Which Samsung: SP2004C, HD321KJ or HD160HJ?

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:37 am

I'm fed up with the intermittent buzz from my Seagate 7200.7, and I've been extremely pleased with everything about my Samsung SP2004C (Nidec motor).

I see that Newegg has the P-series SP2004C in stock again for $65, as well as the new T-Series HD321KJ ($90) and smaller HD160HJ ($56). The latter two both apparently use the latest 160Gb/platter, but the 160HJ has the smaller 8Mb cache.

Any of these would have enough capacity for my current uses, but the HD321KJ gets excellent comments from several of you and isn't that much more expensive (it's actually cheaper/Gb). The smaller HD160HJ apparently only uses a single platter.

For now I'd be using the new drive for backup, but next time I reload Windows XP I'd use the HD321KJ as primary if I had it (and it proved to be quiet). Any of them would be mounted in my Sonata using this HDD isolation technique, which I've found quite effective with the existing SP2004C.

OlivierMDVY · Post by **OlivierMDVY** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:29 pm

In my Shuttle SN25P I've got 3 Samsung: 2x T166 320gb and 1x T166 500gb.

These drives are very quiet. But generate lot of vibrations.

vick1000 · Post by **vick1000** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:34 pm

Well with three of them you will see a significant increase in vibration, due to the variance in rotational vibration between drives.

mattcoz · Post by **mattcoz** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:09 pm

I just ordered a 321KJ for my new system, was convinced by the good things I read on this forum. Can't wait to not hear it.

naitsirk · Post by **naitsirk** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:40 pm

mattcoz wrote:I just ordered a 321KJ for my new system, was convinced by the good things I read on this forum. Can't wait to not hear it.

I tried searching for 321KJ in norwegian shops and on samsung's homepage, but with little luck.. :/

Does it go under any other names?
What sizes are we talking?
I presume s-ata?

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:21 pm

The Samsung HD321KJ is one of the T-Series, with 320 GB, SATA II (3.0 Gb/sec), 16 MB cache. Don't think it goes by anything else (at least not here in the US). I ordered one last week.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:53 pm

Anyone compare the Samsung HD321KJ to the WD 3200KS yet? I want to know which is faster and how close they are noise wise.

jedster · Post by **jedster** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:53 am

GamingGod wrote:Anyone compare the Samsung HD321KJ to the WD 3200KS yet? I want to know which is faster and how close they are noise wise.

Subjectively, the Samsung beats the WD hands down both in the 320 and 500 flavors -- as far as noise is concerned.

Performance might be better with the WDs. Also, with the WDs if you use RAID you have to get a different variety of drive (the RE2/YS) due to some bizarre error handling that hte SE16/KS drives have.

My mounting method entirely elminates the Samsung vibration, and the seeks were quieter. The WDs still vibrated more and had higher pitched, more audible seeks.

I returned the WDs and bought more Samsungs. (Which also run cooler.)

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:00 pm

how much of a performance lead does the KS have over the sammy? I am a gamer so performance is paramount but having them quiet is nice too.

jedster · Post by **jedster** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:10 pm

GamingGod wrote:how much of a performance lead does the KS have over the sammy? I am a gamer so performance is paramount but having them quiet is nice too.

i don't know. set up in a raid 1, right now my short stroked 321kj gets 10.4ms random access and 76.4 MB/s. I use matrix raid, so a quarter of each disk is in a matrix raid 1 and the rest is in a raid 0. since the raid0 portion of each drive is not short storked, the random access is higher -- 14.1ms, but since it is raid0, the avg read is higher too -- 138.4 MB/s.

I'm using an e6600 on an ab9pro with ich8r.

whiic · Post by **whiic** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:54 am

SR's 250GB round-up could give some indication of performance differences between drives but it should be noted that T-series is not included. Round-up also uses T7K250 (which has been replaced by T7K500 and which has a bigger cache) and other drive might have gone some minor changes between revisions as well.
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200601/250_1.html

My rule of thumb at the moment would be:
- Hitachi for desktop / gaming performance
- high capacity WD or low capacity Seagate for server performance
- Samsung for silence (regardless of capacity)
- Hitachi for passively cooled computers (if HDD mostly idle or sequential access, like in PVR or media PC)
- WD for passively cooled servers

Disadvantages of these drives are:
- Hitachi: AAM reduces mainly seek vibration. Clicking remains audible. High power consumption under intensive use (AAM reduces it quite a bit).
- WD: sample variance. Silent and noisy drives.
- Samsung: not the best performers. Not as cool as they are silent. (But not bad either.)
- Seagate: No AAM + sample variance =some samples are noisy and stay that way. Performance just isn't present. Run hot even under low load.

therelevator · Post by **therelevator** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:27 pm

OlivierMDVY wrote:In my Shuttle SN25P I've got 3 Samsung: 2x T166 320gb and 1x T166 500gb.

Which of them has the better performance, and which of them is more silent?

Uriman · Post by **Uriman** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:58 pm

how about the WD1600AAJS? how does it compare to the T series in regards to noise?