Seagate Barracuda ST19171W

The Seagate Barracuda has always been regarded as a very fast drive, adopted by many AV and audio editors due to its throughput. Now, however, things look set to change. The smaller IBM UltraStar 9LP offers superior performance, as does the cheaper Quantum Atlas II drive.

The Barracuda is still a quality hard disk, though. This 9.1Gb Wide SCSI drive has a spindle speed of 7,200rpm, producing an average latency of 4.17ms. Even though there are 10,000rpm units out there, many users will feel that the additional cost outweighs the extra performance.

Just like the Quantum Atlas, the Barracuda spreads its 9.1Gb of storage across ten platters, with 20 heads reading and writing the data. In fact, the only significant difference between the Barracuda and the Atlas is the data buffer: the Barracuda has 512Kb and the Quantum 1Mb, which gives it a slight performance edge as shown in the speed table.

One advantage that the Barracuda does have over the Atlas is its power consumption. With a power draw of only 13W compared to the Quantum's 17.6W, it might appeal to users who already have a well-loaded power supply unit.

Despite its position on the performance table, the Seagate Barracuda ST19171W is still a great drive, and you're unlikely to see much real-world performance difference between it and the Quantum Atlas. But if you want the best possible performance from your storage unit, you're better off looking elsewhere.