Spinpoint F1: Samsung Overtakes With a Bang

KyleSTL

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Impressive numbers especially considering it only uses a little more power than the WD uber-conservationist edition. Glad to see the classic hard drive industry (as opposed to SSD, which everyone knows is innovating much more quickly) isn't totally stagnant and that bit density is still going up.
 

wicketr

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Nice drive. However, I wish there were acoustic comparisons. The drive's size/access rates aren't a factor to me so much as the noise level.
 

Serandin

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I assume throughput would be more important on a gaming rig as data tends to get loaded in chunks. Would this be correct?

Maybe Tom's can do a small article on choosing the best HD for specific uses? (Gaming, system drive, swap drive, media, etc) Or provide a little more detail on the comparison charts for what the #s mean for the avg user?

Cheers
 

Luscious

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Tom's should implement dB measurements in their hard drive tests as well. HTPC users need large drives that are quiet.

I would still choose the WD GP however - it's quieter, uses less power, and the raid version is suitable to run a media center application 24/7. When you're using 6-12 drives, noise and power WILL get your attention.

This drive is FAST! Four of these in RAID0 should run circles around a four-drive RAID0 Raptor setup AND give you a beefy 4TB capacity.

WD needs a faster (and bigger) Raptor!!! :sol:
 

outlandos

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I am buying a new PC in January too and I am still wondering which hard-disk setup to take.

Maybe you can help me, I am leaning forward to either:

2x Raptor X 150GB (in raid 0) + 750 GB Samsung F1 32 MB Cache

or

2x Samsung F1 750 GB 32 MB Cache (in raid 0)

The first one is about 200 Euro more expensive than the second setup.

Is this 200 Euro well spend or are they about equity fast? My total budget is about 3000 - 3200 Euro and I use it mainly for games.

Thanks in advance!

PS: Is there any news on when the new Raptors will be released?
 

fishquail

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Wait, so are they saying this Samsung T1 drive is Faster than the RAPTOR in every way - or just in a few ways?

I need a new system drive that will boot windows fast and start programs the fastest. I was going to get the Raptor X. Should i look into this drive?
 

KyleSTL

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Everything but access time and IOps. This has been happening with the most recent 7200rpm drives because of bit density.
 

outlandos

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You could get Samsung F1 2x 160GB in raid-0 to start up your OS, games and important programs.

And a Samsung F1 750GB 32MB Cache aside.

But the 160GB drives aren't available yet.
 

eckre

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yeah, why didn't they do dB and heat graph. BOO!!!

We care most about reliability, heat and sound, none of which this review touched on.

 

TexasTrash

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Samsung has announced plans to go upscale with their hard drives.
Therefore the prices are rising as to what we enjoyed before.
Here in the USA this 1TB drive is $430 and NOT in stock.

The green Western Digitial is $249 with free shipping.
Its low power consumption is great for media servers. Go figure!

So I'd suggest we update our views of Samsung.
There marketing focus changed overnight and we should too.
Think Sony. :D
 

rforce

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While it is exciting to see that 1TB drives quickly coming into existence, it does concern me that so much data is being stored on a single drive. Not only is there a lot to lose, but the idea of backing it up will be overwhelming for most.

On the data recovery side, this is going to impact the time and cost of getting the data back. It only took a few months from the rolling out of 500GB & 750GB drives before we started seeing them come through our doors. New does not mean more stable...in fact, I think it might be the other way around.

So, as I like to say, "be sure to have a good backup procedure and test it regularly."
 

choirbass

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the 334GB platters should exceed the performance of raptors for its first few hundred GB. the F1s higher bit density has an advantage over the raptors 74GB platters.

if you have 2*334GB platters in raid 0 (such as with 2*1TB F1s), the bit density is still 'only' 334GB, not 668GB per platter, and so performance doesnt scale as such, even if the capacity has.

you could put them in raid 0, but that would seem to be a very bad idea, especially if you plan on putting much on it. it would seem more ideal to wait for smaller capacity hdds, with the same platter size, so data loss and backup doesnt become 'as much' of a concern... because 1TB of data is an awful lot to need to back up regularly.
 

KyleSTL

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Randomizer,

I know you're smart, I've seen you around the forums for a while now. Please don't disappoint me with you statement. 20°C = 68ºF. Think about it, sub-ambient temperatures (unless you have an A/C PC or keep your thermostat at like 60°F). Oops. :kaola: Sorry, this is not an attack, I just wanted to save you from yourself before the flames came.

Kyle
 

KyleSTL

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LOL. Q6600 +15° ... it seems like these problems are way too common, hopefully nVidia's ESA or whatever corrects the incorrect readings for so many components.
 

Farrwalker

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I hope that Tomshardware will test the other Samsung F1 drives that have the same high density platters. The 320GB (HD322HJ) and the 640GB (HD642JJ) drives might have the same read and write times as the 1000GB.

These drives although smaller might be what many system builders want, especially in a RAID array.
 

carnaugh

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Anybody try the Samsung F1 with a Areca SATA Raid controller, like the ARC-1220?
During boot the controller does not recognize the Samsung drives.

Anybody else tried this combo?
 

gigosaga

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I purchased the Samsung F1 1TB OEM model from Newegg for $280 USD. Using HUTIL from Samsung, it reports that the Maintenance Cylinder is bad. I've RMA'd and gotten a 2nd one with the same problem.

Multiple people have reported to have 2-3 drives with this issue. Nobody has reported having a passing HUTIL test yet. Anybody here have one that passes the Self Test (does not Erase data)?

I only ran HUTIL because my first drive had issues formating that would result in BSOD but once formated, it appeared to run fine. The 2nd drive formated normally without problems but also has the error in HUTIL.

I know that it is normal for HDDs to have some surface defects and these are normally reallocated to the Maintenance Cylinder. The question is, if this drive does not have one, or at least not a functional one, what happens? Does the cluster/sector get marked as bad, data moved, and you just lose space? Or are you liable to have the OS try to write on the bad sector(s) again?

I worry because this I do plan to fill the drive with at least 700 GB of data right off the bat. Samsung hasn't gotten back to me by email & their phone support knew absolutely nothing about the product or HDDs in general. At this point, I'm 98% positive if I RMA for a replacement, it will have the same problem with the M.C. So it's either let it slide or get a Seagate - though, even discounting the speed difference, on paper, I like everything about the Samsung better.

Both drives report Reads of 90-96 MB/sec in HDTach 3.0.4.0 in both Short & Long Test though in case anybody was wondering.
 

X-ray Doc

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When this review first came out I was all ready to buy the 1 TB Samsung. But now seeing all the many problems posted by users at Newegg has me scared. I wish the author of the article would comment on the errors that are being reported when users run Samsung's own software utility. Was this same utility run on the test sample? Thanks.