| Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External Hard Drive
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Testing:
The Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External Hard Drive was connected to a system with the following components for this review:
» ABIT AW8D Intel 975X motherboard
» Intel D-840 3.2GHz Dual Core processor
» Thermaltake Rhythm HTPC CPU water cooler
» Thermaltake Mozart HTPC case
» 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB SATA 1.5 Gbps hard drives
» 1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1GBx2) PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory Kit
» Enermax Liberty 500W power supply
» Windows XP Professional SP2
Testing consisted of running through a couple benchmark applications, as well as conducting some real world file transfers to measure performance.
The following list details the tests to be executed:
» HD Tach 3.0.4.0
» HD Tune 2.53
» Real World Testing
The following drives, and drive configurations, were used in order to provide a point of reference to the FreeAgent Pro and its three modes of operation:
» Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External Hard Drive connected via USB
» Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External Hard Drive connected via Firewire
» Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External Hard Drive connected via eSATA
» Cooler Master X-Craft 350 with Maxtor 300GB Hard Drive connected via eSATA
» Cooler Master X-Craft 350 with Maxtor 300GB Hard Drive connected via USB
» Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB Hard Drive connected via SATA
HD Tach 3.0.4.0:
The first test conducted was Simpli Software's HD Tach 3.0.4.0 benchmark. This test provides information about the drive being tested, and the graph below details the random access time, CPU utilization, the average read rate, and the burst rate of the drives being tested. Lower values are desirable for random access time and CPU utilization, while higher values are better for average read rate and burst rate.
The testing started out about as predicted. I was hoping to see SATA 3Gbps speeds from the FreeAgent Pro, but as you can see by the Burst Rate it is about half the value which the internal 750GB Seagate Barracuda was able to max out at. The Maxtor drive being used in the Cooler Master enclosure is a SATA 1.5Gbps unit, so its values seem on the money, and just ahead of the FreeAgent Pro. The HD Tach results might not have been as good as I hoped, but the general pattern seemed right, and I moved on to the next test.
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