HDD by stefan @ 2011-02-06
Hitachi have recently launched their external XL3000 desktop HDDs; these come in elegantly shaped enclosures, with the possibility of mounting both horizontally and vertically, also with enough free space for most of us to store our favourite movies, photos, games and other data.
At first I would like to thank Hitachi for offering me a sample of their XL3000 Desk 3TB USB 2.0 External Drive for review.
"Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 and was formed as a result of the strategic combination of IBM and Hitachi’s storage technology businesses. Storage is one of Hitachi’s five core businesses; substantial technology and financial resources have been committed to ensure a successful and profitable business. The company’s vision is to enable users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing access to large amounts of storage capacity in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is positioned to immediately advance the role of hard disk drives beyond traditional computing environments to consumer electronics and other emerging applications.
The company will extend the world-renowned R&D heritage of its founders and build on their combined 80 years of hard disk drive expertise. With substantial and dedicated research and development investments, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is positioned to inspire and lead the future of storage technologies.
Hitachi brings a customer-focused and full-service approach to solutions for the hard disk drive marketplace. The company defines the standard for product and service excellence with world-class operations, substantial technical knowledge and a comprehensive customer support infrastructure."
The product contains a HDS723030ALA640 HDD inside, so here are its features and specifications:
The XL3000 external HDD from Hitachi is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard box, with a photo of the product on the front, the total disk capacity and interface used (in this case, USB 2.0):
On the opposite side, we can see a description of the product, along with a package contents summary, in many different languages:
Inside the box, we can find one USB 2.0 cable, a small plastic dock, the power adapter, a leaflet which contains some photos regarding the drive installation, and the drive itself, in a plastic enclosure:
The plastic dock can be used when we want to sit the drive vertically, and it can be attached very simple to the enclosure:
The power adapter comes with two different plugs, so it can adapt to the zone where we will use it:
The adapter is manufactured by Asian Power Devices, and its output rating is 12V, 1.5A:
Besides some drawings that show us how to install the product, we do also get some information regarding the product warranty:
The HDD enclosure has an interesting shape, all black, and it can be used in both horizontal or vertical positions:
In the front, there is a Hitachi logo, which lights up nicely when the HDD is turned on:
On the opposite side, we can see the full drive name, some serial numbers, and a blue sticker that covers the power and USB data ports:
The laterals of the enclosure have ventilation holes, to evacuate the hot air; however, no fan is present inside the plastic enclosure:
If we look closer on the back side, after the removal of the blue sticker, we can reveal the power and data ports, along with a Kensington Security Slot:
Here is how the drive does look when the enclosure is mounted vertically, with the dock attached:
When the drive is in stand-by, the Hitachi logo will stay lit; if transfers are being made, the logo starts to blink:
The test bench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I7 Retail @ stock
Motherboard: Foxconn BloodRage with G42 BIOS
RAM: 3x2GB Patriot PVT36G1600LLK 1600MHz
Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.
Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11
Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
The drives comes formatted, with only one NTFS partition:
With AIDA64 Ultimate software tool, we can extract more information regarding the HDD inside:
The Hitachi XL3000 installation can be done really easy, we only have to connect the USB data cable to our PC/laptop and feed the enclosure power with the provided power adapter. Since the drive comes already formatted, we can transfer data right away.
In case we want to have multiple partitions on the drive, the situation becomes a little more complicated, but not impossible (I will explain here in the case we already have installed on the system Windows 7): after deleting the single 3TB partition in Disk Management, we will observe that the unallocated disk space is split in two (a 2TB part and the rest of available space in another part). If we try to create partitions, we will see that Disk Management allows us to do so only in the 2TB part, without any options for the other one. To solve this issue, we have to convert MBR (Master Boot Record) into GPT (GUID Partition Table), by right clicking the disk descriptor box (which can be labelled Disk X Basic, 2794.36GB) and by selecting Convert to GPT Disk. After this operation is done, we will be able to access and partition all disk space.
As it could be seen from the performed tests, the Hitachi XL3000 maxes out the USB 2.0 interface; it would have been nice if the enclosure had USB 3.0 instead or at least one eSATA, to speed up the transfer, because it takes a lot of time to transfer to the drive or from the drive over USB 2.0.
After some testing, I have observed that the drive heats up pretty fast if it is used intensively: during a period of one hour, the drive went up to 51 degrees Celsius, while monitored with HDD Sentinel; a little fan that could have evacuated the hot air out of the enclosure would have been very welcome. Also, I recommend to use the drive in a well ventilated place.
Regarding the sound levels, you can clearly hear the drive during the spin-up, but becomes silent when it has reached nominal speed. Also, when the drive is in seek mode, it can be heard clearly, being noisier than the Western Digital RE4-GP drive I have tested in the past, also with 7200RPM.
The product can be found in shops for about 170 Euros, a price very close to the competition (for example WD My Book Essential 3TB, but these come on USB 3.0).
I would like to thank again to Hitachi for offering me a sample of this product for review!