Installing this drive is of course not an issue, and once formatted the true storage capacity is 931GB.
we performed some reading and writing test on this drive from a RAD 0 composed of two Raptors 150 in order to ensure a fast and continuous data flaw rate.
The Hitachi 1TB performs well with up to 81MB/s in reading mode and 70MB/s in writing mode for large files.
We have also performed duplication of a large 4GB file, providing a test for sequential reading and writing mode, and the Hitachi 1TB HD scored 29MB/s to be compared to the 37MB/s obtained with the RADI 0 Raptor (so 2 drives).
We have also run xBench a couple of time and keep the best results for each HD:
Hereafter is the result of the same benchmarking obtained with the RAID 0 Raptor, and further below the original Western Digital 250GB HD.
Of course the RAID 0 remains the best, but its storage capacity is also much lower. The Hitachi 1TB confirms other analysis, while offering the largest storage capacity it is also providing top-notch performance level.
Its main problem remains its price, 429€ (VAT included from our partner Macway). Hitachi will have to improve production yield and rate to see the price of this 1TB HD to decrease, having a competitor releasing a similar product will most likely push Hitachi to speed up this process.
