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The basis of any fast storage system is the drive inside. We looked at several drives for this issue, testing them on file- transfer speed in a variety of test scenarios.
Seagate Cheetah 18LP
The Seagate Cheetah 18LP is an updated version of last year's winning entry. The unit ships in a low-profile 3.5-inch form factor that contains six platters and 12 heads. The 18.2-MB formatted capacity doubles last year's entry and is identical to entries from Quantum Corp. and Fujitsu Electronic Components Corp. A new feature in this version is "Just in Time" seeking. The company claims that this feature helps to make drive activity faster, quieter and less power-hungry.
At 10,016 rpm, the Seagate Cheetah 18LP boasts the second-highest spindle speed in this roundup. In a repeat of last year's performance, the Cheetah turned in the fastest transfer rates of all drives reviewed. The drive's smaller platters contribute to the speed. Each platter is only 3 inches in diameter, rather than the typical 3.5 inches in this form factor. The smaller diameter allows each head to get to its destination faster because it does not have to travel as far.
Test results indicate that the unit's architecture takes full advantage of its high spindle speed. This is clearly evident, as it outperformed the 10,025-rpm Fujitsu entry.
Overall, throughput of the drive is unmatched. Furthermore, our tests show the drive is also adept at random read and writes. Those results indicate that the drive is an excellent choice for all installations-particularly if both raw throughput (streaming data applications) and random access (database queries or OLTP) are required of the same server. The unit leads the pack in price/performance ratio, and also turns in a respectable cost per megabyte.
VARFacts
Seagate Cheetah 18LP
Price: $925
In Short: The best-performing drive in this roundup
VAR Program Score: 87
Vendor: Seagate Technology Inc.
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