Samsung P120 200GB SATA tested and ...............

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:38 am

andyb wrote:The THG review "ha ha ha" review is such a strong word for it, quotes the drives of startling transfer rates, mine is no where near that, this could either be that the 200GB model only uses 100GB per platter rather than a short 125GB platter, wheras the 250GB model used 125GB per platter, or it could be that THG picked those numbers out of their arse.

I posted this at another thread.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 3:13 pm

Thanks winguy.

Andy

Shuriken · Post by **Shuriken** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:48 am

andyb wrote:The THG review "ha ha ha" review is such a strong word for it, quotes the drives of startling transfer rates, mine is no where near that, this could either be that the 200GB model only uses 100GB per platter rather than a short 125GB platter, wheras the 250GB model used 125GB per platter, or it could be that THG picked those numbers out of their arse.

I can confirm the results THG has come up with. I tested on a A8N-SLI both NCQ on. NCQ off is gave me slightly lower results.

However it seems that the 250GB version is faster then the 200GB. Some tests at the forums of tweakers.net confirm this.

dan · Post by **dan** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:44 am

Shuriken what are your impressions of its accoustic properties?

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:20 pm

Shuriken wrote:I can confirm the results THG has come up with. I tested on a A8N-SLI both NCQ on. NCQ off is gave me slightly lower results.

How do you turn NCQ on and off? Is it a bios option?

Shuriken · Post by **Shuriken** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:13 am

dan wrote:Shuriken what are your impressions of its accoustic properties?

Well the thing is when i installed it, i had it sitting in it's plastic protective cover for a while. I had to transfer data of my old discs first. At that point you could just barely hear some disc activity.

Definately much quiter then my 7k250.

However now that i mounted it in my case (i have a case which mounts hdd vertically) the sounds of the heads moving is very loud. So i think i need to do some suspending before it gets back to it's former quiet self.

winguy wrote:
Shuriken wrote:I can confirm the results THG has come up with. I tested on a A8N-SLI both NCQ on. NCQ off is gave me slightly lower results.
How do you turn NCQ on and off? Is it a bios option?

I can turn it off in the Device Manager in Windows. If you go to IDE/ATAPI Controllers you can select the Controller Properties. You can select or deselect command queueing for each channel.

dan · Post by **dan** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:06 pm

so based on the sp120's accoustic properties as the primary consideration, would you recommend it? is it quieter than a p80?

Shuriken · Post by **Shuriken** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:28 am

dan wrote:so based on the sp120's accoustic properties as the primary consideration, would you recommend it? is it quieter than a p80?

I have a SP0802N with Nidec motor in my other machine. Idle i think they are on par. However i think the P120 is slightly louder when doing read/writes. But that may be fixable with some AAM adjustments.

perplex · Post by **perplex** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:34 am

so its louder than p80?

dan · Post by **dan** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:52 am

my question exactly -- would i be better off with a sp2004c or is a p80 just as good?

Kaizer · Post by **Kaizer** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:49 pm

dan wrote:my question exactly -- would i be better off with a sp2004c or is a p80 just as good?

Accoustic wise, the 2004C does have a higher seek noise (and also a slightly higher pitch) than the older P80s. The older ones also don't have a head scraping noise that's present in the P120s. See here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23145

But what the P120 lacks (not a lot really) in accoustic, it makes up for in storage size and disk performance.

xilencer · Post by **xilencer** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:27 pm

Was just thinking about comparing a max density drive with a reduced density drive.
100GB (P120-200GB) platters require shorter seek movements (less noise) than 80GB (P80-160GB) platters with the same data, but what if P120 is only optimized for 120/125 GB platters? A better comparison would in that case be P80-160GB vs P120-250GB, both max density drives. Currently there's no comparing P80-80GB vs P120-120GB as the latter has not been released. It could be tested within the same P series also, like P120-250GB vs P120-200GB.
Unfortunately I have nothing to confirm it with so you don't have to listen to me

Not assuming anything, was AAM enabled?

perplex · Post by **perplex** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:52 am

Kaizer wrote:...But what the P120 lacks (not a lot really) in accoustic, it makes up for in storage size and disk performance.

that's stupid talk for this website

- people here are willing to get a 4200RPM hard disk for acoustic purposes

dan · Post by **dan** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:52 am

andy B

does your sp2004c make a scratching sound when powering off?

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23145

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:54 pm

Kaizer wrote: But what the P120 lacks (not a lot really) in accoustic, it makes up for in storage size and disk performance.

Exactly. Samsung were hardly going to produce new drives just to lower noise levels. The primary objective was to increase storage. While I'm sure keeping noise levels low was something high on Samsung's list it wouldn't have been the main focus.

The asnwer is pretty simple. If you want more storage than 160GB then the only SPCR choice is to go for a Samsung P120. It's quieter than 2xP80s if you need that kind of storage.

After reading the SPCR review in which it was compared to a single platter P80, I susspect the larger, double platter P80s may be louder or of similar noise levels to the P120.

perplex · Post by **perplex** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:41 am

yeh, i think if you want quieter than P80 you have to suspend and/or go to 2.5"

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:54 pm

perplex wrote:yeh, i think if you want quieter than P80 you have to suspend and/or go to 2.5"

the nidec 200 gb drives are in the USA. i saw one in a store but the sata drives were sold out. the annoying thing is that the people who bought them had no freakin clue about them, just that its a sata drive OEM on sale.

i want to hurt them.

anyways,
I think that the p80 is dead jim. it goes slower than this one, and, only the jvc is around without going on a roadtrip across 3 continents. Nidec is back, lets just be cheery about that. Seek noises are always the easiest to muffle. some massloaded vinyl in the case and a suspended hardrive works for me.

I wouldnt bother messing with accoustic management for such small sound decreases myself. It used to work great on IBM drives, like 1/2 the sound volume easy.

of course they sucked sound wise.
hm

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:18 pm

~El~Jefe~ wrote: I wouldnt bother messing with accoustic management for such small sound decreases myself.

But AAM also decreases power consumption, that means that the drive won't get as hot, and will heat up more gradually.

soujir0u · Post by **soujir0u** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 2:38 am

I just received my 250GB SATA version yesterday. The motor is NIDEC. I have it suspended using NoVibes 3.

The seeks are MUCH louder than my 160GB JVC P80 and 250GB Seagate 7200.8. Idle noise is quieter than both hard disks, vibration is better than the P80 and on par with the Seagate.

I've tried the various AAM settings and it didn't seem to make much difference.

The seek noise is very disappointing.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:12 pm

eh, you went 250. shame on you. they only tested 200 gb nidec's.

I feel that idle speed is everything. i hardly seek much at all even in games or anything, so idle and lifespan of that sound level not changing is key to me.

soujir0u · Post by **soujir0u** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:36 pm

~El~Jefe~ wrote:eh, you went 250. shame on you. they only tested 200 gb nidec's.

I feel that idle speed is everything. i hardly seek much at all even in games or anything, so idle and lifespan of that sound level not changing is key to me.

Well I needed the space, so I'm not that fussed about it. I just hope that it somehow gets quieter over time!

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:03 pm

lol nice over time.... that's pushing yer luck. only gets quieter if you use SMART then its super noisey for a while then quiet. but without it enabled, you really should be at the quietest on the first few days.

well hm. i just care about spin noise and idle sounds personally. I am looking at buying one shortly. nice to have a 200 gig drive.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:29 pm

Dan, My drive does NOT produce any scratching noises at all, when powering up or down, (I will listen closely though this evening and let you know if I was wrong).

RE: Kaisers drive problem from Dans link, that sounds like a typical noise that IBM/Hitachi drives make when parking their heads, if the head touched the platter you would know about it......... and you wouldnt have any data left.

RE: soujir0u & ~El~Jefe~ My drive did become quieter over the first week, and it was running on the quitest AAM setting with SMART enabled (it's smart to enable SMART). From what I understand the 7200.7 and 8's are on par noise wise, with the SATA's being louder than the PATA's, if you have a SATA then it's noisy, or it doesnt like your no-vibes.

Andy

iatacs19 · Post by **iatacs19** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:39 am

I ordered the Samsung 200GB SATA version from zipzoomfly. It will be used in a SFF zmax-DP. I still need to get the RAM to be able to power my machine, but I will post back once I get it all setup.

The system I am comparing to is Dell 400SC with 7002.7 PATA which is very quiet IMO. I also have an external WD1600JB(no name USB case) and WD3200JB(AcomData) both USB. The WD1600JB is LOUD, I had to replace it with the WD3200JB. The WD3200JB is quieter, but it's still loud in that external case. If I get close to it I can hear the whirling sound and the seeks are deep, not high pitched and sound hollow, this one is under the desk sittin on 1/2 particle board desk piece on top of carpet, vibrates a little.

With this said, I the Samsung will be compared vs those 2 drives I currently have 7200.7 and WD3200JB.

http://www.acomdata.com/hdp/harddrives- ... E5-72.html