Samsung 1TB 9.5mm Hard Drive: Spinpoint M8 HN-M101MBB Thread

[ARGH]

Looks like Newegg brought the Samsung back, and also spiked the price a whopping $20, from $89.99 to $109.99, plus the shipping cost was jacked up. To hell with that. I'll wait.

i think this is the retail price. i could not wait in fear they would go out of stock for another month. i ordered 2.

[dukenukem]

just bought this hdd and can't wait to receive it.Will be used for mostly storing video files so all this space will be put to good use.

[XStylus]

Amazon has the Samsung for $99.99. Free shipping, and no tax in most states. That ends up being roughly the same was what Newegg's price was plus tax.

Amazon.com: Samsung SpinPoint SATA 5400rpm 8 MB Cache 1 TB 2.5-Inch Hard Drive (M8 HN-M101MBB): Electronics

That link will show up as $95 from Oyen Digital plus $9 shipping, but on the right pane you can choose to have it ship from Amazon with free shipping.

[dukenukem]

Got my hdd yesterday and it's running just fine.

[namaiki]

Is the Windows 7 default 1024 K alignment all right for this advanced format (4k sectors) drive?

edit: according to Samsung Align Tool it is fine.

[namaiki]

My 1TB Sammy seems to have a crazily high load/unload count.

I've had this drive for 2 weeks and according to HD Tune and CrystalDiskInfo, my drive has 10678 Load/Unload Cycles.

Does anyone else's drive have a number similar to that?

[TheAtreidesHawk]

What are the pros vs cons of this new Samsung versus this one I got?

Amazon.com: Western Digital WD Scorpio Black 500 GB SATA II 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM 2.5 Inch Mobile Hard drive - WD5000BPKT: Electronics

What would you guys recommend as the better option? Especially if one has an SSD for the OS and is mainly using the HDD for movies and other media. I was a lot of space but a quiet drive with decent speed. I don't want to be waiting forever to load a file off it though....

[sgogeta4]

I'd get the 1TB drive as differences in a 7200RPM drive vs. 5400RPM have much less impact when used as a storage drive. Sequential speeds are both similar for large file transfers and you get double the capacity...

[TheAtreidesHawk]

I'd get the 1TB drive as differences in a 7200RPM drive vs. 5400RPM have much less impact when used as a storage drive. Sequential speeds are both similar for large file transfers and you get double the capacity...

Thanks for responding....

Now the WD drive I have in my possession is the "WD5000BPKT" but I'm currently looking at the review of the "WD5000BEKT"
Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB Review (WD5000BEKT) | StorageReview.com

EDIT: And I just googled the whole "wd5000bpkt vs wd5000bekt". The BPKT has

1) Advanced Formate (AF)

and

2) Under Performance the Data transfer rate (max)
Host to/from drive (sustained) is 160 MB/s...versus 154 MB/s for the BEKT. So I think for all intents and purposes they are practically the same HDD right?

And I'm comparing that review to that of the Samsung Spinpoint M8
Samsung Spinpoint M8 Review | StorageReview.com

Just as a quick glance they both seem to have similar speeds when it comes to:

1) 2MB Sequential Transfers Read/Write
2) 2MB Random Transfers Read/Write
3) 4K Random Transfers Read/Write

So I'm starting to think the Samsung may be the better buy. I would get twice the capacity for just $30 more you know?

ASIDE: Why is the 4K Random Transfers Read/Write tests done TWICE? If you look at either review there are 2 different graphs associated with that title. Did they just make a mistake and 1 of them is supposed to be "4K Sequential Transfers Read/Write"?

[TheAtreidesHawk]

Anyone have information that could clear up this for me....?