Which to Buy 160GB Seagate or Samsung??

elitezoid · Post by **elitezoid** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 8:48 am

Hi,
Need advice on which hard drive to go, it's needs to be 160GB and the choice is either:

Samsung SATA 8mb SP1614C 160GB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Samsung.html

Seagate SATA 7200.7 ST3160023AS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seagate2.html (ignore the website it's a mistake)

Which is the faster?
Which is the quietest?
Which is the most reliable?
And which one should I buy???

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:29 am

I could be wrong but I think the answer to all the questions is the samsung. Mine is silent allthough others have claimed that they cause their cases to resonate.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:26 am

elitezoid wrote:Hi,
Need advice on which hard drive to go, it's needs to be 160GB and the choice is either:

Samsung SATA 8mb SP1614C 160GB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Samsung.html

Seagate SATA 7200.7 ST3160023AS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seagate2.html (ignore the website it's a mistake)

Which is the faster?
Which is the quietest?
Which is the most reliable?
And which one should I buy???

I"m pretty sure the Seagate doesn't have adjustable AAM and the Samsung does, although it's reported here by someone with an 0812C to have AAM enabled at Fast - but you can change it to Quiet with the Hitachi Tool. So, I would expect the Samsung to be quieter, especially if changing the default AAM setting.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:46 am

The Samsung is faster, much quieter and cooler. Reliability-wise there's no way to tell yet, the Samsung is too new.

I'd get the Samsung if I was you.

NamJangNamJa · Post by **NamJangNamJa** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:59 pm

Samsung HDDs were very good back in mid of 1990s. Samsung's HDDs which is smaller than 1GB was known good. However, Samsung HDDs had been known not good and not reliable for at least 5 years.

Samsung's new HDDs are improved and they may be faster, quieter, cooler than others according to some reviews. They are very good for sure. And I saw a review somewhere, and Samsung is quieter when active, and Seagate is quieter when idle according to the review.

But I wouldn't buy Samsung HDD at similar price range. If they are cheaper by more than 8%~10%, I will probably buy Samsung, because they sucked for a long time and I am not sure what would happen after using Samsung for a few years.

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:05 pm

Samsung = Fujitsu (at least in the mid-late 90s)

luminous · Post by **luminous** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:32 am

Seagate's 7200.7 exhibits a clicking/buzzing sound if it is not regularly accessed. This noise continues for several minutes, or until you start to access the drive more often - see other topics in this forum.

Hitatchi's drive also suffer from a loud reset noise roughly every 5 mins if they are not regularly accessed.

Western Digital/Maxtor are just too noisey.

So that only leaves Samsung.....

Justin_R · Post by **Justin_R** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:30 pm

The Samsung has a 3 year warranty, while the Seagate only has a 1 year. Even if the Seagates do have a lower failure rate, I don't think that would give you solace if your drive fails after 13 months.

Choy · Post by **Choy** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 2:59 pm

According to this review over at storagereview, the samsung is way faster, even competing with most "regular" drives. And judging from the experience of people here it is acoustically better than the seagate.

As for the hitachi mentioned above, it is a personal favorite of mine. Unbeatable performance at the moment, given our criteria of quiet. And the reset noise is very low in the two drives I own. Only in a virtually silent room do I notice it, unless I really listen for it.

Between the two you asked about, I'd go with the samsung. And recommend that you consider the hitachi.

mfeingol · Post by **mfeingol** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 4:14 pm

I disagree that Maxtor FDB drives are too loud. The seeks may be louder than those of recent Seagate drives, but that's what AAM is for. Even without AAM, a Maxtor DM+9 is much quieter than its Western Digital equivalents. Isolated, a DM+9 can be used to build a quiet system.

In short, I demand a recount.

WannaOC · Post by **WannaOC** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 6:03 am

I just recently picked up the SATA seagate and it is pretty silent when idle but while accessing it is pretty loud. Not as much the spinning sound but the other usuall hard drive sound. Good drive overall and I like it though.

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 1:11 am

Another vote for the Samsung over the 7200.7

I have two of the new 7200 RPM Spinpoints (one 80 & one 160) and one 7200.7. The Samsungs are quiet and run cool. I have experienced some vibration from them, which I have controlled with isolation mounting. The Seagate runs hotter and the seek noises are not quiet. Throw in the 3-year warrantee and it's a pretty easy choice IMO.

David

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 1:12 am

Another vote for the Samsung over the 7200.7

I have two of the new 7200 RPM Spinpoints (one 80 & one 160) and one 7200.7. The Samsungs are quiet and run cool. I have experienced some vibration from them, which I have controlled with isolation mounting. The Seagate runs hotter and the seek noises are not quiet. Throw in the 3-year warrantee and it's a pretty easy choice IMO.

David

David

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 9:51 am

haysdb wrote:Another vote for the Samsung over the 7200.7

I have two of the new 7200 RPM Spinpoints (one 80 & one 160) and one 7200.7. The Samsungs are quiet and run cool. I have experienced some vibration from them, which I have controlled with isolation mounting. The Seagate runs hotter and the seek noises are not quiet. Throw in the 3-year warrantee and it's a pretty easy choice IMO.

David

Have you got the SATA or PATA Samsungs and is the single platter 80 GB any different noisewise to the double platter 160GB?

dasman · Post by **dasman** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:41 pm

I"m pretty sure the Seagate doesn't have adjustable AAM and the Samsung does, although it's reported here by someone with an 0812C to have AAM enabled at Fast - but you can change it to Quiet with the Hitachi Tool.

Does anyone here been able to accomplish this? I've DL'd the hitachi tool and it says that AAM is disabled on my 7200.7's -- no option to change the setting.

Dave

PaulShapiro · Post by **PaulShapiro** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 12:45 pm

I"m pretty sure the Seagate doesn't have adjustable AAM and the Samsung does, although it's reported here by someone with an 0812C to have AAM enabled at Fast - but you can change it to Quiet with the Hitachi Tool.
Does anyone here been able to accomplish this? I've DL'd the hitachi tool and it says that AAM is disabled on my 7200.7's -- no option to change the setting.

I setup a Dell Dimension 4600 for a client recently with a Seagate 7200.7 SATA drive. The Dell bios had the option to switch AAM on and off. The drive was drastically quieter with AAM on.

chiahaochang · Post by **chiahaochang** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 1:10 pm

elitezoid wrote:Which is the faster?
Which is the quietest?
Which is the most reliable?
And which one should I buy???

I have both drives in 160GB SATA variations. The Samsung seems as fast or slightly faster at times. The Samsung is a little quieter than the SATA 7200.7, and a lot quieter than the PATA 7200.7 I have that regularly goes into some sort of diagnostic mode.

If I had to buy another drive, it'd probably be a Samsung.

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 1:33 pm

Guys... have you tested the access time of the Samsung with HDTach ?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:45 am

BangoO wrote:Guys... have you tested the access time of the Samsung with HDTach ?

With v2.61 mine reports from around 13.7ms to 14.1ms.

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:15 am

Thx Ralf, AAM activated or not ?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 1:44 pm

BangoO wrote:Thx Ralf, AAM activated or not ?

AAM activated (it was activated by default).

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 2:31 pm

It was not on mine... maybe that's why it was vibrating so much...
If you have some spare time, could you deactivate it and see wether it vibrates or not ?

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 2:39 pm

BangoO wrote:It was not on mine... maybe that's why it was vibrating so much...
If you have some spare time, could you deactivate it and see wether it vibrates or not ?

What don't you enable it with the Hitachi tool and set it to Quiet. But I have a feeling the problem is not AAM.

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 1:39 am

JVM I did (I think I said it in another thread already) and now it does not vibrate that much and is a bit more quiet.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:01 am

BangoO wrote:It was not on mine... maybe that's why it was vibrating so much...
If you have some spare time, could you deactivate it and see wether it vibrates or not ?

Well, it's mounted on Sorbothane so I'm not sure whether I'll be able to tell any difference but I'll try and remember to do it on some future reboot.

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 9:57 am

Thx

I have 3 of them by the way, none of them has the AAM activated, 2 of them vibrate a lot and the last a bit less.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Thu Jan 22, 2004 10:42 am

BangoO wrote:Thx

I have 3 of them by the way, none of them has the AAM activated, 2 of them vibrate a lot and the last a bit less.

Apparently they come with AAM set for Fast (performance).

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:10 am

The 3 I had came with AAM not activated.
Maybe it depends on the country where you buy them...

ejl10 · Post by **ejl10** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 12:13 pm

I got 2 Samsung SP1614C's (the SATA ones) in November, and made a nice little 320GB RAID 0 array with them. They were pretty quick and very quiet. I did get some occasional vibrations through the case, but it wasn't all that bad.

However, both drives have been sent to Samsung for warranty replacement. I began having data problems a few weeks ago, and they escalated into device i/o errors that could not be corrected. Luckily I was able to back up most of my data. Sadly, some was still lost.

This may not have been the fault of the drives, though. I have a VIA SATA controller chip on my motherboard that might be faulty. I just don't know at this point. Also, I had placed some rubber mats between my drives and the mounting trays (in a Sonata) to help with the vibration. Now the mats were not solid (they were those non-slip dish lacey dish mats that people put in cupboards) and they weren't in direct contact with the drives, but they still may have caused some heat issues, particularly on the controller chips. Still, if this was the problem, the drives should have been more than able to withstand it.

So, I don't ahve anything firm yet, but there is a possibility that the Samsung drives are unrealiable. I was one of the very early adopters of the SATA drives, so I've had them about as long as anyone.

Still, with regular backups and their reasonable 3 year warranty (you pay shipping, and no cross shipments), the Samsung will definitely satisfy your noise requirements.

I'll let you know if the replacement drives work.
Emmett Lyman

Which to Buy 160GB Seagate or Samsung??

Which to Buy 160GB Seagate or Samsung??

Re: Which to Buy 160GB Seagate or Samsung??

In defense of the Maxtor DM+9s...