Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDDs: New Winners?

By Patrick Schmid
published

Terabyte Drive Comparison Table

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ManufacturerHitachiSamsungSeagateWestern DigitalWestern Digital
ModelDeskstar 7K1000Spinpoint F1Barracuda 7200.11Caviar GPCaviar RE2-GP
Model NumberHDS721010KLA330HD103UJST31000340ASWD10EACSWD1000FYPS
Capacity1000 GB1000 GB1000 GB1000 GB1000 GB
Spindle Speed7,200 RPM7,200 RPM7,200 RPM> 5,400 RPM>5,400 RPM
Other Capacities750 GB160, 250, 320, 500, 640, 750 GB500, 750 GB500, 750 GB500, 750 GB
Platters53444
Cache32 MB32 MB32 MB16 MB16 MB
NCQyesyesYesyesyes
InterfaceSATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300SATA/300
Warranty3 years3 years5 years3 Years3 Years

Test Setup

Swipe to scroll horizontally
System Hardware
Processor(s)2x Intel Xeon Processor (Nocona core)3.6 GHz, FSB800, 1 MB L2 Cache
PlatformAsus NCL-DS (Socket 604)Intel E7520 Chipset, BIOS 1005
RAMCorsair CM72DD512AR-400 (DDR2-400 ECC, reg.)2x 512 MB, CL3-3-3-10 Timings
System Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar WD1200JB120 GB, 7,200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, UltraATA/100
Mass Storage Controller(s)Intel 82801EB UltraATA/100 Controller (ICH5)Promise SATA 300TX4ICP 5085BL 8-Port SAS/300
NetworkingBroadcom BCM5721 On-Board Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Graphics SubsystemOn-Board GraphicsATI RageXL, 8 MB
System Hardware
Performance Measurementsc’t magazine’s h2benchw 3.6
I/O PerformanceIOMeter 2003.05.10Fileserver-BenchmarkWebserver-BenchmarkDatabase-BenchmarkWorkstation-Benchmark
System Software & Drivers
OSMicrosoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Service Pack 1
Platform DriverIntel Chipset Installation Utility 7.0.0.1025
Graphics DriverDefault Windows Graphics Driver
Patrick Schmid
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • 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