Test setup:

     I tested the Momentus using the onboard SATA found on the ABIT Fatal1ty AN9 32X and featuring NVIDIA's nForce 590 SLI chipset.  The build includes an AMD Athlon AM2 5200+,  an EVGA 7800 GTX card cooled by Artic Cooling 5 series cooler, and a 2 x 2 GB kit of OCZ Titanium Series DDR2-6400.  Storage was also provided by a 160 GB Maxtor SATA II drive and a Lite-on 16x DVD burner and powered by the included Corsair HX620 Modular Power Supply and mounted in the Luxor Pyramid case.

Testing:

     For benchmarking the 7200.2 drive I will be using HDTach 3 from SimpliSoftware.  For comparison, I will also be using Sisoft's Sandra XI Sr2.  HDTach is a great free utility that allows benchmarking and drive comparisons.  Sandra is an industry leader in performance tuning and benchmarking.  A free Lite version can be found on their website.  For comparison, we will also take a look at Seagate's previous Momentus, the 7200.1.

Quick Benchmark

Long Benchmark

SiSoft Sandra File System Benchmark

     SiSoft's Sandra also has a handy drive benchmarking utility. Although it's not as accurate as Hard Drive Tach, it does allow you to make some quick and easy, real world comparisons to other hard drives. As you can see the 7200.2 easily destroys the other 2.5" drive benchmarks and even out scores a SATA 150 drive just for kicks.

     For another comparison, here is a benchmark of the Seagate 7200.1 100GB 2.5" hard drive from a previous review. The Seagate Momentus 7200.2 shows a dramatic improvement over the previous generation.  Although the burst speed of the 7200.2 is only slightly higher than before, the all important average read/write scores are much faster!

Conclusion:

     Seagate continues to set the bar for 2.5 inch drive performance with the 7200.2 series of drives.  Thanks to the addition of Perpendicular Recording technologies, the 7200.2 series are not just faster, they are more reliable than ever before.  Drives that are faster, use less power, have larger capacity storage, and are more dependable than ever!  Sounds like Seagate is the industry leader for a reason.  The numbers on this hard drive are already testing faster than most desk top units we have seen in the past and the prices have dropped through the floor.  Throw in the 5 year warranty and you have simply the best 2.5 inch drive available today.

Innovation:	10 out of 10
Performance:	10 out of 10
Quality:	10 out of 10
Stability:	10 out of 10
Overclocking:	N/A
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Value:	10 out of 10
Overall Rating 10
Project Skill Level (10 being most difficult)	2 out of 10