I'm still looking every day but have only found it at MemoryLabs.com which looks like a flakey dealer.

Has anyone seen it anywhere else? The 120GB and 160GB 8MB cache versions have been available for a few weeks now but the 80GB version is mysteriously MIA.

Thanks for any help!

I'm going to bump this back to the top because I'm still fruitlessly looking. Now they're not even listed on MemoryLabs.com's site any more.

I even spent quiet a bit of time on the phone to various Samsung offices trying to get a line on them, but since they're OEM (as are the available 120GB and 160GB versions of this same drive) I can't get any viable info out of anybody.

I've been looking (also fruitlessly) for the SATA version of the 80GB model (SP0802C), but since *none* of the SATAs have appeared on the market (not even the 120's or 160's), I'm willing to get the SP0812N, but I haven't been able to find it either.

It's quite frustrating that Samsung sends these things out to reviewers and months later they are still not on the market. Pretty soon I'm going to have to consider going with a Seagate or a Maxtor. I'm tired of waiting.

Bimonthly bump.

Anyone seen one yet? I haven't and I look every day. Now they're gone from that cheesy MemoryLabs site too.

I've seen the same google attrition for the version 'C' drives. I check for the 80GB SATA model every day, and a month ago google used to give 28 hits on the model number, then it went to 27, and 25, and 23, then to 21, now it's at 20. You'd think an upcoming model would have an increasing number of references. In a few more weeks when all the references to it are gone, I'm going to think the whole thing was a figment of my imagination.

I couldn't find it locally (New Zealand) when I bought a new hard drive recently - lots of SP0802s available though. Does it really exist?

Why not get the 120 or 160 GByte instead? My 160 is very quiet.

jerry

Ralf, et al...

Found it in Germany at cyberport.de, but it says "Liefertermin unbestimmt" which means, basically, that they won't commit to a delivery time. If you want to take the risk, I'd be willing to ship it to you after I get it. PM me if you want. You should know that I will be leaving the country for sunny So Cal on Nov. 7th, though. Up to you.

Semm

Because:

1) The 80GB is a single platter drive and so should be quieter than the multiple platter 120GB and 160GB versions of this drive.

and, to a much smaller extent:

2) It's a boot drive and I don't need more than 80GB, heck 20GB would be fine. No sense paying extra money for wasted space.

If I could be sure the warranty would be valid here in the US I'd do it in a flash. I'm not sure how to get a definative answer though as all my contacts with Samsung regarding this drive have been much less than satisfactory. It seems like they really don't want to sell these drives. Kinda makes you wonder how good their after sales support would be...

Thanks for the offer! Maybe you could ask the supplier if they know anything about the warranty and I'll see if I can find out anything from my end.

Everyone says that a single platter is quieter than a double platter version of the same drive, but exactly how much of a difference are you talking about here? Is there going to be a night and day difference between the 80GB and the 160GB drive? Does anyone own an 80GB Samsung 2MB hard drive and a 120/160GB 8MB hard drive? Can someone justify these claims of quieter operation so that I can have some piece of mind in waiting so long for the 80GB 8MB drive? Otherwise I'll be getting a 160GB drive since everyone also states that it is quiet.

What, "because Ralf said so" isn't good enough for you? Tsk, tsk..

If it is going to be used as a boot drive, I propose you get the SP0802N which is the 2mb cache version. Cache is only important if re-accessing data, which is not the perogative of a boot drive.

Incidentally, the SP0812N is not even available here in Korea yet, according to Samsung's Korean site (http://www.sec.co.kr and use the search if you are feeling brave). The SP0612N is available though, however the platter configuration is not clear.

There is no SP0602N, and it doesn't actually state anywhere that this model has 8mb cache... so I suspect the model names/configurations below 120gb should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Graham

You mean you don't void all your pieces' warranties as soon as you receive them?! I'm stunned Seriously, though, I'll ask. And even if not, we could just ship it to my friend in Marburg, who'd then RMA it from Germany. I will ALSO ask just how uncertain the delivery date is. It would make life needlessly difficult if they wouldn't be able to get me it before November. I'll let you know more when I do.

Semm

Notice that I didn't say a single platter drive is quieter than a multi-platter drive, I said it "should be quieter". The reasoning behind this statement is that this is generally true for other drive families. The actual difference probably amounts to no more than a dB or two at the most, but every little bit helps. I have no data to back up my claim about these actual Samsung drives though because the SP0812N appears to be vaporware and has never been tested.

After reading ghowarth's last post I'm more inclined than ever to suck it up and get myself the 120GB version of this drive.

God no, especially with HDDs. I've probably had more HDDs go bad on me over the years than all other hardware combined. Memory is a distant second place on the reliability list.

That's another neat thing about these Samsung drives, they still have a 3 year warranty, a rare thing these days.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/default.php?cPath=180_570_442

Not the SP0812N, but the 8mb cache version of the 120gb and 160gb hd's are there.

Was just ribbing you, Ralf. Though I have to say...I've had precisely one HDD fail on me since '94. I've actually been pretty lucky, come to think of it. Only significant failures have come with the Mk 1 version of this computer: the soyo dragon MB (I suspect it was bad on arrival, but I didn't recognize it 'til too late) and one stick of RAM. Incidently, the other one runs fine up to DDR333. It's PC2100 rebadged as PC2400 By the way, as to cyberport: I think they just have it up there for preorders, so I wouldn't suggest having me send you the drive as I don't think it'll be here before I'm not

As to single platter drives being quieter...It SHOULD be the case that since there are less pieces moving around (heads and platters), the noise level is lower. Everything else being equal, of course, which it never is

Semm

Unfortunately I've got you beat badly there. I build white boxes so I've had a lot of HDDs cross my path over the years. I (and my customers) went through (and are still going through) the IBM Deathstar debacle over the past 2 years and I've also had various onezies and twosies fail on me here and there too. I can stand to lose almost any piece of hardware but an HDD is always the biggest pain, even with good backups. And of course most of my customers don't backup or backup sporadically at best so it's even more of a disaster to them.

Ah yes..."I don't need backups! I'm inVINcible!" "You're a loony..."

I have to say I'm guilty of not backing up as much as I should, but on the other hand there isn't, at this point, anything I'm not willing to lose on the computer. 'cept my work stuff, and that fits on a floppy and is backed up each time I work on it

I havent seen the 80gig versions, but im pretty sure that newegg carries the sata 120 and 160 versions.

Yes, Newegg only carries the PATA versions of the bigger drives and has since the day they became available here a few months ago. The 80GB version has been MIA the entire time though.

Edit - oops, didn't notice GG's "sata" preface. Corrected my post to clarify what I meant.

At the moment, PATA only (no SATA). To my knowledge, Samsung SATA's appear to be available by engineering sample only, with general distribution sometime in the unspecified future.

I wanted the SATA, but could not wait. So, I got some of the PATA drives and added the Rockethead SATA dongle. So far, so good. Quiet, cool, and I can use the SATA connectors/RAID.

Just ordered the SP1614N. I've waited over 2 months for the 80GB Vaporware version. I'm not waitng any longer.

I think you should be pleased with this drive. I am quite happy with mine.

And after tonight, the Cuda IV will live again in my Tivo box

jerry

I think that in this case, a single digit makes a lot of difference: SP0802N vs. SP0812N.

Besides, is it possible that I found the only place on this planet that sells them? See for yourself:

http://www.geizhals.net/eu/?a=60652

I am in the USA too, so it doesn't do any good for me either. I wonder why is that. Is there any "conspiracy" to keep the single platter 80GB drives out of consumer reach?

I am sure Samsung has a valid reason for that, I am just curious to know why.

Any speculations?

Sam