Samsung SpinPoint SATA 5400rpm 8 MB Cache 1 TB 2.5-Inch Hard Drive (M8 HN-M101MBB)
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- 1 TB
- 5400 RPM
- 9.5 mm height
- Buffer DRAM Size: 8 MB
- Interface: SATA 3.0 Gbps
1TB 5400RPM 8MB Cache Sata 3.0 GBPS
Laptop Hard Drive
Samsung SpinPoint SATA 5400rpm 8 MB Cache 1 TB 2.5-Inch Hard Drive (M8 HN-M101MBB)
List Price: $ 119.99
Price:
Great Drive – Excellent Value,
**UPDATED AFTER A YEAR OF USE**
Coming in at around a hundred bucks, this new drive is definitely a contender in the realm of 1TB notebook drives, and so far is getting rave reviews on the internet. I don’t like to buy into hype however, so I decided to buy one and take it for a test spin (pun intended). I normally buy everything off of Amazon, but for this drive I had to venture elsewhere (sadly).
MISC INFORMATION:
Backed by an industry-standard 3-year limited warranty.
Average Seek Time: 12 ms
Operating Temperature: 5° F to 131 ° F
Liner shock (operating): 325 G
Liner shock (non-operating): 1000G
Typical Read/Write Draw: 2.5W
DESIGN
First thing I want to talk about is the design. I believe this is the only 2.5″ hard-drive on the market that is 9.5mm in height (as of 05/2011), rather than the usual 12mm. Now this won’t make a huge difference for most people, but for those who want more storage in their ultra-slim laptop, or for people like me who wanted to add some storage to an Apple laptop via an optical driver adapter, this is the hard-drive to go with. Those extra 2.5mm can mean the difference between success and failure. Apart from that, this is your standard laptop drive. I must admit it is quiet, I can barely hear it over my laptop fan, even while seeking/powering up. The noise guard technology simply works.
SPEED
In my opinion, this is not the ideal drive for a main OS. At 5400RPM and 8MB of cache, you are looking at the lower end of the spectrum as far as drives go. If speed is very important to you I would highly recommend going with something like the Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB 7200RPM Drive, which I also use and it is night and day faster than the Spinpoint. While 5400RPM is the standard for most manufacturers (including Apple), that does not make it ideal, and there are better drives to be had. That said, for a large percentage of users, this drive will be a great choice, it offers reasonable speeds, low noise and a huge amount of storage! For all intents and purposes, for ME this is a storage drive, and in that capacity it functions VERY well. I have added my XBench results in the “Customer Images” section for your consideration. With an average seek time of 12ms and an average initial response time of close to 4ms this drive is not at the top, but well within normal ranges.
FUNCTIONALITY
So I have been using this drive for a little while now, and have gotten to know it a little better. This is an excellent storage drive and is pretty snappy in response times – I have it set to sleep when not in use to conserver energy, and it only takes a second or two to wake up and be accessible. I installed Photoshop on it to see how it would react, and while it was definitely useable it didn’t have the slick response of my primary Momentus XT drive. That said, it wasn’t half bad and would definitely work in a pinch, or if you are a regular user without the need for the fastest hardware available. Of course the biggest attraction for this drive will be the giant 1TB storage space. It is excellent to not have to worry about external drives coming with me as I work, as well as having my entire iTunes collection constantly at my fingertips.
WHY 5 STARS??
– Fits in most laptops out there, including ultra-slim (+)
– Price is more than competitive for this hardware, a hair faster than competitor drives (+)
– Extremely quiet (+)
– 2x500GB platters vs 3 platters on other drives (+)
– Works with Optibay Adapter for Macbook/Pro (+)
– 3 year industry-standard warranty
OVERALL
I am still extremely pleased with this drive, and if Samsung’s other products are anything to go off of, I don’t expect many problems with it. The price is right, let’s not forget that a 1TB hard-drive for your desktop or even externally topped the two hundred dollar (or more) mark just last year! In the year that I have owned it, I have had ZERO problems, and it has even been used in several different machines. It’s fast, quiet, and adds 1TB of internal storage to my laptop – there really is just no complaining about this.
Don’t let my comments about speed scare you off from this drive – I consider myself a power user, and my day to day workflow involves some very hardware-intense operations. If you are using this for a work/social/gaming computer, you will be just fine!
Highly recommended!
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|Amazing,
I bought it for my PS3
wanted to upgrade my 160GB HDD
received it in my mailbox, 2 minutes later i had a 1TB PS3 at my disposal
If you’re looking to buy for a PS3, I truly recommend this (a worthy purchase)
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|Excellent Choice for Mac OS,
I purchased this drive elsewhere because amazon would not ship it to Hawaii.
Originally I wasn’t sure about using it in my macbook pro because of something that the other reviewer said: “If you are purchasing this for an OS drive, and the 8MB of cache wasn’t a warning sign, then you are on your own. At 5400RPM and 8MB of cache, you really shouldn’t be using this for an OS drive, or even as a secondary application drive.”
I am pleased to report that the above statement is not true. Originally, my 2011 macbook pro came with 320GB 5400 rpm drive. Apple considers them good enough to be included as standard. I installed this Samsung drive in my macbook and it works even better than the one that it came with from Apple. It definitely feels much faster than the Apple’s 320GB drive. Later on I came across some benchmarks that someone posted online of the Samsung drive, and they were the best in class and even exceeded some 7200 rpm drives’ benchmarks. My point is if you are considering using this drive as your primary mac os drive, it is a good choice. Don’t listen to this other reviewer. My personal plan is: use this Samsung 1TB as a primary OS drive until the prices for Solid State Drives (SSD’s) drop, and then install an SSD in addition to this. SSD will be my primary OS drive and I will use this nice Samsung drive for “deep storage.”
Some other things that I wanted to point out. The drive is very quiet. In fact, it is silent. I don’t hear it working. I’ve heard that some 7200 rpm drives are audible. This one is not. If you appreciate silence, this is a drive for you.
I monitor temperature using iStat and it runs nice and cool.
I used it for over a months now and I don’t have any complaints. My boot times, shut downs, application launches are quicker than the ones I experienced with the stock Apple drive. Knowing that it is a Samsung gives me a peace of mind; I suspect it will last, but I still back up often using the Time Machine (it’s a good habit to have).
It is a good investment. Highly recommend.
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