Build your own External Hard Drive

[essenbe]

Thanks, it's the thought that counts. In case you are interested The Spinpoint is the first drive I recall that writes faster than it reads.

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[essenbe]

Just for comparison purposes, here is a WD iTB wd1002FAEX 6GB/s drive

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[ignatzatsonic]

That's impressive. By way of comparison, here is a benchmark on the drive my new Samsung will replace, a WD Caviar Black 640.

I'm hoping these drives are original Samsungs and not a Seagate-manufactured clone. I don't know if the Samsung brand name will disappear from hard drives or not as a result of the 2 companies' mutual agreement?

 

[essenbe]

Well here's the bad news. From reading on several forums, it seems that samsung won't honor the warranty on these drives. The story is supposedly that these drives were specially made for HP to put in their machines, so Samsung will tell you to go back to the OEM. What makes me believe that is, go to Samsung's website to register this drive. The drive is not listed, you can't register it. I called Samsung support and got a song and dance about them re-doing the website. I was told to choose another Samsung drive and use the S# from the 103sj.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Well here's the bad news. From reading on several forums, it seems that samsung won't honor the warranty on these drives. The story is supposedly that these drives were specially made for HP to put in their machines, so Samsung will tell you to go back to the OEM. What makes me believe that is, go to Samsung's website to register this drive. The drive is not listed, you can't register it. I called Samsung support and got a song and dance about them re-doing the website. I was told to choose another Samsung drive and use the S# from the 103sj.

Well, I guess I'll take my chances on a warranty claim. Never had to on an HD.

I went to the website and confirmed no 103SJ listed. I was mainly interested in tools anyway, not registration, so I said I had a 103 UJ and was able to download the ISO for the ESTOOLS drive utility. I'm guessing you need this app to turn on the acoustic management feature (AAM), which I may want.

It's odd that this model number has been out for about 2 years and still is not listed in Samsung's database. I'll have to go back to newegg and see what they say the warranty is.

 

[essenbe]

Newegg's website says 2 years. One of the reviewers said he called Newegg and they were aware of the problem. Somehow he said he got a phone number for some firm in NJ that he called and they RMA'd the drive with no problems. But, I figure for $50 I'll take my chances.

 

[seekermeister]

Just for comparison purposes, here is a WD iTB wd1002FAEX 6GB/s drive

View attachment 160617​

I still have a couple of those, but I'm going to RMA one of them, and hope that they do as they did before, and send me a new 1.5 FAEX to replace it.

 

[essenbe]

Just for comparison purposes, here is a WD iTB wd1002FAEX 6GB/s drive

View attachment 160617​

I still have a couple of those, but I'm going to RMA one of them, and hope that they do as they did before, and send me a new 1.5 FAEX to replace it.

I've never been through the process but I hear that Western Digital is pretty good on RMAing drives. I'm sure you have to have invoices and such, but I hear they are easy. I hear people talk bad about Seagate. The only HD I have ever RMA was a seagate external. They were great about it and it went through like clockwork.

 

[seekermeister]

I have invoices on them, but have never needed them. WDC just asks for the serial number, which I suppose identifies their age and warranty status. It was a totally painless process, and I had my replacement ~ 1 week after I shipped the old drive to them. Since their RMA center is only 1 state away from me, it might take longer elsewhere.

 

[essenbe]

That's good to know. I might need them someday. BTW, I thought you were building a computer today.

 

[seekermeister]

I am, in my own slow fashion. I have the motherboard assembled and ready to install, but am still plodding toward breaking down the system. I told you that I move like molasses.

 

[essenbe]

I am, in my own slow fashion. I have the motherboard assembled and ready to install, but am still plodding toward breaking down the system. I told you that I move like molasses.

I don't. But I think your way is probably best. You make fewer mistakes. It takes me at least 3 times as long to play with the wiring as it does to put the hardware together.

 

[pparks1]

Yes, I have been impressed with the several Samsungs that I have purchased from NewEgg

I've got a couple of Samsung 2TB F4's. They are very solid drives, and silent.

Noticed they are $79.99 at NewEgg with Free Shipping right now
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[essenbe]

Just to update. I received my Black X and the 2 Samsungs. The Samsungs work perfect and the Black X is great. I'm going to love it. So much easier and quicker to switch hard drives.

 

[seekermeister]

I'm glad that you are happy with them.

 

[essenbe]

I'm glad that you are happy with them.

I am right now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. Have you resolved your issues?

 

[seekermeister]

Most of them. I haven't made any progress on eliminating the pre-BIOS black screen. I disabled the boot splash screen, and the only difference that made in the black screen, is that the number displayed at the lower right corner has changed.

 

[essenbe]

It's got to be a bios thing then.

 

[Cr00zng]

The position of the external case, standing up or laid flat, could impact the drive's performance...

Awhile ego, I've built a system with two identical 1 TB Seagate SATA 3 drives; one for internal and the other for the external case picked up at Newegg. When the performance of the drives were tested, it was interesting.

Internal drive performance:



eSATA drive performance, upright:



That's close to 20% performance drop for the eSATA with the same drive and it didn't make much sense since the eSATA on the machine in question is actually SATA 3. Just out of curiosity, I've laid the external drive flat and ran the test again; this is the result:



That's better and couple of percentage point of differences could be related to the CDM in itself, to the fact that the external drive had couple of gig data on it, eSATA cable, etc.

The HD docks, with their vertical placement of the drives, may have similar results. I don't have one to test, but would be nice if someone could test it...

 

[essenbe]

Cr00zng, I have an internal Samsung hd103sj and the exact same drive in a Blac X external (upright). I did a system image with Macrium to the internal Samsung and the external upright Samsung. My C drive is approx. 20GB and the image is about 8.1 GB. I chose Macrium because it tells the time it takes to do the image.
Internal


External


Not much difference, although I have always heard the same thing.