Hitachi Deskstar E7K1000 (1TB) review

This is the largest Hitachi disk this month, but it's also the most expensive - at 16.6p/GB, only the £191 10,000rpm Western Digital VelociRaptor costs more.

Nevertheless, in our suite of benchmarks, it delivered impressive results. The 1TB disk returned a score of 92.4MB/sec in our file read benchmark, although this figure dropped to a disappointing 71MB/sec in our write test.

Other results were encouraging, though. Read and write access times of 14ms and 4ms respectively were quicker than any other Deskstar drive, and almost as fast as Samsung's SpinPoint range. A burst speed of 237.8MB/sec was quicker than most too.

But its good performance doesn't mask its relatively poor value for money. The 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 matches the Hitachi for pace and, more significantly, costs 8p/GB as opposed to the Hitachi's 16.6p. In the face of value like this, the 1TB Deskstar struggles to compete.

Author: Mike Jennings