Difference in these 2 Seagate HDDs - ad is confusing

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phkhgh

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What's the difference between this Seagate drive:
Seagate ST303204N1A1AS-RK (retail kit)
320GB Internal SATA16MB 1.5G
* 320GB
* 7200rpm
* 300MBps Serial ATA
* II
* Serial ATA/300
can be seen here http://shop3.outpost.com/%7BY6CfOA87GVFTZy2luxHIeQ**.node2%7D/product/5296757http://shop3.outpost.com/{Y6CfOA87GVFTZy2luxHIeQ**.node2}/product/5296757
or http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-ST303.../B000RGG5G0/ref=de_a_smtd/002-2010744-2740003

and this one:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Can be seen here:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...fa74c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-US

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140&Tpk=st3320620as

Is the 2nd one later technology & faster transfer rate?
Couldn't find the 1st one listed on Seagate's site.

Thanks.
 
Looks to me like the first one doesn't have Perpendicular recording, which is newer, and allows for higher data density, and that should allow for faster data transfer speeds. You probably aren't going to see much if any difference outside of benchmarks, real world I doubt you can tell.
 
Thanks SNGX1275,

I was curious because couldn't find the ST303... (1st one listed) searching on Seagate's site.

The 1st one is on sale at Fry's for $70.
The 2nd is regularly $ 80 at Newegg (OEM).

The 2nd one ST3320620AS is definitely up to 3.0 GB/s, but I'm not clear on the specs on 1st one. If anyone can clear that up, I'd appreciate it.

The 1st one's descrip from one source is "320GB Internal SATA16MB 1.5G", so don't know if the 1.5G means 1.5 GB/s (max) or if it's a typo.

On Seagate's specs for the 2nd drive ST3320620AS, they refer to SATA/300 being = 3.0GB/s.
 
The 1st one's descrip from one source is "320GB Internal SATA16MB 1.5G", so don't know if the 1.5G means 1.5 GB/s (max) or if it's a typo.

if the difference is not a typo it is a slower transwer rate drive, but u will never see the difference that is one of the things that is being developed for future use.
 
could be 1st one's sata 1
2nd's sata 2
if running standard sata one stick with sata 1 tech
like said your not going to see a diff
I see maybe I typo here
 
Confirmation...

I bought several of the ones at Frys for $69.99 and they are indeed:
ST3320620AS
(So Perpendicular recording is a go.)
Just a funky # for marketing, Best Buy has these also for price matching (;

Same as the OEM ones at Newegg but $10.00 less in retail packaging.


Also, Best Buy has the PATA 750gb (Perpendicular) version on clearance @ $168.00. (Great junk drive.)
Drive is ST3750640A.


The 2nd generation Perpendicular, 7200.11 vs 7200.10 for these, drives are only available in 500gigs SATA and up per Seagate's site, I believe.

Good luck with the info I have provided.

This info is based on Seagate's site when looking up the actually drive.

Joined just to chime in on this (;

Scott.
No Sig REQUIRED!
 
Check the Buffer size. Some of the 320 GB drives are 8 mb, and others are 16 mb . You want the larger buffer size. See the Seagate drives at www.zipzoomfly.com as their list is more helpful.
 
Bargains Galore......!!!!

Your Etailer may have gotten a deal on one of Seagate's discontinued drives, hence the deep discounts and absence from Seagates website. Also, sometimes manufacturers will have merchandise numbered specifically for them, to avoid cross shopping and therefore price pressure.
In keeping up to date with technology, you should probably go for the drive with the largest cache, perpendicular recording, and obviously SATA 2. I believe that all Seagates current line of SATA drives support NCQ, which is a consideration should you decide on a Raid array.
 
I don't know of a case where that is true, and I know a great number of Seagate engineers and marketing people.

As for Perpendicular recording, nobody knows what its record of reliability will be in three or five years... true, Seagate is banking on it... but look what happened to so many other fine hard drive manufacturers whent hey got into new technology: Conner, Quantum, Maxtor, Western Digital's attempt to go larger than 40 GB not so many years ago.
They are trying to drive each other out of business before the failures happen.
 
If You Build It, They Will Come.........

raybay said:
I don't know of a case where that is true, and I know a great number of Seagate engineers and marketing people.
This was conjecture on my part with respect to Seagate. House branded and/or numbered merchandise is somewhat common in retail electronics in order to suppress competitive shopping and price matching claims.
raybay said:
As for Perpendicular recording, nobody knows what its record of reliability will be in three or five years... true, Seagate is banking on it... but look what happened to so many other fine hard drive manufacturers whent hey got into new technology: Conner, Quantum, Maxtor, Western Digital's attempt to go larger than 40 GB not so many years ago.

If I would have suggested that the perpendicular recording may not be ready for prime time, proponents would have come out of the woodwork calling me a luddite. Pretty much the same thing as me saying, "**** Vista, you can have my XP when you pry it out of my cold dead hand".
raybay said:
They are trying to drive each other out of business before the failures happen.
True enough with respect to drive each other out of business. Anything with moving parts breaks, fact of life.
I think technological advancement is being driven by customer's demands through marketing to the engineering department. In other words, backwards. "You asked for it, you got it, Toyota"! (To pinch a good phrase)

Will you come over to the "darkside" long enough to agree with SATA 2 and the largest cache being desirable characteristics?
 
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