File Copy - No HDD Load
Read speeds tend to be quite quick in a RAID-0 setup and we see the best performance with the RAID configurations in the file copies. The 7200.8 has a slightly better time on sequential reads.
File Copy - Virus scan on test drives
The same result as earlier, but with slightly longer times. The 7200.9 is slightly slower due to the lower density on the platters, but the extra cache does seem to help in keeping it somewhat close.
Noise
The Barracuda 7200.9's SoftSonic motor does a good job at keeping things fairly quiet. While the "ticking" of data is about the same as most drives we've worked with, the spin up of the drive is one of the quieter ones we've used. Compared to the 7200.8, noise levels were about the same, though it was slightly noisier when running a defrag.
Final Words
The Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 is a step in the right direction as the extra cache and 3.0Gbps transfer rate will make it more competitive with similar products on the market. The 500GB review drive we've looked at today is not going to win many speed races, but it should be able to keep up under real-world scenarios.
The thing to keep in mind when looking over our results is that a lot of the discrepancies between the two models of Barracudas can pretty much be pointed back at the platter sizes. Given that the review drive did keep it close with the 400GB 7200.8, it's likely the 400GB version of the 7200.9 will pull ahead in the benchmarks.
The drive is no slow poke, but we think anyone considering this drive would likely be looking at the extra capacity and would not mind sacrificing a bit of speed. Unfortunently, our comparison 500GB drives we tried to arrange are stuck on backorder, so we cannot say who is the 500GB king at this time. Sticking with one brand, we do think the 400GB version of the 7200.9 may provide a better performance to capacity value (compared to the 500GB) and it should compare favorably against the 400GB 7200.8.
One thing we never really talked much about is the reliability. Over the 15 years I've been working within the IT industry, Seagate has generally been the most reliable of all drives I've worked with. While the jury is still out on the 7200.9, the 7200.7 we looked at last year are still working away in our various test beds with no problems during this period. If something does go down, the 5-year warranty is tops in the industry, though it's no excuse for not maintaining regular backups.
