The Seagate Barracuda 4XL is a high-performance drive,
posting solid benchmark results second only to its sibling, the Cheetah 4LP. Although it
took second place honors in both the Business and High-End Winmark tests, the Barracuda XL
is hard to recommend given its price. A prospective buyer can save about $200 with
relatively little performance loss by going with Seagate's own Hawk 4XL or Quantum's
Viking drive. Or, if one is seeking the ultimate in performance, the Cheetah 4LP offers
substantial improvements in performance for about $50 more. The Barracuda, however,
remains the high-performance choice if the Cheetah's noise and/or heat prove unacceptable.
The drive came with a manual typical of the Seagate drives, a small yet thorough
installation and configuration handbook. Unlike Seagate's lower-priced Hawk, the Barracuda
4XL is backed by a 5 year warranty, reflecting the drive's enterprise positioning.
Seagate Cheetah 4LP ST34501W
Average Score
Business Disk WinMark 98 (KB/s)
1916
SS/Database
1724
WP
2344
Publishing
1738
Browsers
2210
Task Switching
2502
High-End Disk WinMark 98 (KB/s)
5354
AVS/Express 3.1
3566
Frontpage 97
3950
MicroStation 95
9450
Photoshop 4.0
4356
Premiere 4.2
10320
PV-Wave 6.1
3958
Visual C++ 5.0
11300
Disk/Read Random Access (ms)
11.8
Disk/Read Transfer Rate (KB/s)
Beginning
14700
End
9840
Disk/Read CPU Utilization (%)
7.7
Transfer Rate (KB/s)
14654
Seagate's Cheetah was the first 10,000 RPM drive to be
released. The Cheetah 4LP greatly outdistances the second fastest drive in this roundup,
Seagate's own Barracuda XL. A low random access time plus an impressive 14.7 MB/sec
sequential sector transfer rate powered the Cheetah to the number one position. This large
increase in speed is accompanied by a relatively small increase in price, thus making the
Cheetah 4LP an easy high-end recommendation. Two caveats: The high spindle speed of the
drive creates a very high-pitched whine above and beyond the normal hard drive
"whirr" noise. This constant squeal can grate on the nerves of individuals
sensitive to noise. Secondly, the fast rotation of the spindle generates a large amount of
heat, making ventilation of the system very important. In a minitower's 3.5" drive
bay, the drive was too hot to touch after being powered on for an hour. The Cheetah's
manual cautions against poor ventilation and outlines procedures for active cooling. In
most cases users will want to use a hard drive fan to cool the drive.
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