Samsung HDDs (F1 F2 F3 Ecogreen)

[oshta]

Whats the diffrence between the F1, F2 and F3 drives?
- They all appear to be simular prices, all 7200rpm, identical performace stats on scan?

Also is there any real performance change with the 'Ecogreen' 5400rpm models? Quieter?

Just curious before i buy a few.


Daniel

[Terbinator]

Whats the diffrence between the F1, F2 and F3 drives?
- They all appear to be simular prices, all 7200rpm, identical performace stats on scan?

Also is there any real performance change with the 'Ecogreen' 5400rpm models? Quieter?

Just curious before i buy a few.


Daniel

Get the F3 currently accepted as the fastest HDD around and the Eco green ones do suffer performance wise - however the F3 is more efficient compared to the Eco ones and faster too boot.

[Ulti]

As Terbinator said, I've heard problems about the F1s, didn't hear much about the F2, however all I've heard are good things about the F3s.

With 5400rpm models, as they spin slower they're quieter, however that means data read/write will be slightly slower. They're decent for storage drives though. Either way, with HDDs being so cheap and the difference between different makes being almost neglible (apart from benchmarks mostly), you can't really go wrong.

[jim]

The F3s have 500GB per platter AFAIK, the F1s are 333GB.

Main things to look at are platter density and RPM.

[arthurleung]

F1 is 333GB/platter
F2/F3 are 500GB/platter

BUT they don't make 1.5TB F3 drives. Only up to 1TB.

There are no 7200RPM 500GB/platter drives >1.5TB apart from Western Digital Black Edition 2TB.
The Hitachi is 2TB but uses 400GB platters.

So if you want performance its F3 at 500G/1TB, if you want lowest cost/GB its F2 at 1.5TB, highest capacity and high performance, WD 2TB Black (cost double of the two above added together though)

[ferfery]

I have the 1.5TB 'Ecogreen' 5400rpm and it's much faster than all my other 7200rpm drives and it's cool and quiet in operation.

[jim]

True, but obviously it won't outperform an equivalent drive at 7200rpm.

[12GaugeShotty]

As Terbinator said, I've heard problems about the F1s, didn't hear much about the F2, however all I've heard are good things about the F3s.

With 5400rpm models, as they spin slower they're quieter, however that means data read/write will be slightly slower. They're decent for storage drives though. Either way, with HDDs being so cheap and the difference between different makes being almost neglible (apart from benchmarks mostly), you can't really go wrong.

I have a pair of 1TB F1 drives that have been going fine for nearly a year now, powered on 24/7.

No, the 5400RPM drives are not quieter than the F1 7200RPM drives. I have a 1.5TB F2 drive and it is just as quiet as the 1TB F1 drives are. It isn't any cooler either. All 3 of my Samsung drives run at 21C in my computer.

Read/writes are only slightly slower. The main difference is seek times due to latency but that's only a worry during searching and indexing.

[oshta]

Sounds like its F3 for the win.
- Ive currently got an F1 which i bought about a year or so ago which is fine, but if the F3 is the better thats fine. Just wondered as they all bascialy the same spec and price on paper.


Daniel

[wiak]

5400rpm F3/F2 EcoGreen's are for file servers, HTPCs, External Storage, PVRs etc
they are great that way, they are not meant to be high performance, F3 and F1 is made for high performance

samsung is a lille confusing when they named their series but EcoGreens are 5400RPM, and have EcoGreen or EG in the name, they come in 500GB,1TB,1,5TB and 2TB sizes, the standard F3/F1s go only up to 1TB

[Smudger]

There's a Hard Disk Lab in this month's PCPro, with F2 and F3s featuring. They seem to be saying that F2 is reserved for EcoGreen models, with F3 being the replacement for F1. Oh, and the F3 comes out on top. It should be on the website pretty soon, I think the mag is in shops at the end of the week...

[Queelis]

There was also F4 introduced recently, which has 667 (or something like that) GB/platter, but only single head per platter, which results in 334GB/platter, but with presumably higher speeds. But only 320GB version is available, and I've yet to see a review of it.

[wiak]

There was also F4 introduced recently, which has 667 (or something like that) GB/platter, but only single head per platter, which results in 334GB/platter, but with presumably higher speeds. But only 320GB version is available, and I've yet to see a review of it.

F1 = High performace
F2 = Low Power
F3 = High Performace
F3 EG EcoGreen = Low Power
F4 = OEM drive atm