Samsung Launches 3.5'' Spinpoint F4 320GB Hard Drive

[btarunr]

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital consumer electronics and information technology, announced that it is now shipping the Spinpoint F4, the newest model of its Spinpoint F series drives. The superior performance and high-reliability Spinpoint F4 is engineered for high-end computing in PCs, Macs, high-end workstations and server applications.

"Higher performance combined with increasing capacities continues to accelerate demand for 3.5" drives in desktops storage," said In-Chul Park, vice president of sales, storage systems division, Samsung Electronics. "The one-head platform of the new 7200rpm Spinpoint F4, packing up to 320GB of storage capacity per one head in half platter, delivers added reliability that our customers have come to expect from Samsung."



With a one-head platform design and fewer mechanical parts, the reliability and acoustic features of the Spinpoint F4 have been improved. The drive delivers 10% increased read/write performance and 7% lower power consumption than the Spinpoint F1.

Eliminating halogen compound and brominated flame retardant from the PCBA, the new Spinpoint F4 is produced with eco-friendly materials and meets all the environmental regulations including RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances).

The Spinpoint F4 features 7200 rpm speed rotation, advanced areal density technology and a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface. Equipped with Samsung's exclusive dynamic balancing technology, the drive's overall stability and reliability is optimized as a high performing solution. Samsung's proprietary SilentSeek and NoiseGuard technologies are incorporated in the drive to offer ultra quiet operation.

The Spinpoint F4 drive has an 8MB/16MB buffer memory and is available in 320 GB capacities worldwide. The Spinpoint F4 is available to key OEMs now.

Image courtesy: Chipchick

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[RejZoR]

This sounds like those failure Spinpoint F2 drives. Small, slow but cheap.
I mean, only 16MB cache max and only 320GB ? Sounds weird...

 

[Mussels]

This sounds like those failure Spinpoint F2 drives. Small, slow but cheap.
I mean, only 16MB cache max and only 320GB ? Sounds weird...

small, quiet, low power, low heat. likely cheap.


16MB cache is enough on a smaller sized drive.

 

[RejZoR]

I don't know, the price has to be very good. Like 20 EUR lol... otherwise it's useless.

 

[Octopuss]

How would 10% faster than F1 compare to F3 I wonder? Cause I just bought F3 recently
But I would rather see 2TB version of F3 than this.

 

[filip007]

Are this compatible with Smart check tools?

Who knows probably not, just avoid checking Seagate and Samsung they are all junk.

Want prof here you go...Seagate 1TB crap
http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/hands-on-review-of-1-tb-seagate-barracuda-720012/

Samsung crap
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1391743

Just waiting for some cash then my Samsung will be smashed to pieces.

Hitachi is my next bet, that must work.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

When I saw F4 I was hoping for a fast 2TB drive... *sigh*.

Love my Sammys.

 

[Darknova]

Who knows probably not, just avoid checking Seagate and Samsung they are all junk.

Want prof here you go...

Samsung crap
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1391743

Just waiting for some cash then my Samsung will be smashed to pieces.

1 report isn't proof, I've got 6 Samsung drives, ranging from 24 months to 1 month in age, all working perfectly, no errors. I've found them to be far better than WD drives and Seagate, but then others say they've had only problems with Samsung, or WD, or Seagate, you just can't get away from problems with electronic equipment, but one problem doesn't mean they're all junk.

Either way, this annoys me, I've just been buying F3s and they announce the F4s dammit lol.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

1 report isn't proof, I've got 6 Samsung drives, ranging from 24 months to 1 month in age, all working perfectly, no errors. I've found them to be far better than WD drives and Seagate, but then others say they've had only problems with Samsung, or WD, or Seagate, you just can't get away from problems with electronic equipment, but one problem doesn't mean they're all junk.

Either way, this annoys me, I've just been buying F3s and they announce the F4s dammit lol.

+1

I've been using Samsung drives for years and I've never had a single drive fail. I beat you Dark by one. I've got 7 Samsung drives.



Working in I.T. the company I work for, use WD HDDs and these have increased in quality a lot since I've been at this company. However, I still won't ever change unless Samsung standards slip.

 

[Taskforce]

1 report isn't proof, I've got 6 Samsung drives, ranging from 24 months to 1 month in age, all working perfectly, no errors. I've found them to be far better than WD drives and Seagate, but then others say they've had only problems with Samsung, or WD, or Seagate, you just can't get away from problems with electronic equipment, but one problem doesn't mean they're all junk.

Either way, this annoys me, I've just been buying F3s and they announce the F4s dammit lol.

Ah don't kick yourself, its basically a 500GB F3 with short stroke, if you ask me they'd be better off just calling it 320GB F3 and reserve the title F4 to something else which truly brings something to the table like all the F series did.

PS, I've been with this series since F1.

 

[Imsochobo]

1 report isn't proof, I've got 6 Samsung drives, ranging from 24 months to 1 month in age, all working perfectly, no errors. I've found them to be far better than WD drives and Seagate, but then others say they've had only problems with Samsung, or WD, or Seagate, you just can't get away from problems with electronic equipment, but one problem doesn't mean they're all junk.

Either way, this annoys me, I've just been buying F3s and they announce the F4s dammit lol.

19 drives...

F1 1tb, still running strong, none have died.. still havnt had a faulty samsung, ive had faulty maxtor, WDC, and loads of seagates. but i will eventually get faulty samsungs, done samsungs now the last two and a half year. or maybe 3..
They run in a Nas, and theyre not showing signs of any faults even though they get quite hot, 40C

 

[OnBoard]

How would 10% faster than F1 compare to F3 I wonder? Cause I just bought F3 recently
But I would rather see 2TB version of F3 than this.

F3 is way faster. I have Both F1 and F3 drives Bought the F3 as it offers speeds similar to the cheapest SSDs and of course much bigger space and waaay cheaper price. Haven't looked back to SSDs since, maybe next year they'll reach mainstrem.

F5 will be the next killer to come, but not for a while, took some time from F2 to F3 too.

 

[douglatins]

Great news!!!
PS I am a time traveler from 2006

19 drives...

F1 1tb, still running strong, none have died.. still havnt had a faulty samsung, ive had faulty maxtor, WDC, and loads of seagates. but i will eventually get faulty samsungs, done samsungs now the last two and a half year. or maybe 3..
They run in a Nas, and theyre not showing signs of any faults even though they get quite hot, 40C

Dude if i had your internets i would download the internets

 

[Mussels]

i've had about 30 samsungs over the last 5 years, only one failed - and it was dodgy out of the box (made strange sounds, had issues powering up - lasted less than a month before completely failing)

i've had far more seagates (that firmware issue) and WD (640GB drives) die than any others.

 

[cdawall]

this drive dieing crap is annoying its a mechanical harddisk with moving parts shit breaks thats how this business works. i have a 40GB IBM IDE drive that still works that thing is like 12 years old now. some drives last some don't the firmware issues have been ironed out for almost a year now stop bringing them up its stupid. also if i had any one companies drive die more than any other it would be maxtor who really doesn't put that much product out anymore. if i had one complaint about drives it would be WD's run hot and loud from my experiences. now will i not buy any from any one company? no i buy whats good cheap and doesn't have 50 reviews in the past month saying this thing f'd up. if you buy on any other reasons (other than warranty) you are a brand whore and need to just not post things about it because it just gets annoying.

 

[Mussels]

this drive dieing crap is annoying its a mechanical harddisk with moving parts shit breaks thats how this business works. i have a 40GB IBM IDE drive that still works that thing is like 12 years old now. some drives last some don't the firmware issues have been ironed out for almost a year now stop bringing them up its stupid. also if i had any one companies drive die more than any other it would be maxtor who really doesn't put that much product out anymore. if i had one complaint about drives it would be WD's run hot and loud from my experiences. now will i not buy any from any one company? no i buy whats good cheap and doesn't have 50 reviews in the past month saying this thing f'd up. if you buy on any other reasons (other than warranty) you are a brand whore and need to just not post things about it because it just gets annoying.

i've got a 4GB WD

the point is, some series of drives (and therefore, brands) are more prone to failure than others in certain conditions. EG, drives that cant handle 40C ambients with 90% humidity are gunna die around me like its going out of fashion.

 

[cdawall]

i've got a 4GB WD

the point is, some series of drives (and therefore, brands) are more prone to failure than others in certain conditions. EG, drives that cant handle 40C ambients with 90% humidity are gunna die around me like its going out of fashion.

most of the drives that are prone to failure are long gone i have not seen a drive that has issues in a while. personally i think if people are going to bitch about 3.5" drive reliability i think they should go order themselves some 500GB 7200RPM 2.5" drives and just raid them they stand heat and movement alot better than the 3.5" drives and thats what i myself have moved to never had a 2.5" die on me knock on wood so i plan on continuing to use the shit outta them

oh and my 512KB IBM drive beats your 4GB WD

 

[Roph]

Fellow F3 lover here Who needs SSDs?

 

[Keef]

F3 1TB & 2X 500gb raid

I got a seagate 256 mb (circa 1994) still works and a Core 10 mb (circa 1990) had 1 F1 Rma'ed Maxtor 500 1 IBM 20gb opver the last 15 years