Windows XP SP2 Results

All drives were formatted in NTFS, and were set as Basic disks.  Best scores are in green.  CPU% scores have a 2% margin of error.  Click to enlarge images:

UPDATE, Jan 2006:  Test results below have been updated with the Fujitsu MVH2120AH:

Test Set 1: NF4 Device Manager Speed Test Utility.  Provides a general indication of read speeds.

HDD	Fujitsu MHV2120AT	Seagate ST9120821A	Fujitsu MHV2120AH
NF4 Speed Test
NF4 Burst	78.7 MB/S	86.0 MB/S	78.9 MB/S
NF4 Sustained	32.7 MB/S	39.3 MB/S	40.2 MB/S

 

Test Set 2:  HDTach 3.0.1.0 RW, 8MB Zones.  Great test for MP3 player performance.

HDD	Fujitsu MHV2120AT	Seagate ST9120821A	Fujitsu MHV2120AH
HDTach 3.0.1.0 8MB Zones
Burst Rate	93.3 MB/S	92.7 MB/S	92.4 MB/S
Ave. Reads	26.6 MB/S	33.1 MB/S	33.5 MB/S
Ave. Writes	22.2 MB/S	25.9 MB/S	28.3 MB/S
Seek Time	19.4 mS	16.7 mS	17.6 mS
CPU %	1%	2%	1%

Test Set 3:  HDTach 3.0.1.0 RW, 32MB Zones.  Tests for larger files.

HDD	Fujitsu MHV2120AT	Seagate ST9120821A	Fujitsu MHV2120AH
HDTach 3.0.1.0 32MB Zones
Burst Rate	92.9 MB/S	93.2 MB/S	92.2 MB/S
Ave. Reads	26.7 MB/S	33.2 MB/S	33.8 MB/S
Ave. Writes	25.4 MB/S	31.1 MB/S	32.2 MB/S
Seek Time	19.4 mS	16.7 mS	17.6 mS
CPU %	1%	2%	3%

Test Set 4:  HDTach 3.0.1.0 RW, Var Zones.  Shows results for a mixture of large and smaller files.

HDD	Fujitsu MHV2120AT	Seagate ST9120821A	Fujitsu MHV2120AH
HDTach 3.0.1.0 Var Zones
Burst Rate	83.4 MB/S	92.8 MB/S	91.4 MB/S
Ave. Reads	26.8 MB/S	33.2 MB/S	33.8 MB/S
Ave. Writes	26.6 MB/S	33.2 MB/S	33.8 MB/S
Seek Time	19.4 mS	16.9 mS	18.1 mS
CPU %	1%	2%	2%

As expected, the 5400 RPM Seagate drive excelled.  No contest against the 4200RPM Fujitsu. 

UPDATE, Jan 2006:  Wow.  Fujitsu's MVH2120AH beat Seagate where it counts, in the average reads and writes.  Scorching performance!