My point about doing another model falls back on their doing the P183 when they already had a P180 and 182, so why not something different to accommodate those who want a closed top without a front door? The P183 was made to address the complaints about the P180/82's apparent lack of airflow gettin...

The big issue with 64-bit is drivers for older hardware. If your system doesn't have anything older than about 3 years attached, you're good to go; x64 will not only address more memory, it also has some new instructions that speed up general code a few percent. If you have an old scanner, printer,...

JVM , I share many of your concerns with the Antec cases in question. I also own a Solo (not currently used) and an Antec server case that is several years old but still very solid. I've also handled and used several other products of theirs over the years, so I'm (hopefully) not making silly commm...

That thing is so freaking hideous I really have no clue why would anyone over 8 years want it. That's probably their new target market. It's a lucrative one too. Just look at all the mums and dads in department stores spending hundreds of $/€s on plastic fantastic toys and gadgets and video games...

Even if I had a "remote control" to power on the computer, I still don't like the open top. Neither do I. But I was speaking about cases more generally. Not just the P18x, which I was never completely "sold" on anyway due to a few design and quality issues, such as the top exhaust which many compla...

Front doors are not that bad, especially on larger cases. On smaller cases, I think they are mostly unnecessary, unless they need to be locked for security purposes in a public setting. The optical and external bays are usually more ghastly than the front doors which hide them out of sight when not ...

If at all possible, maybe it's a good idea to find a good local shopfront retailer in your city whom you can deal with directly in person. There should be at least one retailer with a good reputation for customer service and policy for warranty and returns. Indeed I have, unfortunately it doesn't h...

I will look into that EcoGreen, however I haven't been having much luck with Samsung drives. It will be run on a Thermaltake BlacX dock.. so more than half the drive will be naked to open air. I might want to run from a few hours to a few days on this dock. Like you, based on what I've seen from th...

andyb , sorry to hear of your terrible experiences with Antec. I learnt a long time ago to avoid their PSUs. I'm almost kind of feeling the same about their cases now... it's a shame, really. They were once such a dependable product. Looks like times have changed. It's not just Antec. It's a lot of...

I think we should start to differentiate between Antec Worldwide, USA and EU. I would imagine that the service for North American citizens would be mostly good, seeing it is an American company. You should expect that. That doesn't mean that service for customers elsewhere in the world should be an...

On the subject, I wonder whether people are making clones of their partitions/drives using file by file or sector by sector copy? When using EASEUS, I made two separate clones using both methods. Sector by sector takes much longer as it reads and checks every sector and copies the MBR. File by file...

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Interesting information. I wonder though how well the components manage the relatively fast switches between cold and hot (AC and outdoors use) temps. I believe laptops are more prone to breaking than desktop PC's, so I try to avoid using them outside the office as much as possible. Moving componen...

I'm using a Samsung F2 EcoGreen HD103SI 1TB in an aluminium enclosure -- no active cooling nor any air vents. I was worried at first because I used a WD6400AAKS in the same enclosure where the drive got dangerously hot: ~50°C during summer in a non AC'd room. The F2 EG stays remarkably cool, usuall...

File by file copy is quick but is it more reliable to use sector by sector when cloning and restoring the system partition? Just so. Because via file copy the program must be aware of different levels of file system security, attributes, e.t.c. The sector copy method is more safe in this sense -- y...

Thanks for everyone's suggestions also. I've been trying to decide which software to use. In the past, I have used Ghost and Drive Image, both via bootable floppies. But they are no longer compatible or stable to use with my new drives. I tried the Windows based EASEUS Todo Backup I linked to in my ...

I also heard about that Google paper. It was discussed on the forums a couple years ago I think. A warmer drive of which temperature is around 30-35°C appears to be a "safe zone" : not too cool nor too hot. If choosing which side of the extreme is preferable, I would rather them be a little cooler...

I'm not sure how much I should trust the famous paper Google released 2-3 years ago, but I like to think that HD's should be warm, not cold. But not too hot either. Mid 20s is what I'm getting now with Ecogreen F2 500gb. /dev/sda: SAMSUNG HD502HI: 25°C That's just 2-3 degrees over ambient. It's ba...

I'm not up to date on all the Win7 going ons but I've gathered a bit from what I've read in several print and web tech media. XP Mode in Win7 is not the same as compatibility mode that you run in File Properties. It is a fully working virtual OS housed within the main OS of Win7. It was a late inclu...

I'm using two Samsung drives right now: HM160HI (SpinPoint M5) 2.5" 5400 for system and HD103SI (F2 EcoGreen) 3.5" 5400 for storage/backups. I can support the claim that Samsung drives report unusually low temperatures, especially on my F2 EcoGreen 1TB. Enclosed in an external casing with no active ...

After P183 is released for months, does any one heard some reponse regarding the top fan noise issue from Antec? And do they have a plan to fix it? The worst case may be they don't think it a flaw at all, I guess. I was wondering the same thing too. Had a look at the P183 a few weeks ago in person:...

I'm concerned about noise and lifetime/stability. Deciding between a Saumsung F2 EcoGreen 500GB in a SQD 3.5" or a WD Scorpio Blue in a SQD 2.5". This is a tough decision. It is a tough decision. But you need a drive. Just go with your heart's decision or gut feeling. Sounds corny, but it's the onl...

The 1TB will be have slightly more noise because it uses two platters. Samsung's data sheets confirm this. You can think of the 1TB as 2 500GBs and the 1.5TB as 3 disks in one. The noise difference is minimal and will only matter depending on how picky you are about it. Of course, I wish it was quie...

The 500GB will be the quietest, the 1 and 1.5TB will be around the same; that is, slightly more noisier than the 500GB single platter which is already very quiet. Idle noise for all of them will be extremely quiet but seeks will be audible unless you suspend them or place them in a noise dampening e...

The first "personal computer" we had in our family was a Commodore 16. It had to be connected to the television via an adaptor as we didn't have a monitor (the C 16 was already a luxury for us). It was pretty much unused most of the time. It came with a keyboard, a platform game on a cartridge and a...

People who have had few problems with these (or other brands) are unlikely to change Sure, but I'm talking about companies with three and letter names, who buy hard-drives by the million and ship them in large RAID arrays to very irritable customers who don't like failures, much less down-time. The...

That website was a good find. Didn't realise it was Australian at first (web address should have been a giveaway...). Lots of other info there which I enjoyed as much as the hard drive articles. The motherboards page was just as insightful and worth the read. I can't remember exactly what size drive...

Thankfully, I do not ever have migraines. Headaches are only a rare occurence. I can handle most machine noise in the home at nights including (quiet) room fans (at low speed) and ticking clocks. But dripping taps annoy me. Unfortunately, it's something I have to put up with for now. The slight buzz...

For what it's worth at my workplace I buy quite a lot of storage from numerous tier 1/2 vendors. All ship with Hitachi drives by default, and WD as a second choice. Read into this what you will (these are companies who sell lots of drives and don't want to have to deal with returns of course). Hita...

Samsung F2 EG is better value with better availability where I live. Best current prices locally were AU$66 for 500GB and $89 for 1TB. I ended up buying the 1TB. WD and Seagate 1TBs usually around $100. I've almost given up deciphering WD's models and submodel variants. I want to believe in Seagate ...