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March 2, 2007

Using a WD Caviar RE2 500GB with a Mac Pro
A Review of the Western Digital RE2 500GB Model WD5000YS 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
By Arthur Whalem




Western Digital is currently selling the WD Caviar RE2 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s hard drive model WD5000YS. As several members have already installed this hard drive in an Apple Mac Pro, AMUG thought it might provide an interesting review. The Maxtor Maxline III 7V300F0 is a great performing SATA hard drive when mounted inside the Apple Mac Pro and we wanted to discover how the WD Caviar RE2 500GB model WD5000YS might compare.

Features
The WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS SATA 3.5" hard drive comes with a five year warranty. It provides a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface, native command queuing (NCQ) and a 16MB cache. This 500GB hard drive formats to 465.34 GB when initialized with an Apple Mac Pro. Western Digital lists the read seek time as 8.7ms and the buffer to disk transfer rate as 70 MB/s (Sustained). It provides RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER), Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward and dual power inputs. The WD Caviar RE2 500GB utilizes four 125GB disk platters with eight data heads. The real question is how does it perform with an Apple Mac Pro?

 Performance
In this test, an Apple Mac Pro 2.66GHz running Mac OS X 10.4.8 was used with the WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS. The firmware version of the WD Caviar RE2 500GB used in this review is 09.02E09. 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 Maxline Pro 500GB model 7H500F0 and a Maxline III model 7V300F0.

Apple Mac Pro Internal SATA Single Hard Drive Test

WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Maxline Pro
500GB 7H500F0
Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Area Full write read write read write read
empty 69 69.3 60.8 63.2 65.9 68.4
10% 67.8 68 61.1 63.1 65.1 67.1
20% 66.5 66.6 60.3 61.8 63.3 64.9
30% 64.8 64.9 58.2 59.2 61.6 62.7
40% 62.3 62.4 56.8 57.7 59.3 60.6
50% 59.2 59.2 54.6 55.7 57 57.9
60% 55.4 55.5 51.7 52.3 55 55.3
70% 51.4 51.5 48.6 49.1 51.5 51.2
80% 47.3 47.3 45.4 45.9 48.6 48.4
90% 41.6 41.7 40 40.3 44.6 44.3
100% 36.9 36.9 34.9 35 40.5 40.3
Average 56.6 56.7 52 53 55.7 56.5
Size 465.34GB 465.34GB 279.08GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The hard drives were mounted internally in a Mac Pro 2.66.

The data above indicates that the WD Caviar RE2 provides the best over all performance in this particular test. On a proportional basis the Maxline III model 7V300F0 300GB performs better as it becomes full, but the RE2 provides 186GB of additional hard drive space. Once the Maxline III 7V300F0 is totally full, the RE2 is only 60% full. As a result, with the same amount of data on each hard drive, the RE2 will always out perform the Maxline III 7V300F0. The Maxline Pro 500GB model 7H500F0 is approximately 7% slower than the WD Caviar RE2 using DiskTester as the measurement tool.

Copy/Duplicate Tests
In this test, the 500GB WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS, the Maxline Pro 500GB model 7H500F0 and the 300GB Maxline III model 7V300F0 hard drives contain the same 29.3 GB of data on them and they were each mounted as boot drives inside a Mac Pro 2.66 GHz with 3GB of memory running Mac OS X 10.4.8. 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 repair permissions and duplicate the 4.25GB folder on each drive. Xbench and DiskTester readings of the hard drive performance and the overall computer performance were also recorded.

Mac Pro 2.66 GHz WD5000YS 7H500F0 7V300F0
Copy 4.25GB to RAID 1:02 minutes 1:08 minutes 1:04 minutes
Copy 4.25GB from RAID 1:02 minutes 1:09 minutes 1:04 minutes
Repair Permissions 7 seconds 7 seconds 7 seconds
Duplicate Large 4.25GB 2:06 minutes 2:28 minutes 2:21 minutes
Duplicate Small 4.25GB 3:04 minutes 2:36 minutes 2:28 minutes
Xbench 1.1.3 Disk/Overall 74/169 112/188 116/187
DiskTester 10GB Read/Write 70.1/69.7 62.8/60.2 65.5/62.4

As you can see in the performance data above, the 500GB WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS is faster than the Maxtor 500GB and 300GB hard drives in every step of this test except the Xbench scores and when duplicating 16,700 small files ranging in size from 8k to 1024k (Duplicate Small 4.25GB). The WD Caviar RE2 is almost 2% faster than the Maxline III 7V300F0 when copying data to and from the striped RAID set. The WD Caviar RE2 also pulls ahead in the "Duplicate Large" test which consists of two large video files. That score is 11% faster than the Maxline III 7V300F0. In many cases, high performance smaller hard drives with fewer platters and less heads have an opportunity to out perform larger hard drives. The WD Caviar RE2 is an exception.

In the next table, the performance of the WD Caviar RE2 is examined with dual hard drives in a striped RAID set mounted inside the Apple Mac Pro. The 300GB Maxline III model 7V300F0 and the 320GB Seagate 7200.10 are also listed for comparison.

Apple Mac Pro Internal Bus Dual Drive Striped RAID Set

Two WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Two Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Two Seagate 7200.10
320GB ST3320620AS
Area Full write read write read write read
empty 138 139 131 137 147 147
10% 136 136 128 134 146 146
20% 133 133 126 130 144 144
30% 130 130 123 129 138 138
40% 125 125 119 122 133 133
50% 119 119 113 117 128 128
60% 111 111 110 113 120 121
70% 103 103 102 104 112 112
80% 94.6 94.7 97.8 98.3 102 102
90% 83.4 83.5 89.1 89.5 89.8 89.8
100% 73.1 73.1 78.5 78.5 74.9 75
Average 113 113 111 114 121 122
Dup. Large 1:04 min. 1:13 min. 1:01 min.
Dup. Small 1:52 min. 1:29 min. 1:31 min.
Size 930.71GB 558.19GB 595.41GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The dual drive striped RAID sets were mounted internally in a Mac Pro. Dup. large = time to duplicate 4.25GB folder containing two video files. Dup. Small = time to duplicate 4.25GB folder containing 16,700 8k through 1024k files.

The Seagate 320GB model 7200.10 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 Seagate 320GB is able to provide the best results. However, when the Seagate is 50% full the WD Caviar RE2 will only be 30% full. At that point, the WD Caviar RE2 will provide faster sequential transfer rates. It is interesting that the WD Caviar RE2 is substantially slower in the small file duplication test.

In the next table, single hard drives were mounted using a Sonnet Tempo E4P and the same DiskTester performance test was run again with the Mac Pro 2.66 GHz computer. The Tempo E4P utilized the Mac Pro driver version 2.1 and was mounted in slot 4 while configured as an eight lane (8x) PCIe interface. The performance data in the table below demonstrates that the Maxline Pro 500GB model 7H500F0 and the Maxline III 300GB model 7V300F0 provide slightly better performance when mounted on the Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA host adapter.

Mac Pro External Tempo E4P SATA Single Hard Drive Test

WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Maxline Pro
500GB 7H500F0
Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Area Full write read write read write read
empty 68.9 69.4 63.3 64 69.2 69.6
10% 67.6 68 63.1 63.6 67.9 67.9
20% 66.3 66.6 62 62.6 65.6 65.5
30% 64.8 65 59.4 59.9 63.7 63.6
40% 62.3 62.4 57.8 58.3 61.2 61.2
50% 59.1 59.3 55.4 56 58.7 58.7
60% 55.3 55.5 52.1 52.7 56.2 56.2
70% 51.3 51.5 48.8 49.4 52.1 52.1
80% 47.1 47.3 45.5 46.1 48.9 49
90% 41.5 41.7 40.2 40.5 44.8 44.9
100% 36.8 37 35 35.3 40.6 40.8
Average 56.5 56.7 53 53.5 57.2 57.2
Size 465.34GB 465.34GB 279.08GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The hard drives were mounted externally on a Sonnet Tempo E4P in PCIe slot 4 using a Mac Pro 2.66.

Unlike the Maxtor hard drives, the WD Caviar RE2 does not enjoy improved performance when mounted on the Sonnet Tempo E4P.

In the next table, the performance of the WD Caviar RE2 is examined with dual drives in a striped RAID set mounted on the Sonnet Tempo E4P in a direct connect configuration. Performance results of the 300GB Maxline III model 7V300F0 and the 320GB Seagate 7200.10 are also included for comparison purposes.

Mac Pro External Tempo E4P Dual Drive Striped RAID Set

Two WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Two Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Two Seagate 7200.10
320GB ST3320620AS
Area Full write read write read write read
empty 137 139 138 138 147 147
10% 136 136 136 135 145 146
20% 133 133 132 131 144 144
30% 130 130 129 129 138 138
40% 125 125 123 123 133 133
50% 119 119 117 117 127 128
60% 111 111 114 113 120 121
70% 103 103 104 104 112 112
80% 94.8 94.9 99 99 101 102
90% 83.4 83.6 90 90.1 89.1 89.7
100% 73.1 73.2 79 79 74.3 74.9
Average 113 113 115 114 121 122
Dup. Large 1:06 min. 1:09 min. 1:00 min.
Dup. Small 1:59 min. 1:24 min. 1:28 min.
Size 930.71GB 558.19GB 595.41GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The dual drive striped RAID sets were mounted externally on a Sonnet Tempo E4P. Dup. large = time to duplicate 4.25GB folder containing two video files. Dup. Small = time to duplicate 4.25GB folder containing 16,700 8k through 1024k files.

In the dual drive striped RAID set configuration, the Seagate and the Maxtor hard drives once again perform a little faster while mounted on the Tempo E4P, while the WD Caviar RE2 performance does not improve. Based on these results, the WD Caviar RE2 seems to prefer being mounted on the Apple Mac Pro internal SATA bus.

In the next test, two identical model hard drives are used to create a striped RAID set inside an external SATA PM enclosure using the Sonnet Tempo E4P host adapter. The results are displayed in the table below.

SATA PM External Tempo E4P Dual Drive Striped RAID Set

Two WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Two Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Two Seagate 7200.10
320GB ST3320620AS
Area Full write read write read write read
empty 137 138 136 134 146 147
10% 136 136 134 133 146 146
20% 133 133 130 130 144 144
30% 130 130 128 128 138 138
40% 125 125 122 122 133 133
50% 119 119 116 116 127 128
60% 111 111 113 113 120 121
70% 103 103 103 104 112 112
80% 94.8 94.9 98.6 98.5 101 102
90% 83.4 83.6 89.4 89.5 89.1 89.7
100% 73.1 73.2 78.6 78.7 74.3 74.9
Average 113 113 114 113 121 122
Dup. Large 1:04 min. 1:15 min. 1:03 min.
Dup. Small 2:02 min. 1:38 min. 1:40 min.
Size 930.71GB 558.19GB 595.41GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The dual drive striped RAID sets were mounted externally on a Sonnet Tempo E4P. Dup. large = time to duplicate 4.25GB folder containing two video files. Dup. Small = time to duplicate 4.25GB folder containing 16,700 8k through 1024k files.

I know from the AMUG Tempo E4P Review that the Maxline III model 7V300F0 works very well with five or ten hard drives in a SATA PM enclosure(s). However, it is interesting that when using two drives in a striped RAID set with SATA PM, the Maxline III 7V300F0 performance is slightly reduced.





Random Access
In this test, an Apple Mac Pro 2.66GHz running Mac OS X 10.4.8 was used with the 500GB WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS to measure random access performance. QuickBench 3.0 was used to randomly read and write data across the hard disk. In order to obtain a value that users can duplicate each test was run with 100 cycles. This was done three different times for each test. The middle result was selected and reported in the chart below. As random performance results can fluctuate, I would factor in a margin of error of +/- 5% when comparing results in this table. This same test was also run with a Maxline Pro 500GB model 7H500F0 and the 300GB Maxline III model 7V300F0 hard drive for comparison.

Apple Mac Pro Internal SATA QuickBench 3 Random Test

WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Maxline Pro
500GB 7H500F0
Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Size write read write read write read
64k 10 53 116 68 108 64
128k 19 79 129 85 118 61
256k 31 128 85 93 90 92
512k 48 110 62 62 60 57
1024k 50 92 65 58 68 60
Average 31.6 92.4 91.4 73.2 88.8 66.8
Dup. Small 3:04 min. 2:36 min. 2:28 min.
Size 465.34GB 465.34GB 279.08GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The hard drives were mounted internally in a Mac Pro 2.66.

The results of the QuickBench 3 random disk test indicate that the WD Caviar RE2 provides slower random write performance than the Maxtor hard drives. A 4.25GB folder consisting of 16,700 files in sizes of 8k, 16k, 32k, 64k, 256k, 512k and 1024k was duplicated on each hard drive. The "Duplicate Small" test in the table above shows how long it took each hard drive to duplicate the 4.25GB folder of small files. This test requires each hard drive to read and write the data and is recorded in minutes. In this "Duplicate Small" test, the Maxline III 300GB model 7V300F0 completed the task first.

Now lets see how the same random access QuickBench 3 test compares when using the Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA host adapter to mount each of the hard drives on the Apple Mac Pro.

Apple Mac Pro Ext. E4P SATA QuickBench 3 Random Test

WD Caviar RE2
500GB WD5000YS

Maxline Pro
500GB 7H500F0
Maxline III
300GB 7V300F0
Size write read write read write read
64k 72 47 116 72 106 52
128k 89 102 128 91 116 62
256k 97 107 72 99 85 84
512k 98 111 62 60 59 54
1024 93 104 64 60 69 57
Average 89.8 94.2 88.4 76.4 87 61.8
Dup. Small 3:04 min. 2:30 min. 2:31 min.
Size 465.34GB 465.34GB 279.08GB
Results are shown in MB per second. The hard drives were mounted using the Sonnet Tempo E4P.

When mounted externally with the Sonnet Tempo E4P, QuickBench 3 indicates that the WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS provides improved random write performance. However, the "Duplicate Small" test indicates that the RE2 takes the same amount of time to duplicate a 4.25GB folder consisting of 16,700 files in sizes of 8k, 16k, 32k, 64k, 256k, 512k and 1024k when mounted on the the Sonnet Tempo E4P. The Maxtor Maxline Pro 500GB model 7H500F0 hard drive is 18% faster than the WD Caviar RE2 when duplicating these small files.





Size, Power, Heat & Weight
The 500GB WD Caviar RE2 model WD5000YS formats to a size of 465.34 GB on a Macintosh. The 500GB Maxline Pro model 7H300F0 also formats to 465.34 GB while the Maxtor 300GB Maxline III 7V300F0 formats to 279.08 GB. According to the Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor, the Maxline III 7V300F0 hard drive is the most energy efficient of the three hard drives. The 500GB WD Caviar RE2 draws less power than the 500GB Maxline Pro during the initial hard drive startup phase and also uses less power while copying data.

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 4.11 and recorded in Fahrenheit. The 500GB Maxline Pro model 7H500F0 hard drive created the most heat. The WD Caviar RE2 measured 118.4 degrees Fahrenheit at the end of the heat test. Mounting the WD Caviar RE2 hard drive in 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 74 degrees Fahrenheit. The results are provided in the table below.

Power Usage in Watts WD5000YS 7H500F0 7V300F0
Startup 28 30 26 watts
Idle 10 10