Model: Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000 2TB Hard Drive
Manufacturer: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Provided By: Reader Donations

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) is one of the biggest names in the storage industry. Founded in 2003, the company was the result of a merger between IBM and Hitachi’s hard drive businesses. Building upon the technologies and expertise of these two industry pioneers, Hitachi GST has grown to become the world's third largest hard drive manufacturer. The company currently offers a wide range of products for the consumer and enterprise markets, including its popular Deskstar family of hard drives.

hitachi coolspin logo.pngThe latest additions to Hitachi's Deskstar family are the 7K3000 and 5K3000. Both models are available in 1.5TB, 2TB and 3TB capacities and are the first from the company to offer a SATA 6 Gb/s interface. From here though, the similarities end. Where the performance oriented 7K3000 sports a 64GB cache and spins at 7,200 RPM, the 5K3000 was designed with power efficiency and quiet operation in mind. The drive uses Hitachi's CoolSpin technology uses a motor speed optimized to provide an ideal balance of performance, power utilization and acoustics. When combined with Hitachi's other power management techniques, CoolSpin technology delivers up to 29 percent lower power and 14 percent quieter acoustics than the Deskstar 7K3000.

For this review, we chose the 2TB version of the Deskstar 5K3000. This drive can be purchased for less than $80 online, which is about half the cost of the 3TB version. The 2TB Deskstar 5K3000 also has only three platters, which makes it slightly quieter than the five platter 3TB drive.

  Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000 2TB Hard Drive
General Specifications
Model Number HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117)
Interface SATA 6Gb/s
Capacity 2TB
Form Factor 3.5-inch
Sector Size 512 Bytes/sector
Maximum Aerial Density 411 Gbits/sq. in

Performance
Data Buffer 32MB
Rotational Speed CoolSpin (5940 RPM)
Media Transfer Rate 1366 Mb/s
Interface Transfer Rate 600 MB/s

Environmental
Operating Temperature 0º to 60º C
Relative Humidity 8% to 90%
Shock 70G (2ms)
Vibration 0.67G (RMS)

Dimensions and Weight
Dimensions (L x W x H) 26.1 x 101.6 x 147 mm
Weight 680g

Other Features
Advanced Power Management - Reduces power during idle periods
HiVERT technology - Excellent power efficiency
CoolSpin motor design - Requires low peak power enabling more cost-effective and cooler power supplies
Excellent acoustics - Ultra quiet operation
Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC) - Better soft error rate for improved reliability and performance
Head load/unload ramp - Protects disk during non-operation
SMART Command Transport (SCT) - Adaptive error correction
LDPC and CRC protection - Data integrity enhanced through circuits
Internal thermal sensor - Improves data integrity
3 year warranty

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the Deskstar 5K3000 has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at Hitachi's new low power hard drive and then see how well it performs.  Does the Deskstar 5K3000 have what it takes? More importantly, is it the best bang for your buck? Keep reading as we find out.


Prev Next >>