samsung

[blakerwry]

Mercutio,11/11/2002 10:06:34 AM

What can be said? Seagate's IDE lineup is now strictly 1-year warrnaty. Maxtor drives except for "Maxline" models and Western Digital -JB drives are also one year. I mostly sell Maxtor drives, but lately I've been purchasing these SpinRite 80GB models. They're quiet and perform reasonably well, in line with the Barracuda IV, the Maxtor 740X, and WD's 800AB (yes, that's a 5400rpm drive).
Mostly, I'm concerned with warranty. Samsung still carries a full three years, and that's good. Performance isn't anything special, but the drive is cool enough to use in an external USB2 enclosure without difficulty, something that I can't say about Western Digital's 800BB.
Samsung reliability may be in question. It shouldn't be. Samsung, by most current accounts, is as good or better than big name companies. Certainly a Samsung drive is a step up from certain IBM models, and given the pricing, I can't see a reason to buy Maxtor or Seagate budget models any more, either.

So.. how quiet and cool are these Samsung drives?


I'm putting together a new Shuttle SFF machine for someone and was going to put an ATA V in the box. My ata IV runs acceptably cool, but if I can get something just as quiet and maybe even cooler for less price per GB and a 3 year warranty then i wouldn't mind using a Samsung instead. I'm looking at 60-80GB drives.

Maybe a long time samsung buyer like Tannin will know(or maybe I should ask Tea, since she's closer to that part of the PC), does the use of ball bearings in the samsung drives lead to eventual bearing whine?

I have a few BB drives that don't make a whine, yet the majority of my BB drives do... especially if they have a few years on them.

 

[blakerwry]

ah, i didnt realize SR had detailed reviews of the SP8004.

The ATA IV and V kicked the Samsung's butt in the one area it mattered (photoshop)...

So I guess it'll be Seagate for me... maybe I'll get a 160GB Samsung for myself for bulk storage.

 

[Mercutio]

If it matters, Samsung drives are quiet and cool. Never, ever warmer than air temperature inside a case, and quiet enough that you don't hear them seek. They're slugs, about in-line with 1-or-2 generation old drives for the most part, but you can't beat the price or the reliability.

My beef with Seagate is, if they're the biggest guy in town, they can spend enough on R&D to make a compelling product. They just choose not to. It's aggravating. Maybe they throw hundreds of millions of dollars into having superfast SCSI drives, but it seems like Seagate neglects its bread and butter. Seagate drives aren't even inexpensive.

Samsung 5400rpm 120GB drives can be had for about $90. Fantastic bargain if you want bulk storage.

 

[blakerwry]

If it matters, Samsung drives are quiet and cool. Never, ever warmer than air temperature inside a case, and quiet enough that you don't hear them seek. They're slugs, about in-line with 1-or-2 generation old drives for the most part, but you can't beat the price or the reliability.

My beef with Seagate is, if they're the biggest guy in town, they can spend enough on R&D to make a compelling product. They just choose not to. It's aggravating. Maybe they throw hundreds of millions of dollars into having superfast SCSI drives, but it seems like Seagate neglects its bread and butter. Seagate drives aren't even inexpensive.

Samsung 5400rpm 120GB drives can be had for about $90. Fantastic bargain if you want bulk storage.

I consider the ATA IV 2 gens old... if you consider 5400RPM drives 2 gens old then you've got a deal.

I agree the Seagates need some improvement.. either in price or in speed, i really don't care which -they are over valued as is.

 

[Tea]

As Merc says, Blake, quiet as you like. I don't even look at the performance figures anymore: as Tannin pointed out over in the other place a while ago, the average access time of a drive that is away at Seagate/Western Digital/whoever waiting to be refurbished and sent back to me in (more-or-less) working condition is several weeks and the DTR = zero. A drive that works is lotz faster than a drive that doesn't works: simple as that.

One day, one of the other maufacturers will get a clue and start making drives that are in the same reliability ballpark and have the same excellent warranty policy. When that happens, then I'll take a keen interest in the benchmarks. Not till then though.

 

[Mickey]

My beef with Seagate is, if they're the biggest guy in town, they can spend enough on R&D to make a compelling product. They just choose not to. It's aggravating. Maybe they throw hundreds of millions of dollars into having superfast SCSI drives, but it seems like Seagate neglects its bread and butter. Seagate drives aren't even inexpensive.

The thing is, I disagree that the IDE market is Seagate's bread-and-butter. I'd wager that the bulk of Seagate's profit is from their SCSI drives, not their IDE drives. They may get a lot of revenue from IDE drives, but I doubt they get much profit.

 

[James]

The thing is, I disagree that the IDE market is Seagate's bread-and-butter. I'd wager that the bulk of Seagate's profit is from their SCSI drives, not their IDE drives. They may get a lot of revenue from IDE drives, but I doubt they get much profit.

I'm pretty sure that's the definition of "bread and butter." To continue the food analogy, the SCSI drives would the "cream."

 

[Mickey]

Hmm. I always figured "bread and butter" meant that which is a staple. The profit from Seagate's SCSI division is no doubt pretty stable (they have a huge market share), while the small profit (if any) they get from the IDE division is icing on the cake.

*mumbles* Now I have the hankering to go cook...