Specifications, Pricing and Availability

The new Hitachi GST 5K4000 uses a SATA 6Gbps interface that increases the burst speed above the limits of SATA 3Gbps. The drive also uses Advanced Format, a standard were seeing quite often these days with mechanical disk drives. Hitachi GST doesn't list any performance data, but that's what we're here to determine anyhow. The drive uses a 32MB data buffer, half the size of the new Western Digital Red Series that we recently reviewed.

As we mentioned in the introduction, the 5K4000 uses four 5,900 RPM platters. This allows the drive to remain silent and cool while in use. The performance, especially the random access performance is lower than the 7,200 RPM models like the 7K4000, but the user gets a product that is quieter, cooler and uses less power. HGST claims the new 5K4000 uses 24% less power per gigabyte than the previous generation 3TB HDD.

When we started writing this article the Hitachi GST 5K4000 was not available. It's since tipped up online for $399 in the US. That is a pretty steep price considering we managed to find the 7,200 RPM model, 7K4000 for just $326, both prices via Google Shopping.

Today we're looking at the retail box model, HDS5C4040ALE630. It ships with a three year warranty, free access to Hitachi GST's 3GB data backup service (hitachibackup.com), installation screws and paper manuals. We didn't like the lack of a SATA cable in the package.