I bought two Samsung 1TB F2 EcoGreen hard drives. I put the first drive into a Themaltake Silver River DUO external USB enclosure. After the SPCR review, I was expecting the drive to be near-silent, even if adding another platter versus the reviewed 500GB version. At startup, there is a bit of a grinding, that is repeated during seeks, close to what I remember as typical of HDD's during seek a few generations ago. At idle, there is a faint, high-pitch whirr, with the USB enclosure sitting on my desktop. I don't know if the enclosure is contributing to either seek or idle noise. A Seagate 250GB 7200.10 disk that used to be in the enclosure was much quieter.
I will put the second drive into an Antec P180 case this weekend. I am curious to see how this compares.
Samsung F2 EcoGreen 1TB First Impression
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Re: Samsung F2 EcoGreen 1TB First Impression
Ksanderash:
>_>I was expecting the drive to be near-silent, even if adding another platter versus the reviewed 500GB version.
"And yeah, 1Tb and 1.5Tb Samsung EcoGreens are rather noisy. Higher than 1Tb I would recommend to take WD GreenPower, or Barracuda LP."
I wouldn't make such generalization too quickly. I have a 1TB EcoGreen F2 and it's the quietest desktop drive I have, probably on par with some laptop drives like 320GB Scorpios (which I admit are not that quiet for 5400rpm laptop drives).
My 1TB EG F2 is noticeably quiter that any of my 1st generation (4-platter) or 2nd generation (3-platter) 1TB GreenPowers. Idle noise is lower in volume, nicer in quality, no unload clicks. And this is of course quite an achievement, considering GreenPowers are vastly better than any comparable 7200rpm desktop drive. Some negative aspects of EcoGreen compared to GreenPowers: louder seeks (AAM enabled).
So I would rather blame sample variance than design issue inherent in all 1TB EG F2s. If someone claims that their EG F2 1TB indeed is not only noisier than GreenPower but also noisier than (pick any brand) 1TB 7200rpm drive, he probably has a VERY bad drive sample.
I wouldn't make such generalization too quickly. I have a 1TB EcoGreen F2 and it's the quietest desktop drive I have, probably on par with some laptop drives like 320GB Scorpios (which I admit are not that quiet for 5400rpm laptop drives).
My 1TB EG F2 is noticeably quiter that any of my 1st generation (4-platter) or 2nd generation (3-platter) 1TB GreenPowers. Idle noise is lower in volume, nicer in quality, no unload clicks. And this is of course quite an achievement, considering GreenPowers are vastly better than any comparable 7200rpm desktop drive. Some negative aspects of EcoGreen compared to GreenPowers: louder seeks (AAM enabled).
So I would rather blame sample variance than design issue inherent in all 1TB EG F2s. If someone claims that their EG F2 1TB indeed is not only noisier than GreenPower but also noisier than (pick any brand) 1TB 7200rpm drive, he probably has a VERY bad drive sample.
Impressions on 2nd drive
I put the second drive in my Antec P180 case. Under my desk beside me, it's a quietish system...faint fan noise, but nothing intrusive. I can't hear the new drive over the fans. Excellent.
I'm still a little puzzled by the noisier seeks from the first drive in the USB enclosure, since the drive it replaced was much quieter in that same enclosure. Oh well...not a big issue.
I'm still a little puzzled by the noisier seeks from the first drive in the USB enclosure, since the drive it replaced was much quieter in that same enclosure. Oh well...not a big issue.