Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 - Hard drive - 500 GB - internal - 3.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 32 MB (ST3500320AS)

Great hard disk. Very quiet & fast operation. With a SATA installation, it is very easy 2 route cable around the inside of the box.

You must remove a jumper 2 enable sata 300 mbps transfers, it was very hard 2 remove because the edge is below the socket. I use a small screwdriver & the jumper went flying somewhere into the room. I tested it with h2benchw a test program used by toms hardware 2 compare drives. the results (most relavent part) are pasted below. 2 summarize the min read speed was 49.8MB/sec, average was 84.0 MB/sec, max 113MB/sec. Write speed minimum 49.6MB/sec, average was 83.1MB/sec & max 111.7MB/sec

Disk: ST3500320AS
Capacity: CHS=(60801/255/63), 976768065 sectors = 476938 MByte

Interface transfer rate w/ block size 128 sectors at 0.0% of capacity:
Sequential read rate medium (w/out delay): 112837 KByte/s
Sequential transfer rate w/ read-ahead (delay: 0.62 ms): 175203 KByte/s
Repetitive sequential read ("core test"): 135101 KByte/s
Sequential write rate medium (w/out delay): 75328 KByte/s
Sequential transfer rate write cache (delay: 0.93 ms): 166107 KByte/s
Repetitive sequential write: 80768 KByte/s

Sustained transfer rate (block size: 128 sectors):
Reading: average 84019.3, min 49850.8, max 113113.2 [KByte/s]
Writing: average 83129.2, min 49696.5, max 111786.7 [KByte/s]

Random access read: average 12.22, min -1.28, max 25.70 [ms]
Random access write: average 7.03, min -5.63, max 31.49 [ms]
Random access read (<504 MByte): average 6.13, min -3.69, max 16.74 [ms]
Random access write (<504 MByte): average 2.72, min -5.59, max 96.31 [ms]

Application profile `swapping': 12745.4 KByte/s
Application profile `installing': 18513.2 KByte/s
Application profile `Word': 37773.7 KByte/s
Application profile `Photoshop': 26142.8 KByte/s
Application profile `copying': 28029.1 KByte/s
Application profile `F-Prot': 11437.4 KByte/s
Result: application index = 20.0
ATA disk: ST3500320AS
Serial #: 9QM4A4J3
Firmware: SD15
Version of specification: ATA-ATAPI-8
Supported UDMA modes: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
UDMA mode 6 active.
capacity (28-bit addressing): 268435455 sectors (131072.0 MByte)
Capacity (48-bit addressing): 976773168 sectors (476940.0 MByte)
acoustic management not supported.

I have absolutely no complains 4 this HD. Excellent performance & 4 a good price.

100% Recommended!!

Seagate has a proven track record of consistently delivering reliable products in volume, & the new Barracuda 7200.11 family is no exception. Designed with up 2 four platters & the only second-generation perpendicular recording technology in the industry, the Barracuda 7200.11 drive offers the ideal balance of world-class technology & value, providing customers with an optimal overall solution.