Clearly, on a pure performance basis, the Hitachi DeskStar 7K160 is a superior disk drive compared to the Samsung SpinPoint T133 HD400LJ.The Samsung SpinPoint T133 HD400LJ is no slouch, though. Both drives offer respectable read/write performance values, and both compare well against their peers across the key metrics.

In particular, the Samsung SpinPoint T133 HD400LJ is a dramatic boost over its 300 GB sibling; so much so that it almost makes the HD300LJ obsolete. With the HD400LJ, Samsung has proven that bigger can be better.

The Hitachi DeskStar 7K160 also offers performance that bests its cousins, the DeskStar 7K400 (400 GB, SATA/150), DeskStar 7K500 (500 GB, SATA/150) and the closer DeskStar T7K250 (250 GB, SATA/150) in both read and write transfer rates. Overall, the 7K160 is perhaps the fastest 3.5" desktop hard drive that we've yet tested from Hitachi.

Author's Opinion

On a price per GB basis, the Samsung SpinPoint T133 HD400LJ is a fantastic deal. Measured against our Hard Disk Charts, the HD400LJ may well be the best cost per GB yet.

Still, I would not recommend the HD400LJ for competitive gamers or for front-line enterprise applications. Instead, the drive should be a real winner for everyday desktop, media and archival use. The price per GB for the performance delivered is an unbeatable combination.

The Hitachi DeskStar 7K160HDS721616PLA380 is also very affordable, though it is not the stellar deal that the Samsung SpinPoint T133 HD400LJ represents. At its price point, it is well suited for gamers and everyday desktop users looking for a fast (but not the fastest) performance hard drive at an affordable price.