INTRODUCTION

   Professionals, enthusiasts, gamers (both PC and console ones) and even casual users all have but one thing in common, they all own at least one external 3.5" desktop hard drive. Literally to this day I’ve yet to meet a single person that doesn't own at least one and since i use several both at work and at home this doesn't really come as a surprise to me. So, what to look when out to get a brand new external hard drive? Capacity is obviously the first thing to look for followed by connectivity (USB 3.0/3.1/3.2/TB3 are obviously the fastest ones currently) and of course both hard drive and enclosure quality (neither all hard drives nor all enclosures are created equal). Needless to say, brand name also matters quite a bit , still clearly not nearly as much as one would think. So today I’ll be testing two such external hard drives, the Stream S06 and S07 6TB models by Silicon Power.

   Founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic data storage industry experts, Silicon Power is committed to delivering outstanding product and service quality. Headquartered and with our own state-of-the-art production site in Taipei, we have become a leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid state drives, DRAM modules and industrial-grade products. As an international player with four branch offices around the globe, we continuously strive to offer the perfect data storage solution for all requirements of modern digitalized life. With a strong focus on combining innovative technology and award-winning design, we live up to our brand promise to reliably preserve and protect your most valuable data. Because memory is personal.

   The Stream S06 (currently available in 2/3/4/6/8TB) and the Stream S07 (available in 3/4/6/8TB) may both use SATA to USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 1 controllers and feature 3.5" hard disk drives inside their enclosures but that's just about were their similarities end. Their main difference of course is the drives used so even though under the hood of the Stream S06 we find the Seagate Barracuda ST6000DM003 3.5" HDD under the hood of the Stream S07 we find the WD Blue WD60EZAZ 3.5" HDD. Now both are SATA III 6Gb/s drives with rotational speeds of 5400RPM and 256MB Cache but whereas the former features Multi-Tier Caching and AcuTrac Servo technologies for optimal performance and data integrity the latter comes ready with IntelliSeek, Data LifeGuard and NoTouch Ramp Load Technologies. The enclosures however are also different so the Stream S06 features a sleek plastic one that also has a very convenient carrying handle at the top whereas the one used with the Stream S07 is textured. So, time to test them and see which of these two is really the best (at least in terms of performance).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Both drives use glossy boxes the front of which is taken by large product pictures and the company logo.

The thickness of the drives is showcased on the left side.

On the right side you can check to see just how many files (different formats) you can fit inside each drive.

The features of the drives are printed at the rear of the box in multiple languages (the Stream S07 is obviously a single country version).

Both drives are bundled with their power adapters (S06 has an UK/EU adapter) and USB-A to USB-A cables while the Stream S07 also has a quick start guide.

THE STREAM S06 & S07 6TB

In terms of size both drives are close with the S06 measuring 199mm in length, 117.7mm in width and 36.3mm in thickness and the S07 measuring 171mm in length, 113.6mm in width and 34.9mm in thickness.

Of course, it's the handle that actually boosts the length of the S06 (measures roughly 27mm).

There are two ways one can position the drives as you can see from the above picture (rubber feet on two sides).

The textured enclosure of the Stream S07 looks nice but it's only reasonable that some people may not like it.

Both drives have the USB-A ports at the front right next to the DC in.

As mentioned earlier the Stream S06 features a Seagate Barracuda ST6000DM003 HDD whereas the Stream S07 features the WD Blue WD60EZAZ HDD.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Complicating things is not really our way so once again our testing procedure will be almost identical to the one, we use with 2.5" external drives and 2.5"/3.5" external docking stations. Naturally we will also be comparing the product at hand with previously reviewed 3.5" external drives so you know what you're getting (we no longer include 3.5" enclosures in our charts). Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write - also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.47 (Max Read/Max Write speeds). Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) numbers were recorded into our charts.

    As always, every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 10 Pro with every update installed up to the date of each review.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

TEST RESULTS – TEMPERATURES

CONCLUSION

   It's been 6 years since i last checked an external hard drive from Silicon Power's Stream line and so I was very curious to see just how the new models would perform, always in comparison to the 4TB variant I reviewed back then. Well as you can clearly tell from the charts the Stream S06 6TB does outperform its 4TB brother in most tests but what really steals the show is the Stream S07 6TB since it’s among the 3 fastest models in the charts (and yes, quite faster than the Stream S06). Now it’s been a while since I’ve used an WD Blue HDD so this could be primarily due to the drive model used, whatever the case however benchmarks don’t lie and so the Stream S07 is clearly the best choice, at least in terms of read and write performance. Temperatures are low and almost identical for both drives so that’s far from the deciding factor (design however just could be).

   With everything that’s been happening lately availability for both the Stream S06 and S07 6TB models is limited at best so listing a price tag wouldn’t make much sense right now. Still one thing’s clear from today’s review, if you’re looking for the best possible performance and you’re able to find both the Stream S06 and S07 for around the same price tag then the latter is clearly recommended and that’s also why it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (S06/S07)
- Very Good Performance (S07)
- Carrying Handle (S06)
- Enclosure Design (S06/S07)
- 3 Year Limited Warranty (S06/S07)

CONS

- Current Availability