TechReport take a further look at the Seagate's Barracuda 7200.10 hard drive. The 7200.10's biggest advantage over its predecessor is maximum total capacity. Older Barracuda 7200.9 drives topped out at 500 GB, but the 7200.10 is available in capacities as high as 750 GB:

Perpendicular recording tech has taken what seems like forever to make its way to desktop hard drives. Given what we've seen of the Barracuda 7200.10, it was well worth the wait. The drive pushes storage to new heights, offering a whopping 750 GB of capacity for a surprisingly reasonable cost per gigabyte. With a street price as low as $414 online the Barracuda 7200.10 750 GB runs about $0.55 per gigabyte. That's pretty reasonable for a flagship drive; 500 GB models from other manufacturers typically cost around $0.52 per gigabyte. 750 GB isn't all that outlandish for a single drive, either. With higher definition audio and video content on the rise, higher single-drive storage capacity is more important than ever.

In the end, the Barracuda 7200.10 delivers on much of its tantalizing potential, but it's not a winner across the board. The drive's inconsistent performance in our iPEAK tests and uncompetitive IOMeter results immediately disqualify it for demanding multitasking or multi-user environments. However, the higher areal densities made possible by perpendicular bits do pay performance dividends, especially in terms of sustained transfer rates. The 7200.10's particularly strong showings in WorldBench, HD Tach, and FC-Test make it easy to recommend for single-user environments like PC desktops. There, the drive's quiet idle noise levels and best-in-class five year warranty give it additional appeal. Plus, everyone likes to brag about having the biggest drive on the block