4TB Seagate SkyHawk or 4TB Seagate Barracuda for desktop use?

[ChemistZombie]

So I'm currently looking for a new hard drive to replace my 2TB WD Blue that's failing on me, and I found these two drives that attracted my attention.

Originally I wanted to get a 3TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM since, well, it's got 7200RPM, but none of the stores here have it in stock for some reason (perhaps they stopped shipping them here?) so I'm stuck with either a 4TB Seagate Barracuda or a 4TB Seagate SkyHawk.

 

The drive will be used mainly for game storage. Note that I already have an SSD but it only has 120GB of space, which isn't that great. Also, WD drives are out of the question because they're too expensive here.

 

Now I know you might think that putting in a SkyHawk hard drive, which was supposed to be a surveillance drive, into a regular desktop, is quite a silly idea, but here's the thing: the SkyHawk is a tiny bit cheaper here for some reason at only $110 (IDR-USD conversion), as opposed to Barracuda's $112 price tag. Also, the SkyHawk has 5900RPM and 3-year warranty but only has 64MB of cache whereas the Barracuda only has 5400RPM and 2-year warranty, but has more cache at 256MB. WD drives are out of the question since the 4TB Blue drives are only rated at 5400RPM, has only 64MB cache and 2-year warranty while having a very little price difference at $108, and none of the Black drives are in stock here for whatever reason, just like the 7200RPM Seagate drives.

 

 

Ignoring the fact that it's a surveillance drive, should I just get the SkyHawk instead of Barracuda? I mean it's better in almost every aspect but the cache. And would the 256MB cache in the Barracuda help me in any way for gaming?

 

[NelizMastr]

Skyhawks aren't for desktop use, and yes, cache does make a difference when reading a lot of small files. I'd just get the barracuda.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Barracuda.  As you mentioned, the Skyhawk is more geared towards surveillance use.  It's great at writing, not so much at reading.  The latter is kinda important for desktop use. 

@seagate_surfer  will probably be able to explain the details a lot better than I could.

 

 

21 minutes ago, ChemistZombie said:

Originally I wanted to get a 3TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM since, well, it's got 7200RPM, but none of the stores here have it in stock for some reason (perhaps they stopped shipping them here?)

I wouldn't be surprised if it's because of the (very) bad reputation that these drives got back in 2011-2014.  Even if the modern 3TB Barracudas have different internals than the ST3000DM001 of back in the day, the name is tainted. 

[D3DSEC_TBONE]

I have purchased a SkyHawk by mistake it caused me a huge windows boot delay and program launching and game loading times.

Please don't buy a skyhawk get a Barracuda pro

[ChemistZombie]

2 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:

Barracuda.  As you mentioned, the Skyhawk is more geared towards surveillance use.  It's great at writing, not so much at reading.  The latter is kinda important for desktop use. 

@seagate_surfer  will probably be able to explain the details a lot better than I could.

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it's because of the (very) bad reputation that these drives got back in 2011-2014.  Even if the modern 3TB Barracudas have different internals than the ST3000DM001 of back in the day, the name is tainted. 

Interesting. I thought the only things that would affect a drive performance are RPM and cache. So this means that even if the Skyhawk has 5900RPM, it still suffers from some performance penalty due to its less cache and firmware, right?

[seagate_surfer]

I am just gonna paste a post I just did about these 2 drives and the only thing I am gonna add is that the basic BarraCuda is focused to work on computers that are needed only 5 days a week (Monday to friday) and will stay on working 8 hours a day, but the SkyHawk can stay on 24/7, 365 days a year (And so the Pro version of BarraCuda), with that said I'll let you read what I posted earlier:

 

Man, doing a quick overview I can easily tell you to get the BarraCuda Pro, it has 5 years warranty and 5 is better than 3, plus the Nonrecoverable Read Errors rate is 1 per 10E15, this is a better number than 1 per 10E14: 

 

SkyHawk ST4000VX007			BarraCuda Pro ST4000DM006
Specifications	4TB		Specifications	4TB
Standard Model Numbers1	ST4000VX007		Standard Model Numbers	ST4000DM006
SkyHawk™  Health Management Included	Yes		Bytes per Sector	512
Interface	SATA 6Gb/s		Performance
Features and Performance			Interface	SATA 6Gb/s
Drive Bays Supported	Up to 16		SATA Transfer Rates Supported (Gb/s)	6.0/3.0/1.5
Cameras Supported	Up to 64		Max. Sustained Transfer Rate OD (MB/s)	220MB/s
RV Sensors	Yes		Cache, Multisegmented (MB)	128
Max. Sustained Transfer Rate OD (MB/s)	190MB/s		Reliability/Data Integrity
Cache (MB)	64		Load/Unload Cycles	300,000
Reliability/Data Integrity			Nonrecoverable Read Errors per Bits Read, Max	1 per 10E15
Tarnish Resistant	Yes		Power-On Hours per Year (24×7)	8760
Load/Unload Cycles	300,000		Data Recovery and Rescue Services	Yes
Nonrecoverable Read Errors per Bits Read, Max	1 per 10E14		Workload Rate Limit (TB/year)1	300
Power-On Hours per Year (24×7)	8760		Limited Warranty (years)	5
Workload Rate Limit (WRL)2	180		Power Management
MTBF	1,000,000hr		Startup Power (A)	2.0
Warranty, Limited (years)3	3		Operating Mode, Typical (W)	6.7
Power Management			Idle Average (W)	6.0W
Startup Current, Typical (12V, A)	1.8		Standby Mode/Sleep Mode, Typical (W)	0.6/0.6
Average Operating Power (W)	5.5W		Environmental/Temperature
Idle Average (W)	3.2W		Operating (ambient, min)	0°C
Standby Mode/Sleep Mode, Typical (W)	0.25/0.25		Operating (drive case, max)	60°C
Voltage Tolerance (5V)	±5%		Nonoperating (ambient)	-40°C – 70°C
Voltage Tolerance (12V)	±10%		Halogen Free	Yes
Environmental/Temperature			RoHS Compliance	Yes
Operating (ambient, min °C)	0		Physical
Operating (drive case, max °C)4	70		Height (mm/in, max)	26.1mm/1.028in
Nonoperating (ambient, min °C)	-40		Width (mm/in, max)	101.85mm/4.010in
Physical			Depth (mm/in, max)	146.99mm/5.787in
Height (mm/in, max)	26.11mm/1.028in		Weight (g/lb)	680g/1.50lb
Width (mm/in, max)	101.85mm/4.01in		Carton Unit Quantity	20
Depth (mm/in, max)	146.99mm/5.787in		Cartons per Pallet/Cartons per Layer	40 / 8
Weight (g/lb)	635g/1.40lb
Carton Unit Quantity	20
Cartons per Pallet/Cartons per Layer	40/8

 

Now with that said, I'd like to talk a little abou the SkyHawk and its features, the resolution is something that matters on surveillance systems and the SkyHawk is optmized for that, it uses our ImagePerfect™ firmware to ensure crystal clear HD video and zero dropped frames, while recording, while streaming up to 64 HD video cameras to help prevent freeze frames during live playback and It’s also optimized for 24/7 workloads (Like the BarraCuda Pro). The problem of loss of frames, or that the video is stuck or cut may be because they are not using the correct HDD technology, Zero Frame Lost Performance is something you want when you want to know who stole your cookies! 

 

The SkyHawk also has on-board rotational vibration (RV) sensors., this optmizes it for multi-bay surveillance systems and help reduce failures caused by the vibration from a neighboring HDD or chassis fan, more of ImagePerfect™ here: image-perfect-smart-safe-solution-cb4-tp694-1-1701us.pdf

Those features and the Seagate® SkyHawk™ Health Management (SHM) interface make it a better choice than the BarraCuda when it comes to better chances to get better pixels while streaming and recording, it also goes beyond to what S.M.A.R.T. details can detect to be very precise and consistent on data monitoring but the SHM embedded drive monitoring software is designed for systems with Hikvision 4.0 OS, Digital Watchdog, Dahua, Tiandy, Uniview and you don't have none of those, do you? More of SHM here: https://branding.seagate.com/content/f2bc8003-2d6e-47b4-8300-c5217bd5b49b/?attach=false&language=cn,us&url=/documentpreview/564ef373-61a7-4ae3-87fe-97fdd988cbd7

 

So, it is not a perfomance/speed topic because they are different type of products so each one fits into its own category or that only the warranty thing on the SkyHawk vs the BarraCuda Pro makes one better than the other, although the SkyHawk is optimized for large workdays and heavy video workloads, it is just that you are not gonna use the features SkyHawk offers like the ImagePerfect™, SHM and RV sensors.