The Barracuda 7200.11 is another 500GB drive that doesn't quite live up to expectations. With two platters housing 250GB apiece, its performance should be at the top of this Labs test. However, in reality, it's mediocre.

The drive started well with the HD Tach 3 RW test. We measured the Barracuda 7200.11's sustained read speed at 87.1MB/sec and write speed at 78MB/sec, with a 12.5ms access time - the second fastest this month. However, this didn't result in outstanding performance. The Gimp image editing test returned a decent 968, below drives with significantly less dense platters. The Barracuda 7200.11 equalled the Hitachi Deskstar P7K500's time when loading the Relic level in Crysis - again a middle-of-the-road result.

We'd hoped for more from Seagate's flagship 11th generation of Barracuda drives. Unfortunately, as with Hitachi's latest P7K500 range, our wishes weren't granted. The Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 isn't the most expensive 500GB drive this month but, at 16p per gigabyte, neither is it the cheapest. If a product can't excel in performance then good value for money is required to gain a recommendation, and this drive can't manage either.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB / SATAII / 7200rpm

SATA II, 500 GB, 7200 rpm, 3.5"

misco uk

• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008
• Multi-GPU graphics - 20th June 2008
• CPU water cooling - 17th June 2008

• Creative Zen X-Fi with Wireless LAN 16GB - Peripherals
• DFI Lanparty DK P45-T2RS PLUS - Motherboards
• Hyundai W240D-PVA - TFT monitors
• Intel X25-M Mainstream SATA SSD - Hard disks / storage
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky - Games
• LanCool Metal-Boned K10 - Cases
• Asus Maximus II Formula - Motherboards