to spinpoint or not to spinpoint?

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 10:36 am

Hey all. This is my first post to the SPCR forums even though I've been reading them for quite some time. So here goes...

I'm currently looking at samsung's SP1614C (160GB w/sata) to replace my horribly loud western digital drive, but I'm a little bit hesitant as the samsung drive seems to be showing its age speed wise compared to the new hitachi line.

Does anyone know if samsung is planning on updating its drive line anytime soon? Should I wait for a newer spinpoint model to be released? Are there any models currently available (and manufacturer) where I wouldn't have to trade speed for silence (I do video editing)?

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 10:50 am

'm currently looking at samsung's SP1614C (160GB w/sata) to replace my horribly loud western digital drive, but I'm a little bit hesitant as the samsung drive seems to be showing its age speed wise compared to the new hitachi line.

?

What are you talking about? I've got a PATA version of the 120gb with the 8mb cache, and it's a perfectly fine drive... Also, the new Spinpoint line just came out back in August, so I don't know why you consider it to already be "showing it's age."

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 11:05 am

In content creation apps the hitachi has a 15-20% performance lead over the spinpoint drives. That's a pretty large gap.

SR High-End DriveMark 2002 in IO/Sec (from storagereview.com):

Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 (250 GB SATA) - 442
Samsung SpinPoint P80 (160 GB ATA-133) - 383

And the sata version of the samsung drive is said to perform slightly slower rather than realizing any speed boost from the change in interface.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 11:10 am

The SATA Spinpoints are brand new, they've only been available since early November so I doubt that Samsung will be releasing anything new anytime soon.

They may not be the speed champs but what they lack in all-out speed they make up for in being the quietest and coolest high performance HDDs currently in production. I'll gladly trade a smattering of speed for less noise, and I'm sure most here would agree with me.

crypt0r · Post by **crypt0r** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 12:02 pm

Yup...nothing like that "is it on?" feeling.

grenadier · Post by **grenadier** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 12:27 pm

Is the noise level of the spinpoint drive that much lower than the new drives from hitachi?

Storagereview has the hitachi drive listed at only .3 decibels higher, but I'm guessing the seak noise is significantly louder. Does anyone here actually have one of the new hitachi drives? Could they comment on the noise level of these drives?

gbohn · Post by **gbohn** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 4:45 pm

grenadier wrote:Is the noise level of the spinpoint drive that much lower than the new drives from hitachi?

Storagereview has the hitachi drive listed at only .3 decibels higher, but I'm guessing the seak noise is significantly louder. Does anyone here actually have one of the new hitachi drives? Could they comment on the noise level of these drives?

As it turns out I just received a Hitachi 160 GB 7K250 SATA drive (13G0254) and a Samsung SpinPoint 1614C. I got the Hitachi for expansion and have mixed feelings about it.

My system had three 80 GB Barracuda IV drives, and when I added the 7K250, I could not notice any increased idle noise from before (No noticable idle whine from within my tower case). I've only had it a week, but the seeks seem noticably quieter than the Barracuda IV's I have.

But, the thing makes a noise every 10 minutes for 1-2 seconds when not in use. I find this noise very noticable over it's otherwise very quiet operation. It's louder than normal seeking, and I've seen other people describe it as a 'cat-like' sound...

I called Hitachi and they said yes, it does that for periodic maintainance and that's normal.

So, not being totally happy with the Hitachi drive I ordered the Spinpoint SP1640C. Upon instalation I noticed that it seems to have a bit of idle whine, making it louder than the Hitachi.

I've only had both drives a short time, but the seek noise of both drives seems quieter than the Barracuda iVs, and similar to each other. I might put the SpinPoint seek noise a little quieter, but again, I haven't had time to do a proper comparison.

So, in the end I'm not totally happy with either! If only the Hitachi would stop making that noise every ten minutes I would be very happy with it. But at least the Samsung doesn't seem to make any similar noise...

As always, your mileage may vary...

-Greg Bohn

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 6:41 pm

gbohn wrote:...I ordered the Spinpoint SP1640C. Upon instalation I noticed that it seems to have a bit of idle whine, making it louder than the Hitachi...

Idle whine is certainly the most annoying factor for me. Thanks for sharing your observations.

Also, welcome to the SPCR forums!

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 6:59 am