The 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300 is 3.5" desktop hard drive. Like its 2TB sibling, the DT01ACA300 sports a rotation speed of 7,200 RPM and has a relatively low peak/idle power draw of 6.4/5.2 Watts. With peak sequential read/write speeds of 197/183 MBps and peak 4k read/write speeds of 1.17/2.19 Mbps the 3TB DT01ACA300 achieves an effective speed of 143 MBps which places the DT01ACA300 amongst the top handful of 3TB drives. Pricing of the DT01ACA300 is also very aggressive which makes the DT01ACA300 a superb value proposition. Comparing the DT01ACA300 and Barracuda shows that the DT01ACA300 is marginally faster but also slightly more expensive. [Nov '14HDrivePro]
This is the most recent version (2013 FZEX) of Western Digital's best performing consumer storage drive, its predecessor was the WD1002FAEX which is now four years old. With average sequential read/write speeds of 150 MB/s this version outperforms its predecessor by a whopping 50%. Small file random 4K speeds have remained broadly unchanged with average read/write rates of 0.9/2.19 MB/s. Overall the 2013 WD Black has a very good performance profile and it also represents reasonable value for money, at least in the 1TB category. There are some good alternatives to the 2013 Black including the 2012 Blue. Looking at the 2013 Black vs 2012 Blue shows that both drives have similar performance. Power consumption (6.8/6.1 Watts active/idle) and noise levels (29.5 dBA) are also identical making it a tough call between the two. There is however, as always, better value amongst the larger capacities. [Feb '14HDrivePro]
We calculate effective speed which measures performance for typical consumers. Effective speed is adjusted by current cost per GB to yield value for money. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top HDDs. [HDrivePro]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.