CONCLUSION

   After i finished benchmarking all over again all the drives i have here i was expecting to see performance numbers along the same exact line as the 7K3000 series since the only difference (at least the only obvious one) with the latest 7K4000 line is the larger capacity plates of the second (600GB/800GB). Strangely enough however the Deskstar 7K4000 managed to surpass its predecessors in almost every test with ease and although the performance gap is not really big still it was something that caught me off guard so i guess Hitachi GST may have made some changes to the drive aside the larger plates. Regarding both noise levels and temperatures as expected the 7K4000 is almost identical to the 7K3000 (since both drives feature the same exact chassis and number of plates) so nothing really new to see here.

   Monstrous capacity disk drives have always been expensive especially at their launch so it comes as no surprise that the single and only drawback of the Deskstar 7K4000 by Hitachi GST is it's price tag since currently this particular package retails at around USD420 inside the USA and 350Euros inside the EU. Of course not everyone needs 4TB of space so the Deskstar 7K4000 line is targeted at a specific part of the market which includes professionals and enthusiasts who can put to use any HDD regardless of size. Personally i have far too many TB's of data (mostly backup) so unless we see an 50TB drive soon i will always need many huge capacity drives to cover my needs and since the Deskstar 7K4000 not only proved to be very fast but it also features the highest available capacity (single drive) at the moment i am awarding it with our Platinum award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Performance
- 4TB's Capacity
- Temperatures/Noise Levels
- 3 Years Warranty

CONS

- Price Tag