Enabling AAM will help a tiny bit (less vibration when seeking). Download Samsung ES-Tool and burn on to a cdr and boot with the cdr. The DOS ES-Tool will allow you to change AAM and check SMART, etc. http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/downloads/support_in_es.html There are some AAM ...

Great thread. I would add that solid drives with single-level NAND flash cells (SLC) should be more long-lived than multi-level cells (MLC) from a technical viewpoint. Also, SLCs are faster - but expensive. Considering only reliability, SSDs have many plusses over HDDs. SSDs can take quite some puni...

Just a wrap-up: My new Samsung F3 EG 500 gb hdds (=HD503HI) do have Nidec spindles. Idle sound and vibration are low, but not "magic bullet" or laptop hdd low, while seek noise is super-quiet and basically impossible to tell apart from idle in my flimsy desktop case. All in all very good. Speed is f...

F3s (both EG and 7,200 rpm) seem to be available across Scandinavia and Germany at least.

Dunno? Demand probably outstrips supply momentarily in the US? These are popular drives.

Thanks, Neil, for your feedback on vibration!

Long and highly informative post on the F3!

All this leaves me very curious: How are your F3 500s/HD502HJs doing after months of use? (Apart from Geobrick's fail.)

Is (low) vibration and noise still outstanding for a 7,200 rpm drive? Satisfied?

Is it fair to say any ecogreen is very quiet? The one-platter F3 and F2 Ecogreens are very quiet indeed. Don't know about the bigger models? A question about the Samsung F3 series, Ecogreen and 7.200 rpm: Which spindle motors do your F3s have...? Nidec (gold, printed "Nidec") or no-name/JVC (silver...

Obviously, flash-based storage can stand relatively more heat and vibration than disk-based storage. SD cards can stand severe punishment even. But flash storage is expensive and small. Personally, I would simply use a 2.5" 5.400 rpm standard laptop drive. I think any laptop drive can stand the heat...

Subjectively, I would say yes, too. In my experience drives get slightly noiser during search/load with age (gradually after say 2+ years) when used heavily/daily. Never dramatically so, though. (This happens regardless of content or fragmentation and so on. Any Windows drive left alone for 2+ years...

Thanks for positive feedback, MarcoM. F3 EG sounds like the drive for me then. :D You write F3 EG seems a little slower than WD Cav GP. The F3 EG is still alright for desktop use, would you say? Noise and vibration are clearly my priorities above speed - still, I don't want cribbled desktops. :wink:...

The F3 EG 500GB seems great. :) This brings a positive dilemma: What to choose (when two are available)? F2 EG HD502HI that has proven low noise and vibration by SPCR? or F3 EG HD503HI that supposedly/according to some benchmarks is a little bit quicker - but as super quiet as F2 EG? Any recommendat...