Introduction
Desktop PC still can’t live without normal hard disk drive (HDD) due to large capacity and cheaper price compare to Solid-state drive (SSD). There is several type of internal HDD that you can choose from – high performance and costly drive to cheaper and slower green drive. There are SSHD and NAS drives too. Depend what kind of usage do you need, performance drive for operating system and slower drive for archive data. Seagate Desktop HDD 3TB ST3000DM001 (formerly known as Barracuda) is on the middle of the class which provides high capacity for desktop applications at an affordable price. How does it perform? Let’s find out…
Specifications
- Spindle speed – 7200 RPM
- Cache, Multi-segmented – 64 MB
- SATA Transfer Rates Supported – 6.0/3.0/1.5 Gb/s
- Seek Average, Read – <8.5 ms
- Seek Average, Write – <9.5 ms
- Average Data Rate, Read/Write – 156 MB/s
- Max Sustained Data Rate, OD Read – 210 MB/s
- Warranty – 2 years
Performance Results
What is the maximum writing and reading speed for Seagate Desktop HDD 3TB? Based on CrystalDiskMark, it manages to get 198 MB/s read and 195 MB/s write for sequential tests. Slower on 512K test. And slowest on 4K tests which is normal for HDD.
As for HD Tune Pro benchmark tests, Seagate Desktop HDD 3TB manages to reach 199 MB/s maximum for both read and write test. And getting around 160 MB/s average data rate. 226 MB/s burst rate for read and 191 MB/s for write. All matches to Seagate own specifications. However, access time is a bit slower at 14 ms.
Finally, the real world test is covered by PCMark 8 Storage test which based on traces recorded with Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games. Detailed results as below…
Conclusion
Seagate Desktop HDD 3TB (ST3000DM001) is an affordable HDD with large capacity. Highly recommended for those who need fast performance while in a tight budget. By the way, 3TB has the best price/storage ratio among all other sizes now. Get yours at Amazon here.
