WD vs Seagate - seaktime?

SMRDcompany · 11-07-2009, 11:21 AM

There probably is a thread somewhere regarding this but I'm kinda busy and I read trough only 5 first pages =)

I'm looking for a new HD, and I kinda trust WD (got 3 already =) ) so I was looking at some 1TB caviars. But, I kinda saw some Seagate options too and this thing really bothered me - Seagate has a seek time of 4.16ms and WD has 8.9ms? How much does this have to do with performance?

Now I found this rather fishy so I went to the seagate site and this is what it says:

Average latency - 4.16 msec
Random read seek time - <8.5 msec
Random write seek time - <9.5 msec

...can anyone explain this to me? Much appreciated =)

**SMRDcompany**

Dogg · 11-07-2009, 12:28 PM

As this is your 4th HDD, it sounds like it is going to be used for storage, in which case seek time is pretty irrelevant. Most the newer drives are all about equal, meaning the standard 7200 RPM drive. There are slower drives, such as the "Green" models. But again, that won't matter for storage. The only drive that you need to be "fast", would be your main "C:" drive.

**raptor_pa** · 11-07-2009, 02:51 PM

Latency is not seek time, latency is the time to find a sector rotationally - seek time is the ime to move to a new track. 4.16 is way too fast to be a seek time. Sounds like somewhere there is some bad info. Seek times seem to be comparable.

SMRDcompany · 11-07-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogg

As this is your 4th HDD, it sounds like it is going to be used for storage, in which case seek time is pretty irrelevant. Most the newer drives are all about equal, meaning the standard 7200 RPM drive. There are slower drives, such as the "Green" models. But again, that won't matter for storage. The only drive that you need to be "fast", would be your main "C:" drive.

Actually I'm gonna use it as my ONLY drive (I'm setting up other 3 in other PC's) so I'm gonna boot up windows from it too. (C:\ drive and others). So everywhere I looked up it said 4ms and WD was 8.9 and I thought wth? So if I was to have my windows partition on that drive, how much would it matter then?

Tumbleweed36 · 11-07-2009, 04:37 PM

IMHO, this is "Much Ado About Nothing" as Shakespeare wrote. I don't think you will see much if any difference between the Western Digital and Seagate drives.

My personal preference is the Seagate drives, but WD is a quality drive and if you are comfortable with them, then purchase the WD.

I liken this choice to some liking a Chevy and some liking a Ford, so choose what you feel is best for you.

11-07-2009, 11:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
SMRDcompany Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 11 OS: XP x64 SP2	WD vs Seagate - seaktime? There probably is a thread somewhere regarding this but I'm kinda busy and I read trough only 5 first pages =) I'm looking for a new HD, and I kinda trust WD (got 3 already =) ) so I was looking at some 1TB caviars. But, I kinda saw some Seagate options too and this thing really bothered me - Seagate has a seek time of 4.16ms and WD has 8.9ms? How much does this have to do with performance? Now I found this rather fishy so I went to the seagate site and this is what it says: Average latency - 4.16 msec Random read seek time - <8.5 msec Random write seek time - <9.5 msec ...can anyone explain this to me? Much appreciated =) SMRDcompany

11-07-2009, 12:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
Dogg Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 1,965 OS: XP sp3	Re: WD vs Seagate - seaktime? As this is your 4th HDD, it sounds like it is going to be used for storage, in which case seek time is pretty irrelevant. Most the newer drives are all about equal, meaning the standard 7200 RPM drive. There are slower drives, such as the "Green" models. But again, that won't matter for storage. The only drive that you need to be "fast", would be your main "C:" drive. __________________ Google is your friend !

11-07-2009, 02:51 PM	#3 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,780 OS: XP	Re: WD vs Seagate - seaktime? Latency is not seek time, latency is the time to find a sector rotationally - seek time is the ime to move to a new track. 4.16 is way too fast to be a seek time. Sounds like somewhere there is some bad info. Seek times seem to be comparable. __________________

11-07-2009, 04:37 PM	#5 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,632 OS: XP Professional	Re: WD vs Seagate - seaktime? IMHO, this is "Much Ado About Nothing" as Shakespeare wrote. I don't think you will see much if any difference between the Western Digital and Seagate drives. My personal preference is the Seagate drives, but WD is a quality drive and if you are comfortable with them, then purchase the WD. I liken this choice to some liking a Chevy and some liking a Ford, so choose what you feel is best for you. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.