Samsung EcoGreen F2 500GB / platter is out!

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Fri May 22, 2009 2:11 pm

summertan wrote:I wonder though where the bottleneck is - why would two drives with 5400rpm and 7200rpm have close read spead of 100 MB/s.
That's explains quite simple. The HD102UJ (or HD103UJ -- 32Mb) it's an "old" 350Gb per platter generation drive. Low density results in low linear transfer speed. Our EcoGreenF2 has up-to-the-minute 500Gb per platter design, but 5400rpm rotation doesn't allow him to tear off from F1 7200 :D

summertan
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Post by summertan » Fri May 22, 2009 2:18 pm

Your explanation seems very plausable, if we multiply data density by rpm to get an arbitrary measure of the data stream speed we get

7200 x 350 = 2.52 millions
5400 x 500 = 2.70 millions

so the reading speeds must be close.

Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Fri May 22, 2009 2:26 pm

Yeah, and about those "Data Transfer Rate / Media to/from Buffer(Max.) = 166Mb/sec". I edited my post. These figures aren't bullshit, they are true :) It's the way how the drive replenishes his buffer. Shame on me, it is so obvious...

_MarcoM_
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Post by _MarcoM_ » Fri May 22, 2009 2:31 pm

Ok men, what about access time? Windows boot, appz load, and so on... :wink:

Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Fri May 22, 2009 2:40 pm

_MarcoM_ wrote:Ok men, what about access time? Windows boot, appz load, and so on... :wink:
Have you prepared the money already? ;)

It's as fast as my WD3200AAJS was (7200, 320Gb per platter, 105Mb/s transfer). No any special miracles here. It isn't SSD. N-lited Windows XP SP2 boots up to desktop after pressing reset in about 22 seconds.

zoocey
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Post by zoocey » Mon May 25, 2009 2:04 am

Do the EcoGreen F2 drives spin down on idle like the WD green drives? If so after how many seconds? and s it possible to disable?

Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Mon May 25, 2009 4:30 am

zoocey wrote:Do the EcoGreen F2 drives spin down on idle like the WD green drives? If so after how many seconds? and s it possible to disable?
Spin down? Wow. Never, within my recollection. And it doesn't park heads unit either. Read my review on the previous page, pls.

Ufon
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Post by Ufon » Mon May 25, 2009 4:38 am

Here is my review (in Czech):

Code: Select all

extrahardware.cz/nejtissi-pevny-disk-samsung-ecogreen-f2-500-gb-hd502hi
(you can use Google Translate, Czech -> English but the translation is not as good/precise as I wish.

First chapter with performance graphs (they don't need translation, HDtach, HDtune, Sandra, CrystalDiskMark, PCMark Vantage, PCMark05, FC-test).

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extrahardware.cz/nejtissi-pevny-disk-samsung-ecogreen-f2-500-gb-hd502hi?page=0,1


Chapter with measured noise and some subjective rating and comments too) and temperatures.

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extrahardware.cz/nejtissi-pevny-disk-samsung-ecogreen-f2-500-gb-hd502hi?page=0,6
Btw, when the S.M.A.R.T. reported 24 degrees Celsius, my IR-thermometer showed 30.9 degrees on the drive surface (no news with Samsung here).

Because of not so perfect ambient and cheap noise-meter I had to measure noise of the drives from two centimetres only.

zoocey
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Post by zoocey » Mon May 25, 2009 9:07 am

Ksanderash wrote:Spin down? Wow. Never, within my recollection. And it doesn't park heads unit either. Read my review on the previous page, pls.
Sorry I meant park heads, like the WD Greens do and I assumed Samsung did as well. Thanks for the clarification.

Shamgar
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Post by Shamgar » Mon May 25, 2009 9:38 am

Ksanderash wrote:
Shamgar wrote:When I get to test it more thoroughly at night/morning silence, I will report back with regards to noise. I hope there is no surprises.
I see. And I will look more closely at my F2, but first impression is very positive.
New computer is up and running... adapting to the positive change :wink:. System it replaced served me well -- with parts dating back seven years. May it have a good retirement :(.

Samsung HM160HI is the quietest HDD I have used so far. No real surprises as it is 2.5" 5400RPM. Seeks are audible but very muted. It is not annoying at all, even during high disk activity. Fan noise usually drowns it out. It is suspended in Solo's elastic cords. Vibration is not an issue unlike my WD6400AAKS.

Performance is good enough for everyday tasks. Only during large file tranfers and compression/decompression do I wish to install 7200RPM. Boot up on 5400RPM is noticeably slower too. But what I gain in quietness and low power makes up for it.
Ksanderash wrote:Tell me about your HM160HI, pls. Does it park sometimes heads in idle?
Yes, there is a faint ticking sound which I think is load/unload activity. Samsung's specifications states this as a feature. Whether this affects reliability, I don't know. Samsung Reliability data rates Controlled Ramp Load/Unload for 600,000.

summertan and Ufon, thank you for the reports on Samsung F2 500GB. I think this is a good alternative for my HM160HI. When I run out of space, I will consider an upgrade :).

Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Mon May 25, 2009 10:47 am

Ufon wrote:Here is my review (in Czech):

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extrahardware.cz/nejtissi-pevny-disk-samsung-ecogreen-f2-500-gb-hd502hi
(you can use Google Translate, Czech -> English but the translation is not as good/precise as I wish.
Nice review. A lot of popular drives... And quite readable through the on-line translator.
Btw, when the S.M.A.R.T. reported 24 degrees Celsius, my IR-thermometer showed 30.9 degrees on the drive surface (no news with Samsung here).
Yeah, I know that sometimes Samsung show lower temperature values than there actually are on the can's surface. But my HD502HI S.M.A.R.T (HDTune) shows ~30-33C in idle -- your doesn't?
Because of not so perfect ambient and cheap noise-meter I had to measure noise of the drives from two centimetres only.
I heard the noise of both WD10EACS and Barracuda 7200.12 500Gb, and ...my HD502HI is the quietest among them three :)

Shamgar
Yes, there is a faint ticking sound which I think is load/unload activity.
It is. Damn, I knew it :cry: Nowadays all 2.5" have this feature. But... wait a minute... Can you check, pls, if your HM160HI remembers set up APM value? Use HDDScan to change the APM behavior, then do a power off/on cycle, and watch the drive closely, if he parks as before or not.
Last edited by Ksanderash on Mon May 25, 2009 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

_MarcoM_
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Post by _MarcoM_ » Mon May 25, 2009 12:02 pm

Ksanderash wrote:I heard the noise of both WD10EACS and Barracuda 7200.12 500Gb, and ...my HD502HI is the quietest among them three :)
So the Samsung is quietest than Seagate, nice, this is very interesting, i was just thinking about 7200.12... oh well, my money are ready for the F2 :wink: :)

Ufon
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Post by Ufon » Mon May 25, 2009 12:50 pm

Be aware of cuda 7200.12. First version ...410AS was more silent than current ...418AS.

According to Seagate:

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Drive acoustics, | ST3500418AS         | ST3500410AS
sound power      |                     |
-----------------------------------------------------------
Idle**           | 2.6 bels (typical)  | 2.3 bels (typical)
                 | 2.7 bels (max)      | 2.5 bels (max)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Quiet Seek       | 2.75 bels (typical) | 2.5 bels (typical)
                 | 3.10 bels (max)     | 2.7 bels (max)
(I'm not sure, but power consumption went worse too).


Ksanderash: Thx for your feedback. As you can see, my HD502HI reported 24 C after load (after benchmarking plus about twenty minutes of copying). I tested and measured with IR-thermometer about eight Samsung drives and all of them reported much lower temperatures in SMART.

And yep, single-platter EcoGreen F2 is quietest drive I've ever tested (slightly before WD5000AACS). First version of WD6400AAKS and HD753LJ were very silent too, but recently I've tested another AAKS and F1 and I'm not able to say it again.

Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Mon May 25, 2009 12:51 pm

_MarcoM_ wrote:
Ksanderash wrote:I heard the noise of both WD10EACS and Barracuda 7200.12 500Gb, and ...my HD502HI is the quietest among them three :)
So the Samsung is quietest than Seagate, nice, this is very interesting, i was just thinking about 7200.12... oh well, my money are ready for the F2 :wink: :)
Yeah yeah. And don't forget about the "legendary reliability". Happy buying... :shock: :D :wink:

P.S. EACS was 3-plattered. And 7200.12 ...don't remember the exact model number.

Ufon
I tested and measured with IR-thermometer about eight Samsung drives and all of them reported much lower temperatures in SMART.
I see. I know about this Samsung peculiarity, but, well, don't pay much attention. It's cooler than my WD3200AAJS, and this suit me.

As for the t° difference, it appears from the positioning of the drive. Mine simply lies on a sponged pad at the case bottom, and yours takes much more coolness in your test bench.

roadie
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Post by roadie » Fri May 29, 2009 1:47 am

The 1Tb drive looks like a perfect storage drive. My 320Gb Samsung HD321HJ is running out of space so I may invest in one when my current storage drive is full.

MikeC
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Send $47 Samsung 500gb Ecogreen to SPCR

Post by MikeC » Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:44 pm

Send $47 Samsung 500gb Ecogreen to SPCR

I've had 2 samples go through the lab -- a nearby SPCR forum member bought them from Newegg, had them shipped here for me to test, then picked them up. The 2 samples were extremely quiet -- 12 dBA/1m idle, 15 dBA/1m in AAM seek. Barely any vibration either. The review is being worked on right now.

Now I want one to keep around the lab as a reference.

Samsung does not provide HDD samples for reviewers -- not for a couple years. The Ecogreen are not available at all in Canada except through Newegg.ca which ships from the US anyway -- and for some reason they won't accept my postal code as a ship to address.

The best price I found online in the US is $47 from a shop called Nowdirect -- a great price for a fantastically quiet drive.

Can someone in the US reasonably close to Vancouver BC please buy and send me one via USPS? I will reimburse you through Paypal... unless you just want to donate one as a contribution to SPCR. ;)

Contact me by posting here or via email.

Ch0z3n
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Post by Ch0z3n » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:03 am

Why would they have to be close to Vancouver? Does the shipping get more expensive if they are farther away in the US?

MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:48 am

Ch0z3n wrote:Why would they have to be close to Vancouver? Does the shipping get more expensive if they are farther away in the US?
Don't have to be, of course, just trying to keep it cheap -- shipping from Florida, for example, would definitely be a bit more $ but probably still less than $20.

Ch0z3n
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Post by Ch0z3n » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:27 am

Probably the easiest thing to do is to just have Newegg.ca ship it to one of your neighbors or in-town friends, though you should probably tell them beforehand. The pricegrabber link you made says that the drive is now $54.

If no one else will, I'd be willing to try to figure something out with you.

MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:47 am

Ch0z3n wrote:Probably the easiest thing to do is to just have Newegg.ca ship it to one of your neighbors or in-town friends, though you should probably tell them beforehand.
No way to ship on newegg.ca to any but my own address on credit card or payapal. Draconian that way. It's also CA$80 + taxes + shipping.
The pricegrabber link you made says that the drive is now $54.
No change for me, still $47 at Nowdirect.
If no one else will, I'd be willing to try to figure something out with you.
OK, we'll see what happens in the next couple days.

MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:56 am


dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:13 am

MikeC wrote:
Ch0z3n wrote:Probably the easiest thing to do is to just have Newegg.ca ship it to one of your neighbors or in-town friends, though you should probably tell them beforehand.
No way to ship on newegg.ca to any but my own address on credit card or payapal.Draconian that way. It's also CA$80 + taxes + shipping.
All you have to do is call the bank and add the secondary address to the file for that credit card. I can see why you might not want to do that for someone you don't know well but I'd sure be willing to do it to ship to SPCR.

I've wanted to do something like that for years now. I just assumed there would be outrageous tariffs shipping across the US/CA border twice.

Can I actually buy a drive, PSU, heatsink, etc and ship it both ways for a reasonable cost? No extra taxes involved?

_MarcoM_
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Post by _MarcoM_ » Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:31 pm

Fantastic review, as always :)
And congratulations to Samsung, but now i'm curious to see the new WD GP drive :roll:

Ch0z3n
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Post by Ch0z3n » Sun Jun 14, 2009 1:33 pm

At least with my bank you have to have proof for a secondary address, though you can change the primary address anytime you want.

pixel
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Post by pixel » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:24 am

Hello,

I've been using this drive for 4 days (thanks to the advice of MikeC and Ksanderash) and I'm quite happy so far.

I have suspended it with some elastic cord, and even though I'm using a cheap case with not so good acoustic damping the drive is inaudible in idle. I had to open the case and put my ear right next to the harddrive (while holding the videocard's fan) to hear the idle spinning noise. Here's a HDTach screenshot with default settings:

Image

I have set the AAM to 254; in this setting the drive's random access time is 14,9 secs. While reading, the disc produces only muted clicks in seek tests (like Victoria's).

Setting AAM to 128 increased the random access time to 17,7 secs. I wasn't particularly listening to the noise at that moment (I was more interested in access time), I have to repeat that test.

I have yet to play a game with this hard drive, though. I *may* get a bit disappointed. But so far, things seem quite fine - there's a definite drop in noise compared to my 2x 250 GB Seagates, so much that idle noise is inaudilble from my chair. While checking noise sources, stopping the video card's fan used to have no effect, but right now it's the main noise source in the PC (Palit 8800GT Sonic, stock cooler).

I can easily recommend this drive - but maybe hardcore gamers should consider the WD Caviar Blue 640 GB.

Ksanderash
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Post by Ksanderash » Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:58 am

pixel
Here's a HDTach screenshot with default settings
Nice graph, media surface quality seems to be excellent, better than mine (I have some coasting spikes in the first zones). And I have the same results when playing AAM -- from 15.3 till 17.0ms
maybe hardcore gamers should consider the WD Caviar Blue 640 GB.
Yeah, that WD is the most fast 3.5" SOHO class drive for the moment. But it isn't cool'n'quiet :)

pixel
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Post by pixel » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:47 am

Thank you.. :) in fact this graph is one of the "most spiky" graphs I saw yesterday. There's only one internal drive and the OS is on the tested drive, so I think such spikes are somehow unavoidible. One graph I had (with AAM=254, access time: 14,9 ms) was quite smooth in fact.

On a sidenote, I installed Steam and GRID; and everthing went quite fine. I think there was a slight delay (compared to the old RAID setup) between starting the game and seeing the "Press Enter" screen, but the time between selecting a race and starting it was almost the same as the old setup - no detectable change. This can also be caused by the old Windows Vista in the old setup and the fresh Win 7 in the current one; but still, I'm glad the new disk seems to be doing OK with games. I'll try more games this week.

sampo
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Post by sampo » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:39 pm

Does your F2 spin-up sound anything like the following:

http://tinyurl.com/samsungF2

My F2 seems to make those weard sounds randomly even in idle.

pixel
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Post by pixel » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:13 am

Those sounds definitely don't sound healthy. It starts like a car accelerating but then the "rattlings", they certainly don't sound good.

I don't experience those rattling sounds in the second half of the recording (I haven't paid close attention to the spin - up sound, but it doesn't sound much like the one you recorded either - definitely shorter in my case).

I'd appreciate replies from the other users of the disk here, but from my opinion there seems to be something wrong. I'll pay more attention, BTW, when I next start up the system.

aztec
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Post by aztec » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:50 am

great review as always MikeC!

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