Seagate Enterprise Performance 15K HDD v5 600GB HDD Review

Introduction

The march to provide more density is never-ending, and over the last 60 years of HDD development, we have witnessed a 500 million-fold increase in areal density. This push for more density has also spawned smaller drives for the performance segment. The datacenter is trending away from legacy 3.5" 15K HDDs, which manufacturers are phasing out, to new 2.5" models. 2.5" models provide more capacity and performance density, and feature a 70% reduction in power consumption compared to their larger 3.5" brethren.

SSDs are encroaching upon the performance HDD segment, but in relative terms, the 10K and 15K segment are still doing well. IDC projects that in 2016 the performance HDD TAM (total available market) will still be double that of enterprise SSDs. Seagate is also expanding their performance segment by incorporating Turbo SSHD models into the Enterprise Performance 15K v5 lineup. These hybrid models provide seamless flash-based workload acceleration without any user configuration or management. We recently took an in-depth look at the Seagate Turbo SSHD here, and the inclusion of a 32GB layer of eMLC NAND cache delivers incredible performance benefits. We tested the inaugural version of the Turbo SSHD, and we will be posting an evaluation of the new 15K v5 SSHD shortly.

The standard Seagate Enterprise Performance 15K v5 brings 146, 300, and 600GB capacities to the slim 2.5" design, and employs a dual-port 12Gb/s SAS interface. The step up to 12Gb/s SAS enables compatibility with the latest HBA and RAID controller designs, and also provides multipath and failover capability. The Enterprise Performance 15K v5 features a 128MB data buffer that supports prefetch (read-ahead) and multi-segmented cache control algorithms. The 15K v5 features an average seek latency of 2.0 ms, and a sustained transfer rate of 180 to 246 MB/s (inner to outer).

15k SAS HDDs are designed for mission critical environments and reliability is a top priority. Seagate's 15K v5 offers a 2 million hour MTBF, a nonrecoverable read-error-per-bits-read rating of 1 per 10^16, and a five-year warranty period. The 15k v5 also employs a humidity sensor and thermal monitoring features. The 600GB model utilizes 3 platters and six heads, and the 300GB model uses 2 platters with 4 heads.

Seagate also offers several security models in the 15k product line. Seagate Secure Drives feature Instant Secure Erase for easy disposal and repurposing, and FIPS models provide the ultimate in data security. There is no significant performance differential between SED and standard models. SED models meet corporate and federal data security mandates through a number of enhanced features that secure data at rest. The drives offer automatic data encryption/decryption, controlled access, a random number generator, and drive locking. 16 independent data bands secure data, and authenticated firmware downloads prevent unauthorized access.

15K HDDs are alive and well, and Seagate's Enterprise Performance offers competitive performance with enhanced density for transactional workloads for blade, rack, or tower servers. Let's take a closer look.