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November 3, 2007
Using the Hitachi A7K1000 1TB with a Mac Pro
A Review of the Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB Model HUA721010KLA330, 3.5" SATA Hard Drive
By Arthur Whalem
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is currently shipping the A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA 3.0Gb/s hard drive. FirmTek was kind enough to loan AMUG the Hitachi 1TB enterprise class SATA hard drives so that we could complete this review. Several 1TB hard drive models have been released recently that provide amazing capacity and high performance. AMUG wanted to determine how the Hitachi 1TB would perform with our Apple Mac Pro.
Features
The Hitachi A7K1000 model HUA721010KLA330 (0A35772) SATA 3.5" hard drive comes with a five year warranty. It provides a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface, advanced PMR heads and media, Self-Protection Throttling (SPT), Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC), Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) for multi-drive systems and a 32MB cache. This 1TB SATA hard drive formats to 931 GB when initialized with an Apple Mac Pro. Hitachi lists the read seek time as 8.2ms and the sustained transfer rate at 85-42MB/sec. It provides Command Queuing (NCQ), staggered spin-up and hot-swap capability. The Hitachi A7K1000 1TB utilizes five 200GB disk platters with ten data heads.
The Hitachi Ultrastar hard drives are enterprise class storage devices. These high quality, high performance hard drives are rated at 1.2M hours between failures (MTBF) which is 35% higher than the Hitachi Deskstar models. The Hitachi Ultrastar is recommend for server and pro-users looking for high reliability data storage systems for audio/video, photography and small business applications. The Hitachi Ultrastar is a little more expensive, but worth it for important data storage. A lot of users don't realize that there are two models. If you have a choice, purchase the Hitachi Ultrastar model instead of the Deskstar.
Performance
In this test, an Apple Mac Pro 2.66 GHz running Mac OS X 10.4.10 was used with the Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drive. The hard drive was mounted internally in the Mac Pro. DiskTester 10GB read and write tests were performed using a run area test. DiskTester 2.0 measures the combined performance of the hard drive and the Mac OS X operating system. It is a Terminal application which requires using a command line executable. Using the command: ./disktester run-area-test --chunk-size 128M --test-size 10G --delta-percent 10 DriveName, puts DiskTester 2.0 to work testing how the hard drive will perform when empty, 10% full, 20% full and so on. For comparison, this same test was also completed with a WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS and a Maxline III model 7V300F0.Apple Mac Pro Internal SATA Single Hard Drive Test
 |
 Maxline III 300GB 7V300F0 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 82.9 | 82.2 | 92.1 | 94.4 | 65.9 | 68.4 |
| 10% | 80.5 | 82.2 | 93.9 | 93.1 | 65.1 | 67.1 |
| 20% | 83.2 | 75.2 | 90.2 | 90.1 | 63.3 | 64.9 |
| 30% | 79.4 | 78.3 | 88.2 | 87.4 | 61.6 | 62.7 |
| 40% | 76.8 | 76.3 | 84 | 84 | 59.3 | 60.6 |
| 50% | 71.4 | 65.2 | 79.9 | 80.7 | 57 | 57.9 |
| 60% | 67.5 | 66.5 | 75.8 | 75.3 | 55 | 55.3 |
| 70% | 63 | 62.6 | 69.7 | 69.7 | 51.5 | 51.2 |
| 80% | 55.3 | 54.8 | 63.8 | 64.2 | 48.6 | 48.4 |
| 90% | 51.6 | 38.5 | 56.9 | 57.3 | 44.6 | 44.3 |
| 100% | 41.4 | 41.1 | 48.8 | 48.5 | 40.5 | 40.3 |
| Average | 68.5 | 65.7 | 76.7 | 76.8 | 55.7 | 56.5 |
| Size | 931.02GB | 698.37GB | 279.08GB |
In this particular test, the data above indicates that the WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS provides the best over all performance on a proportional basis. However, the Hitachi 1TB A7K1000 Ultrastar provides 200GB of additional storage capability. When the 1TB Hitachi is 50% full the WD 750GB will be 66% full. With 465GB of data on both hard drives the performance will be very close. The 300GB Maxline III is shown as a baseline comparison. It was one of the fastest SATA II hard drives 18 months ago. As you can see, SATA hard drive performance has significantly improved with the release of the 1TB Hitachi and the WD 750GB.
Copy/Duplicate TestsIn this test, the Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330, the WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS and the 300GB Maxline III model 7V300F0 hard drives are compared using a Mac Pro 2.66 GHz with 3GB of memory running Mac OS X 10.4.10. A 4.25GB folder (containing two video files) was copied to and from a Seagate 250GB four drive striped RAID set (930GB). The copy time was recorded along with the time to duplicate the 4.25GB folder on each drive. Xbench hard drive performance readings were also recorded.
| Mac Pro 2.66 GHz | HUA721010KLA330 |
WD7500AAKS |
7V300F0 |
| Copy 4.25GB to RAID | 54 seconds | 48 seconds | 1:04 minutes |
| Copy 4.25GB from RAID | 52 seconds | 48 seconds | 1:04 minutes |
| Duplicate Large 4.25GB | 1:51 minutes | 1:36 minutes | 2:21 minutes |
| Duplicate Small 4.25GB | 3:01 minutes | 2:21 minutes | 2:28 minutes |
| Xbench 1.1.3 Disk Score | 70.46 | 71.37 | 116 |
As you can see in the performance data above, the WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS provided the best results in all but the Xbench test.
In the next table, the performance of the 1TB Hitachi A7K1000 is examined with dual hard drives in a striped RAID set mounted inside the Apple Mac Pro. The WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS and the 320GB Seagate 7200.10 are also listed for comparison.
Apple Mac Pro Internal Bus Dual Drive Striped RAID Set
|
 Two Seagate 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 167.7 | 163 | 187 | 185 | 147 | 147 |
| 10% | 167.2 | 160.1 | 182 | 183 | 146 | 146 |
| 20% | 167.4 | 163.1 | 165 | 174 | 144 | 144 |
| 30% | 159.8 | 155.1 | 170 | 170 | 138 | 138 |
| 40% | 155.4 | 150.1 | 163 | 163 | 133 | 133 |
| 50% | 144.2 | 139.8 | 156 | 154 | 128 | 128 |
| 60% | 135.9 | 131.9 | 148 | 148 | 120 | 121 |
| 70% | 128 | 123.4 | 137 | 136 | 112 | 112 |
| 80% | 111.9 | 108.5 | 126 | 123 | 102 | 102 |
| 90% | 104.1 | 99.9 | 111 | 111 | 89.8 | 89.8 |
| 100% | 84.1 | 81.5 | 95.1 | 93.8 | 74.9 | 75 |
| Average | 139 | 134 | 149 | 149 | 121 | 122 |
| Dup. Large | 1:01 min. | 47 sec. | 1:01 min. | |||
| Dup. Small | 1:37 min. | 1:14 min. | 1:31 min. | |||
| Size | 1.82TB | 1.36TB | 595.41GB |
The WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS performs well in this test while mounted as a striped RAID set internally in the Mac Pro. When the striped RAID set is empty the WD 750GB is able to provide the best results. However, when the 1TB Hitachi is 50% full, the WD 750 will be 66% full. At that point, the WD 750GB and the Hitachi 1TB will provide very close performance results.
In the next table, several Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drives were mounted externally in the Sonnet Fusion 400 4-bay, hot swap enclosure. Two FirmTek SeriTek/2SE2-E external 2-port SATA host adapters were installed in the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz computer. The performance data in the table below demonstrates how the four Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB SATA hard drives will perform when used in a four bay direct connect configuration with FirmTek 2-port SeriTek/2SE2-E host adapters.
SeiTek/2SE2 Striped RAID Set 1TB Hitachi Performance
 Four Hitachi 1TB HUA721010KLA330 Dual SeriTek/2SE2-E |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 83.4 | 82.1 | 163 | 144.4 | 319 | 280 |
| 10% | 82.6 | 82.2 | 164.7 | 138.9 | 327 | 284 |
| 20% | 83.5 | 82.1 | 164.2 | 143.2 | 321 | 282 |
| 30% | 78.6 | 78.3 | 158.2 | 144.3 | 315 | 287 |
| 40% | 77.5 | 76 | 156.1 | 144.8 | 308 | 286 |
| 50% | 71.6 | 70.4 | 144.3 | 139.7 | 284 | 282 |
| 60% | 66.9 | 66.5 | 134.6 | 131.8 | 268 | 267 |
| 70% | 62.9 | 62.6 | 128.1 | 123.9 | 252 | 251 |
| 80% | 55.7 | 54.5 | 112.2 | 108 | 221 | 220 |
| 90% | 51.7 | 50.7 | 104.1 | 100.8 | 205 | 204 |
| 100% | 41.8 | 40.9 | 83.1 | 81.4 | 166 | 165 |
| Average | 68.7 | 67.9 | 138 | 127 | 271 | 255 |
| Size | 931.02GB | 1.82TB | 3.64TB | |||
| Config. | Single | Striped | Striped |
The table below displays how the same four Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drives perform when using the 4-port Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA host adapter with firmware 2.12.
Tempo E4P 1TB Hitachi Striped RAID Set Performance
Four Hitachi 1TB HUA721010KLA330 Tempo E4P |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 83.2 | 81.9 | 162 | 163 | 339 | 329 |
| 10% | 81.4 | 82.1 | 168 | 162 | 331 | 330 |
| 20% | 83.2 | 82.1 | 168 | 163 | 331 | 329 |
| 30% | 78.7 | 78.3 | 159 | 155 | 315 | 314 |
| 40% | 76.4 | 76.3 | 153 | 151 | 307 | 306 |
| 50% | 71.3 | 70.2 | 144 | 140 | 283 | 283 |
| 60% | 67.1 | 66.2 | 135 | 132 | 268 | 267 |
| 70% | 63.5 | 62.3 | 128 | 124 | 252 | 251 |
| 80% | 55.4 | 54.5 | 111 | 108 | 221 | 220 |
| 90% | 51.1 | 50.9 | 104 | 100 | 205 | 204 |
| 100% | 41.3 | 41 | 84 | 81.4 | 165 | 165 |
| Average | 68.4 | 67.8 | 138 | 134 | 273 | 272 |
| Size | 931.02GB | 1.82TB | 3.64TB | |||
| Config. | Single | Striped | Striped |
As you can see the 4-port Sonnet Tempo E4P provides slightly faster read performance than the FirmTek 2-port SATA host adapter.
In the next table, the performance results of eight Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drives mounted in an external SATA enclosure is displayed. The Areca ARC-1221x host adapter was used to test the performance provided by RAID 0, 5 and 6 configurations. This eight drive Hitachi 1TB configuration can provide results that exceed 500MB/sec. on average with a striped RAID set and approximately 400MB/sec performance on average with a RAID 6 configuration. In addition, over 5TB of storage capacity is available with these high performance configurations options.
Areca ARC-1221x Eight Drive 1TB Hitachi Performance
| Eight Hitachi 1TB HUA721010KLA330 ARC-1221x RAID 6 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 673 | 644 | 580 | 561 | 499 | 474 |
| 10% | 675 | 643 | 591 | 554 | 505 | 482 |
| 20% | 677 | 633 | 591 | 560 | 506 | 476 |
| 30% | 645 | 612 | 562 | 529 | 483 | 458 |
| 40% | 629 | 589 | 550 | 520 | 471 | 443 |
| 50% | 579 | 552 | 508 | 477 | 435 | 409 |
| 60% | 549 | 516 | 480 | 455 | 408 | 391 |
| 70% | 516 | 491 | 451 | 424 | 385 | 364 |
| 80% | 452 | 425 | 389 | 377 | 339 | 319 |
| 90% | 420 | 395 | 366 | 348 | 313 | 297 |
| 100% | 339 | 322 | 297 | 280 | 246 | 239 |
| Average | 560 | 529 | 488 | 462 | 417 | 396 |
| Size | 7.27TB | 6.37TB | 5.46TB |
In the next test, up to ten Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drives were used with the new hot swap FirmTek SeriTek/5PM SATA port multiplier enclosures. The HighPoint RocketRAID 2314MS controller was installed in slot 4 of the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz during this test. The results reveal that while ten Hitachi 1TB hard drives can provide higher striped RAID set performance, the bandwidth of two 5-bay SATA PM enclosures is limited to 435MB/sec. write and 490MB/sec. read performance. The results are shown in the table below.
SATA PM External SeriTek/5PM Striped RAID Set Tests
 Ten Hitachi 1TB HUA721010KLA330 HighPoint 2314MS |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 83.4 | 82.1 | 223 | 252 | 435 | 490 |
| 10% | 81.2 | 82.1 | 224 | 252 | 436 | 490 |
| 20% | 83.5 | 82.1 | 224 | 252 | 435 | 489 |
| 30% | 79.4 | 78.2 | 224 | 250 | 436 | 487 |
| 40% | 75.6 | 76.3 | 224 | 249 | 435 | 487 |
| 50% | 71.5 | 70.4 | 224 | 253 | 436 | 492 |
| 60% | 67.5 | 66.5 | 224 | 252 | 435 | 490 |
| 70% | 62.3 | 62.6 | 224 | 251 | 437 | 488 |
| 80% | 54.5 | 54.7 | 224 | 250 | 435 | 492 |
| 90% | 51.7 | 50.9 | 224 | 251 | 437 | 488 |
| 100% | 41.7 | 41.1 | 193 | 206 | 418 | 411 |
| Average | 68.4 | 67.9 | 221 | 247 | 434 | 482 |
| Dup. Large | 1:46 min. | 42 sec. | 19 sec. | |||
| Dup. Small | 2:53 min. | 1:29 min. | 1:05 min. | |||
| Size | 931.02GB | 4.55TB | 9.09TB |
The 9TB striped RAID set volume created by using ten Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drives is huge. This 430MB/sec or higher average performance storage solution provides a strong platform for any high performance task including working with uncompressed HD video.
Size, Power, Heat & Weight
The Hitachi A7K1000 Ultrastar 1TB model HUA721010KLA330 SATA hard drive formats to a size of 931 GB on a Macintosh. The WD 750GB model WD7500AAKS formats to 698 GB while the Maxtor 300GB Maxline III 7V300F0 formats to 279 GB. According to the Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor, the Hitachi 1TB SATA hard drive provides 3x the storage space of the Maxline III model 7V300F0 while only requiring two additional watts. The Hitachi 1TB also requires significantly less power during the initial hard drive startup phase than either of the other two hard drives.
The heat test was completed while each hard drive was mounted in bay #1 of a Mac Pro 2.66 GHz. A second Seagate 320GB hard drive was mounted in bay #2. Each hard drive was rotated into bay #1 of the Mac Pro for this test and configured to copy data for 90 minutes. At the end of each test the temperature was displayed using Hardware Monitor 4.3 and recorded in Fahrenheit. The Hitachi 1TB hard drive created the most heat. Mounting the Hitachi 1TB hard drive to bay #2 of the Mac Pro will provide better cooling capability as that bay provides additional air circulation. The ambient room temperature during these tests was 82 degrees Fahrenheit. The test results are provided in the table below.
| Power Usage in Watts | HUA721010KLA330 | WD7500AAKS | 7V300F0 |
| Startup | 18 | 28 | 26 watts |
| Idle | 10 | 10 | 8 watts |
| Copying | 14 | 12 | 12 watts |
| - | |||
| Heat Test - 90 min. Copy | 134.6 | 123.8 | 116.6F. MP Bay 1 |
| Weight in ounces | 24.4 | 25.6 | 21.8 ounces |
| Format Size in GB |