Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDDs: New Winners?

The Spinpoint F1 Drive Family

In the past, we've seen hard drive manufacturers release product families that include several versions, all based on the same technology. This rather common approach results in multiple capacity points to answer varying market demands. Samsung not only offers a large selection of different capacities - Spinpoint F1 drives even as small as 160 GB are available - but it also varies the cache memory size depending on the market segment. The top models are equipped with a 32 MB buffer, all mainstream drives utilize 16 MB, and the entry-level models only have an 8 MB cache.

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ModelSpinpoint F1
Model NumberHD103UJHD753LJHD752LJHD642JJHD502IJHD501IJ
Capacity1000 GB750 GB750 GB640 GB500 GB500 GB
InterfaceSATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300
Cache32 MB32 MB16 MB16 MB16 MB8 MB
Spindle Speed7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM
Seek Time8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms
Platters333222
Weight640 g640 g640 g610 g610 g610 g
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ModelSpinpoint F1
Model NumberHD322HJHD252HJHD251JJHD162GJHD161GJ
Capacity320 GB250 GB250 GB160 GB160 GB
InterfaceSATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300
Cache16 MB16 MB8 MB16 MB8 MB
Spindle Speed7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM
Seek Time8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms8.9 ms
Platters11111
Weight470 g470 g470 g470 g470 g

Western Digital Caviar GP RAID Edition, WD1000FYPS (1 TB)

Let's not forget about Western Digital's latest addition to the terabyte cycle. While the Caviar GP WD10EACS has been available for some months now, the so-called RAID Edition drives (RE) weren't available until recently. The technical specs of the 24/7 RAID Edition, which is called WD1000FYPS, are identical to those of the regular drive: 5,400+ RPM rotation speed, 8.9 ms seek (which results in 15.1 ms average access time), 16 MB cache and the lowest power requirements in the industry.

We found the performance of the WD1000FYPS RAID Edition to be very similar to that of the regular WD10EACS, although certainly not identical; the RAID Edition drives are obviously configured slightly differently. Western Digital is proud of having the best shock tolerance specifications in the industry, together with a mean time between failure (MTBF) time of 1.2 million hours. While it's hard to verify these statements as an individual customer, the RAID Edition drives are covered by a five-year warranty, while most of the other terabyte drives have a three-year warranty. Seagate is the only drive manufacturer that provides a five year warranty for all retail desktop drives.

  • evert
    Does anyone know what the differences (if any) are between the HD103UJ & HE103UJ models?

    Reply
  • HE=enterprise-class, raid certified. The only difference between HE and HD (in the specs) is a "rotational vibration sensor". Check them out on samsung.com.
    Reply
  • evert
    Is a rotational vibration sensor worth the extra money?

    Reply
  • qazwsx12
    HE = Enterprise Class = 7 year warranty
    HD = Desktop Class = 3 year warranty
    Reply
  • I have the famous spin ponit F1 which supossed to be compatible to sata 1 by switch or patch, @#$%^&* i can save files etc.......but it is impossible to install Windows!!!!!!!!!! And the technical support is @#$%^& no one answers. Just dont buy it!!!!!!!!!!
    Reply
  • bitage
    AnonymousI have the famous spin ponit F1 which supossed to be compatible to sata 1 by switch or patch, @#$%^&* i can save files etc.......but it is impossible to install Windows!!!!!!!!!! And the technical support is @#$%^& no one answers. Just dont buy it!!!!!!!!!!PEBKAC, all I have to say about that...
    Reply
  • I bought one of these in march 2008, it's still going strong. Perhaps I don't hammer it with read/writes (it's a storage drive after all), but it gets used daily and has been in systems and in external cases, it's literally lived in as many different houses as I have; nearly 5 years later and it's still rock solid.

    (Was looking for pictures to use it creating an icon for it, ended up here in my stumbling, and thought I'd share my two cents.)
    Reply
  • TechMasterJoe
    Update i have a HD103UJ is has 55834 Powered on hours with 2119 starts still 100% G with zero errors and prefect SMART report still one of the coolest(temps) drives i own avg 26c with my WD's doing 36c + right next to iti use it as a temp dump for torrents before my custom software runs a ed2k hash on the file and files it way on my NAS in the 6.4years of UP time i have on this drive it has only been powered off for a few days at best wish any company made drives like this now days, under 200$ i used WD Reds for NAS but they all fail after 15k~20k hours.this has just been a friendly report from a long time Anime Sub Group's Encoder and archive owner.2014 home NAS Specs24X 4TB WD Reds NAS in custom U4 rack Quad E7-4870 & 256GB DDR3 (Folding@Home 99% of the time)2X Adaptec 2274900-R (future proof for expansion)ordered 12 more WD Reds this week yet to be added "amazon delivery Tuesday"
    Reply