test 52.73 Sequential 119.09 Uncached Write 164.42 100.95 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 146.68 82.99 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 65.58 19.19 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 183.84 92.39 MB/sec [256K blocks] Random 33.86 Uncached Write 10.73 1.14 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Write 171.66 54.96 MB/sec [256K blocks] Uncached Read 80.56 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks] Uncached Read 148.96 27.64 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Bonnie++
Hitachi:

Version 1.93c       ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
Concurrency   1     -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP  /sec %CP
arf.local       16G   297  97 52023  18 24538   9   332  95 55015  11 105.9  10
Latency             80374us     687ms     610ms     121ms     213ms    4029ms
Version 1.93c       ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
arf.local           -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
              files  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP
                 16  6111  55 +++++ +++  9257  61   367   8 +++++ +++   151   4
Latency             76653us     920us   79744us     333ms    1399us     414ms

Seagate:

Version 1.93c       ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
Concurrency   1     -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP  /sec %CP
arf.local       16G   293  96 90295  32 36049  14   343  98 91548  20 164.4  13
Latency               134ms     388ms     217ms   85474us     132ms    1942ms
Version 1.93c       ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
arf.local           -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
              files  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP
                 16  5313  56 +++++ +++  5567  41   320   8 +++++ +++   149   5
Latency               106ms     200us     151ms     497ms     380us     322ms

dd
I ran the write in root "/" directory (and therefore had to use sudo) to avoid writing in my home directory, which is Filevault and would probably skew performance downward. The 1st dd in each section below is writing, the 2nd is reading.

Hitachi	Seagate
$ sudo time dd if=/dev/zero of=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k count=16384; 17179869184 bytes transferred in 319.400409 secs (53787875 bytes/sec) $ time dd of=/dev/null if=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k 17179869184 bytes transferred in 305.974147 secs (56148107 bytes/sec)	$ sudo time dd if=/dev/zero of=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k 17179869184 bytes transferred in 188.208635 secs (91280983 bytes/sec) $ time dd of=/dev/null if=/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/test bs=1024k 17179869184 bytes transferred in 180.531769 secs (95162581 bytes/sec)

The result of the tests showed that in addition to more than doubling my disk space with the new drive, it is also objectively faster than the old one, even at the same spindle speeds. However, this is probably just because the new one is mostly empty and the old one was mostly full. Performance will always be a lot better when data is on the beginning instead of the end of a mechanical drive.

The last bit of info to share is from SMART, accessed with smartctl from smartmontools. The Hitachi was in pretty good shape, aside from the strange value for Power-Off_Retract_Count. Don;t have a clue what that one means:

Hitachi SMART

Model Family:     Hitachi Travelstar 7K200
Device Model:     Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
Serial Number:    080830DP0470DTGP3MMC
Firmware Version: DC4AC77A
User Capacity:    200,049,647,616 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 3f
Local Time is:    Sun May 17 23:31:07 2009 PDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled


SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000b   100   100   062    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   176   176   033    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       200
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   040    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       342
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       192
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       42954326020
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       8991
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   130   130   000    Old_age   Always       -       42 (Lifetime Min/Max 14/47)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

The Seagate, on the otherhand, looked alarming when I first checked it out. I thought the drive was defective and was ready to send it back for RMA:

Seagate SMART

$ sudo smartctl -s on /dev/disk0
SMART Enabled.

$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/disk0
Device Model:     ST9500420AS
Serial Number:    5VJ079ZE
Firmware Version: 0002SDM1
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is:    Wed May 20 00:42:19 2009 PDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
...
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   118   100   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       184273167
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   100   085    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       2
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   100   253   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       139058
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       24
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   037   020    Old_age   Always       -       5
184 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   062   052   045    Old_age   Always       -       38 (Lifetime Min/Max 28/41)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       3798
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   038   048   000    Old_age   Always       -       38 (0 22 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   045   045   000    Old_age   Always       -       184273167
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       70690866724884
241 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2076453070
242 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2307582568
254 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%        21         -
# 2  Extended offline    Aborted by host               90%        21         -
# 3  Extended offline    Aborted by host               60%         9         -
# 4  Extended offline    Aborted by host               50%         2         -

Raw_Read_Error_Rate, Seek_Error_Rate and Hardware_ECC_Recovered make it look like the disk is dying. Attributes 240, 241, 242 are nonsensical. After investigating though, it seems that these type of values on those attributes are just normal for a Seagate.

A few searches on these attributes will find many discussions where people are concluding that these odd values don't indicate a problem. Seagate also has a KB article basically warning users not to pay attention to those SMART values. Apparently they stuff their own proprietary values into the SMART circuits which only becomes meaningful when pulled through their "Seatools" disk analyzer software. Regular SMART software tools that follow the published SMART protocols won't be able to make any use of Seagate's stored raw values for those attributes. Incidentally, there is no Mac version of Seatools.

I've had my new Momentus drive running now for about 24 hours. Over the last 4 hours while I've been using the machine, I have heard a pretty loud "CLUNK" twice. Probably the heads parking or unparking for powersaving mode. The Hitachi never did that, but it's only happened twice and other than that, I can't tell the difference between this drive and the old one by noise, vibration or temperature. Tests indicate that there are no errors that other owners were complaining about this past winter with the older firmware rev, and it is a bit faster than Hecho in Thailand.

I guess it's a good one but I'll still keep up the SuperDuper! onsite and Crashplan offsite regimen.