« Return to: Top 10 Hard Drives
| Rank | Hard drive: 50GB or over | Street price (12/14/01) | Overall rating | Unformatted capacity (GB) | Performance | Comments |
| 1 | Maxtor DiamondMax D540X (120GB) | $230 | 81 | 120 | Good | FEATURES: 5400 rpm, Ultra ATA/133 interface, 2MB buffer, 12 ms average seek time, diagnostic software and installation kit, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: This drive delivers a winning combination of high capacity, competitive pricing, and solid performance.  |
| 2 | Western Digital Special Edition Caviar | $349 | 81 | 100 | Outstanding | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/100 interface, 8MB buffer, 8.9 ms average seek time, installation kit, three-year warranty, 10-hour weekday, 8-hour Saturday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Has a larger-than-usual cache and exceptional speed, but you pay a stiff premium for the privilege.  |
| 3 | Western Digital Caviar | $299 | 80 | 120 | Very good | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/100 interface, 2MB buffer, 8.9 ms average seek time, installation kit, three-year warranty, 10-hour weekday, 8-hour Saturday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Western Digital's largest drive is pricey, but it has the third fastest overall speed on the chart.  |
| 4 | Maxtor DiamondMax Plus D740X (80GB) | $190 | 79 | 80 | Good | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/133 interface, 2MB buffer, 8 ms average seek time, diagnostic software and installation kit, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Like all of the Maxtor drives on the chart, supports ATA/133, ATA/100, and ATA/66 interfaces. |
| 5 | IBM Deskstar 120GXP | $369 | 78 | 124 | Very good | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/100 interface, 2MB buffer, 8.5 ms average seek time, installation kit, three-year warranty, 13-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Second-fastest and most expensive drive here, it uses IBM's "pixie dust" technology to cram more data onto its platters. |
| 6 | Maxtor DiamondMax D540X (160GB) | $300 | 78 | 160 | Good | FEATURES: 5400 rpm, Ultra ATA/133 interface, 2MB buffer, 12 ms average seek time, diagnostic software and installation kit, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Moderately priced for a drive with top-end capacity, but it's also slower than other Maxtor drives here. |
| 7 | IBM Deskstar 60GXP | $189 | 75 | 60 | Good | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/100 interface, 2MB buffer, 8.5 ms average seek time, installation kit, three-year warranty, 13-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: The 60GB version of the Deskstar provides solid performance but costs more than other drives of comparable size. |
| Rank | Hard drive: under 50GB | Street price (12/14/01) | Overall rating | Unformatted capacity (GB) | Performance | Comments |
| 1 | Maxtor DiamondMax Plus D740X (40GB) | $130 | 76 | 40 | Very good | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/133 interface, 2MB buffer, 8 ms average seek time, diagnostic software and installation kit, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Impressive performance at a moderate price earns the single-platter version of the D740X its Best Buy. |
| 2 | Seagate Barracuda ATA IV | $115 | 75 | 40 | Good | FEATURES: 7200 rpm, Ultra ATA/100 interface, 2MB buffer, 9 ms average seek time, diagnostic software and installation kit, three-year warranty, 9-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Well priced, but slower than the Maxtor D740X, especially in our test that copies a large file.  |
| 3 | Seagate U Series 6 | $90 | 74 | 40 | Average | FEATURES: 5400 rpm, Ultra ATA/100 interface, 2MB buffer, 8.9 ms average seek time, diagnostic software and installation kit, three-year warranty, 9-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Terrific price, but lackluster speed. It was especially slow in our Adobe Photoshop and find-file tests. |
HOW WE TEST: Each drive's overall rating is based on price (25 percent for drives 50GB or over, 30 percent for smaller drives), performance (45 percent for large drives, 40 percent for small drives), features (20 percent), and technical support policies (10 percent). To test performance, we copy 640MB of data (first as one large file and then as a number of folders and files) from one location on the drive to another, time how long it takes to open a 105MB file in Adobe Photoshop 6 and perform a number of operations, and time how long it takes to do a find-file operation in Windows. All tests are carried out on a Dell Dimension 8200 with a 2-GHz Pentium 4 CPU, running Windows XP and using the integrated Ultra ATA/100 interface. Data based on tests designed and conducted by the PC World Test Center. All rights reserved. For more details, see "A Guide to PC World's Star Ratings."