Any news on the higher capacity Spinpoints?

IdontexistM8 · Post by **IdontexistM8** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 7:37 am

I'm really looking to get a nice big drive for a bit of Uber backing up, so is there an ETA on the higher capacity Samsungs? I haven't heard much for awhile.

Patience is a virtue...sadly I have none

james22 · Post by **james22** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:08 am

Or even the 7200.8's. I'm in dire need of more storage/backup space and my patience is wearing thin....

IdontexistM8 · Post by **IdontexistM8** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:17 am

james22 wrote:Or even the 7200.8's. I'm in dire need of more storage/backup space and my patience is wearing thin....

I can't keep buying 160gb drives!!

Surely these manufacturers would want there products out in Q4 to make them available for system builders etc.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:38 am

Well, the recent message from Seagate doesn't look promising:

http://forums.storagereview.net/index.p ... &hl=7200.8

I'm also trying to find a 250GB drive, but Hitachi 7k250 is looking live it has the Deathstar bug and Maxtor Maxline III I'm not sure of (in acoustical terms).

Hopefully 7200.8 in bigger capacities will become available soon.

IdontexistM8 · Post by **IdontexistM8** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:50 pm

halcyon wrote:Well, the recent message from Seagate doesn't look promising:

http://forums.storagereview.net/index.p ... &hl=7200.8

I'm also trying to find a 250GB drive, but Hitachi 7k250 is looking live it has the Deathstar bug and Maxtos Maxline III I'm not sure of (in acoustical terms).

Hopefully 7200.8 in bigger capacities will become available soon.

If Seagate can't get the drives out until next year it sounds like they are making (or perhaps already made) a mistake...not exactly the greatest idea to bring out a new tech product during one of the slowest times of the year (buying wise).

Perhaps, in the meantime, we need a SPCR high capacity drive recommendation with an acknowledgement it's not going to be the quietest thing in the world.

Metaluna · Post by **Metaluna** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:53 pm

I'm not optimistic that any new Samsung drives will solve the quality control problems with the spindle motors. I have not heard any indication that Samsung views the noise of the JVC motors as a problem (as evidenced by the fact that they seem to be using more of them than ever), so where is the incentive to improve things.

Also, what is this about a Deathstar bug on the 7K250? Are these drives dying prematurely in large numbers?

The Maxline III is looking like it's better than any previous Maxtor in terms of acoustics but still about 1-2 dB noisier than the 7200.7's and Samsungs (going by SR's questionable noise tests). They look darn fast though, so it might be an acceptable tradeoff for some people.

IdontexistM8 · Post by **IdontexistM8** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 2:59 pm

It's all putting me off doing a system build (well that and money

). I don't want to have to pack 3 or 4 160gb drives into a case to get the storage that can be achieved by 1 or 2 'next gen' drives.

Perhaps, as said, you have to look it in tradeoff terms...as I want a good 250gb+ as a backup in an external enclosure then you just have to choose what you can and get on with it. So it seems a straight Maxtor vs Hitachi scrap.

Spod · Post by **Spod** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:04 am

AFAIK, the 7K250 (and presumably 7K400), with the updated firmware to eliminate the miaow sound every 10 minutes, is actually a pretty quiet drive, though not as quiet as a Samsung P80. Pending more info on the Maxline III acoustics, I'd guess the IBM's the quietest 250+ GB drive at present.

And I've not heard of any significant reliability problems with the 7K250 line - Halcyon, could you provide a link to more info about this? I'd be surprised if there was anything on the scale of the 75GXP disaster going on.

IdontexistM8 · Post by **IdontexistM8** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 6:28 am

Spod wrote:AFAIK, the 7K250 (and presumably 7K400), with the updated firmware to eliminate the miaow sound every 10 minutes, is actually a pretty quiet drive, though not as quiet as a Samsung P80. Pending more info on the Maxline III acoustics, I'd guess the IBM's the quietest 250+ GB drive at present.

And I've not heard of any significant reliability problems with the 7K250 line - Halcyon, could you provide a link to more info about this? I'd be surprised if there was anything on the scale of the 75GXP disaster going on.

After a bit of browsing the 7K250 seems decent VFM @ approx £100 for 250gb. Seems ideal for an occasionally on backup drive...

Does anyone know whether they vibrates less than Samsungs (the one thing that annoys me about them)?

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:15 pm

I haven't seen any epidemic with 7k250 yet. However, if you search around in various forums (storagereview to just name one) you'll find out more people in the last two months who have started to hear 'clicking' from their 7k250 drives.

Call me paranoid, but that's enough for me to not to buy 7k250 (burned twice with Deathstars).

So, I'm looking at Maxtor DiamondMax 10 / Maxline III myself in the interim.