File Copy - No HDD Load

All three drives are more or less the same speed. The 7200.10 is 1 second up on the 7200.11.

File Copy - Virus scan on test drives

All of the hard drives are thrashing here, but the 7200.11 ends up tying the Caviar SE16.

Noise

Seagate drives historically have been fairly quiet. That said, their newer generation Barracudas have been getting a bit noisier. We found the 7200.10 louder than the 7200.9, which in turn was louder than the 7200.8. The Barracuda 7200.11 stops that trend. When idle, all the Barracudas did sound the same, but when seeking data, the 7200.11 was clearly quieter. The Western Digital Caviar we still find the quietest of the bunch, but our WD is only half the capacity.

Final Words

Normally, as new things come out you would think they would get faster. This isn't exactly the formula for hard drives though and for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, this is not the case either. The Barracuda 7200.11 finishes very strong in some tests, but falls behind in others. We've found that "longer" tests where the drives can really spin and work, the 7200.11 is very fast and performs well.

Noise is something Seagate did improve upon since their last generation of drive(s). The Barracuda is much quieter than their 7200.10 and for those of you who place their desktops on top of their desk, such as myself, the lowered noise output is welcome. For the "green" folks, the 7200.11 uses less power as well, though this isn't something I was able to accurately gauge.

A lot of the technologies such as 2nd-gen Perpendicular Recording, quieter drive motor and increased cache for 1TB models put together make for a compelling product. That said, we don't find it the best choice depending what you plan to use the drive for. For consumer desktop use, specifically day-to-day work, downloads and office applications, the Barracuda 7200.11 doesn't outclass other products in the performance department. For business users, the lowered power consumption, increased capacity and 5-year warranty makes for a strong case for upgrading a department's storage needs.

Overall, we found the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB Hard Drive to be a solid, albeit unspectacular product. The prices have recently dropped on the review model, making it more attractive, but we suggest buyers look before they leap and see what tradeoffs should they consider when debating between performance and capacity.