This version (WD10EALS) of Western Digital's mid-range blue series drive is nearly four years old and as such not a good choice as a new purchase. This drive operates at 7200 RPM and has two 500GB platters which allow it to sustain reasonable sequential transfer rates of up to 180 MB/s read and 140 MB/s write. Average transfer rates are below this by nearly 50% and this version of the blue exhibits particularly weak throughputs of just 50 MB/s when faced with mixed IO (simultaneous reading and writing). Overall as a new purchase the newer single platter 1TB Blue 2012 Blue (WD10EZEX) is a far better choice and offers nearly 20% better average performance. [Dec '13HDrivePro]
The ST1000DX001 is a Solid State Hard Drive (SSHD). There is 8GB of MLC NAND flash built into this model which helps facilitate better performance than a purely mechanical drive. The peak sequential read /write speeds of 190 MB/s are around 10% higher than average for a mechanical drive, but no where near typical SSD speeds. We have seen peak 4k write speeds as high as 5.72 MB/s, which is very impressive and to date the highest 4k read speed is 1.24 MB/s which is less impressive but still above average for a top end mechanical drive. The performance increases attributable to the NAND flash are primarily noticeable in the area of small file performance and the Seagate offers only marginally better sequential performance than other mechanical 1TB hard drives. Overall the ST1000DX001 is a very solid performer and bests the group average by 30%. The larger 2TB version (ST2000DX001) has similar performance but represents even better value for money. [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.