why are you disappointed its not SATA300? even the ATA100 wouldn't be a bottleneck, nevermind SATA300!

Do you know how to realize if the NCQ is now working on my winxp sp2?
Thank you.

Just curious, does anybody know if Samsung plans to release single-platter models, such as 80GB and 120GB? Also, is there any acoustic difference between the SATA2 and IDE versions?

Well, as mentioned by Jan Kivar there is at least a model number for a one platter 120GB HD from Samsung. It might even be available......if you live in Poland.

I just bought one, a 250gb.
Seeks are very loud, a lot more than all my other drives with AAM (Maxtor, Samsung, IBM).
I can't keep it in my P180, it's just far too noisy
Enablind AAM did not change anything about that...

Could my drive have a problem ?
Are there different models ?

Have you tried the drive outside of the case.???

Are you certain you saved the settings when you changed the AAM settings.???

A few people who have got P120 drives (myself included) witnessed the drives becoming quiter within the first 7 days of usage, yours might be much quieter in a few days time. You may however have a bad sample, or one that has been damaged by shipping/handling, the biggest reason for DOA drives.

Andy

I have not tried it outside of the case, but I will.
It's still gonna be very noisy I'm sure...

I'm sure I applied the AAM settings.

I'll wait a few days to see if noise decreases, otherwise I'll return it or keep it for storing data outside of the PC.

Thx

Speaking from memory (haven't done a side-by-side comparison), I'd say the seeks on my SP2504C are nowhere near as muted as those on my SP1614N. The AAM setting doesn't make much difference, whereas enabling AAM on the SP1614N made a big difference. The SP2504C's seeks seem to be roughly the same noise as the SP1614N's were with AAM disabled.

There's a "<tbody> </tbody>" left over at the top of the acoustic measurements table.

I told mike about the lost tags as well.

I personally do have this 250 GB drive in a Nexstar3 external, and I must agree with everyone that it is a very nice and quiet drive. Seeks are very dull, not obtrusive at all. As for thermals, runs a little warm, but it's expected. Could be resolved with probably a better enclosure, hehe.

One thing I do also want to comment on is the startup of this drive. If I recall correctly this drive has a feature called Staggered Startup, or something like that. Just to let you all know that when you turn on this drive, it does, indeed, have a rather odd startup sequence. It spins up like any other hard drive, but, and I'm guessing it's because of this feature, the noise sounds kinda jittery, as if it's "trying" to start up. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing to be alarmed about, and after that it sounds fine. I just want to give you guys the observation of the rather "staggered", no pun intended, noise that this hard drive exhibits upon startup.

I'm contemplating between SP2504C and SP2514N . Will there be any significant power savings going with the PATA model? SATA cables seem easier to manage though.

Uhh ... staggered startup has nothing to do with the speed of the startup. It's a feature that can be used by the drive controller to spin a large array of drives up in separate batches to reduce stress on the PSU.

I suspect what you're hearing is related to the changing resonances within the drive as it spins up. The Samsung is certainly not the only drive that sounds rough (although I don't recall our sample sounding like that). Hitachi drives in particular seem to be very noisy (and have a lot of variety in the character of the noise) when starting up, but are quietest when they are spinning at full speed.

Define "significant". I would expect the savings to be ~0.5W ... which I wouldn't usually consider significant. Also, if the SATA version supports link power management (can't remember off the top of my head) the difference will be negligible. However, link power management must be supported by your controller as well, and I don't believe most integrated controllers support it. Some more research might be in order here...

Thanks Mike, but most people’s experience in this thread, is not consistent with SPCR’s review. If there’s significant sample variance, should this not be mentioned by SPCR?

You've linked the other discussion thread here, which is good. But we have NO experience with sample variance, significant or not. Our experience is limited to ONE sample of each of these models.

Please don't ask us to make statements about things we cannot verify; in the long run, you -- and all SPCR readers -- would be much more poorly served if we veered from that principle.

On the other hand, you do usually mention at a review's end if there are problems or anamolies reported in the forums.

BTW the 250 GB model is available on NewEgg for $100, even though the older original article lists the 200GB model as being $110. That model is actually discontinued now, I'm pretty sure.

i'm using one of those in my silentium rig in the lowest 3.5' bay. not isolated. it's a fast silent drive. only when hibernating the machine i can hear windows switching it off. normally and after warming up it's hardly audible over the psu-fans.

I wasn’t asking SPCR to verify anything with a statement. All I’m suggesting, is what CgameProgrammer stated...



SPCR’s review and recommended list, doesn’t give a clue to the numbers of disappointed P120 owners, whose drives turned out much noisier than SPCR’s review samples. I was asking for a mention / postscript to this, in SPCR’s review/recommended list, with a link to that thread, so people are made aware of the odds, before investing their hard earned. That’s all

But let’s hope it was just a bad batch...

Frequently it is only the disgruntled that comment. My Samsung SP2004C, purchased and installed in August, 2005, continues to be cool and very quiet with m0002a's Sonata isolation method. I am definitely not a disapponted P120 customer.

Your commend interested me ddrueding1, do you then use the 2.5 samsung as a boot/OS drive and spin down your 400gb seagate when not in use?

-Ken

Very happy with my 2 x SP2504C's. They are suspended in an antec titan case. I think turning on AAM actually did decrease the seek noise with mine.

kogi

I bought the 250gig ATA100 version - and I am very happy!
Very quiet and much cooler than the Seagate IV it replaced

I already had the 160g verison and 2xSeagate IV 40gig in there already in my Sonata 1 case
This 250g doesn't have the reading thrum the 160gig version has, seems much quiter. Just as good as the old Seagate, but way bigger and much cooler.

straight out of the box as well, I didn't fiddle with any settings either

Just to add another data point to the excellent information provided on this site, I just received my Samsung SP2504C and wanted to share my observations regarding its use in my new Mac Pro computer. The seek noise is indeed very unobtrusive, much quieter than the Seagate 250 GB drive which is also installed in the computer. (The Seagate sounds like a geiger counter.) Whereas the Samsung emits very little "whine", I feel that the one I received has an excessive amount of vibration-induced "hum", which resonates throughout the computer. Even worse, the hum is not constant; it rises and falls in intensity, with about 1.7 second cycle, peak-to-peak, which is very annoying. I know this variation in intensity is not a 'beat frequency' (acoustic interference with the vibration from the Seagate drive) because it is still present when the Seagate spins down. I don't know if this is due to a sample variation, or if they're all like this. Regardless, I will be returning it and will probably buy another Seagate, despite the excessive head seek noise.