Application:

 SCSI Ultra320 RAID

Provided by:

 Seagate

Available at:

 Seagate

Review by:

 Scott

Edited by:

 Paul & Michael

Review date:

 April 12th, 2003
     When it comes to hard drive speed, how fast is FAST? ATA133? ATA133 RAID? SATA? Ultra320 SCSI? Just how fast can we go? A while back we reviewed one of the fastest hard drives money can buy, the Cheetah 10.K6 Ultra320 SCSI hard drive. A single SCSI hard drive blew away the competition, even IDE RAID. With smoking benchmarks that blows away the competition, why go any faster right? With overclocking laced adrenalin pumping through my veins, the best is never good enough as there is always something new right around the corner that is bigger, better and faster. The 10K.6 hard drive was, and still is extremely fast, but there are bigger, better and faster drives out there. One such drive is Seagate's own Cheetah 15K.3. Turning at 15,000 RPMs and using the latest Ultra320 SCSI technology, this baby is the cream of the crop right? Nothing stands a chance in beating it dollar for dollar right? No, not unless you have a pair of 15K.3 hard drives running in RAID!!!

     Today we aim to please the network administrator. This is a no holds barred, money is no object review that is only for those who really want the best of the best. Not to mention, this is going to be the most fun I've had reviewing anything in a very long time!

Product Specifications

 Capacity and Interface
Formatted Gbytes (512 bytes/sector)   73.4
Interface Ultra320 SCSI
 
 Performance
Internal Transfer Rate, ZBR (Mbits/sec)   609-891
Internal Formatted Transfer Rate (Mbytes/sec) 57-86
External Transfer Rate (mbytes/sec)  
 Ultra 8,16 bit/Ultra2/Fibre Channel (per loop)   320 200 
Track-to-track Seek Read/Write (msec) 0.2/0.4
Average Seek Read/Write (msec) 3.6/4
Average Latency (msec) 2
Spindle Speed (RPM) 15K
 
 Configuration/Organization
Discs/Heads   4/8
Recording Method EPRML
 
 Reliability/Data Integrity
S.M.A.R.T. capable   Yes
Recoverable Read Errors per Bits Read 10 per 1012
Nonrecoverable Read Errors per Bits Read 1 per 1015
Seek Errors (per seek) 10 per 108
Service Life/Limited Warranty (years) 5/5
 
 Power Requirements
+12 VDC +/-5% (amps typ operating)   1.03
+5 VDC +/-5% (amps typ operating)  
   Ultra SCSI, Ultra2 SCSI [FC] 0.87 
Power (Idle watts)  
  Ultra SCSI/Ultra2 SCSI [FC] 12 
 
 Environmental
Idle Acoustics (max Bels)   3.5
Operating Temperature (°C) 5 to 55
Nonoperating Temperature (°C) 70 to -40
Operating Shock (Gs) @ 11 msec 15
Operating Shock (Gs) @ 2 msec 250
Operating Vibration (Gs @ 5-350 Hz) 0.5
Nonoperating Vibration (<350Hx) 2
 
 Physical
Height (mm)   25.4
Width (mm) 101.6
Depth (mm) 146.6
Weight (kg) 0.8