| Western Digital Caviar SE16 |
A while ago we had taken a look at a couple
400GB hard drives from Hitachi and Seagate, and today we got to test
run the Western Digital 400GB hard drive, WD4000KD. Although it
doesn't support such technology like Native Command Queuing, it proved
to keep up with the NCQ enabled Seagate drive. And as well
managed to prove itself against the Hitachi drive also. It
manages to easily beat out both other drives in the burst rate
benchmarks. But as for the other HD Tach benchmarks it looks like
there is no clear winner. The rest of the benchmarks also show
impressive numbers despite the fact of no direct comparison to any
other drive. If you happen to know your numbers well with these
tests, you will know that the numbers compete with some of the best
desktop drives currently available.
On the physical side, the drive is very sexy to
say the least with its unique flat black finish it will please anyone
that enjoys showing off their hardware. The only downside I
thought would come with this drive is the price. However since
the WD4000KD drive has been released it has come down in price, and can
now be had for roughly the same price as the Hitachi and Seagate 400GB
hard drives at around $230 USD. And with the Western Digital
drive having 16MB of cache rather than 8MB as seen on the Hitachi and
Seagate we think this is a clear choice. With that said we give
the Western Digital 400GB WD4000KD hard drive our recommended product
award.
