Hi all,

just bought Seagate's latest champ for $189. This drive features perpendicular recording technology to pack more bits into the same space, improving performance at the same time.

Benchmarks reveal average transfer speeds of 65-67 MB/sec, with a max of around 78-79 MB/sec and 50+ MB/sec for the first 90% of the disc. In other words, it's bloody fast :-) To sweeten the deal, it's also very quiet. Highly recommended!

Does anyone else own, or plan to get, one of these beauts?

i've been looking at it very closely but heard bad stories about the seek noise
did you test using HDTach ?
also can you post the speeds from nForce controller tests ?
(I know its not very accurate but if you are using an nForce4 board as most are, it should provide something I can compare against)

This is possibly the quietest drive I've ever owned. I've yet to hear any clattering during seek, and it stayed silent throughout the benchmarks.

I have an nForce4 controller, and with it, I got about 235 MB/sec burst and 79.6 MB/s transfer speeds =)

I also tested with HD Tach, and it reported an average of 67 MB/sec and the graph exceeded 80 MB/sec in a few spots at the beginning.

Screenshots will be posted later -- currently DBaNing the drive.

Edit: HD Tune graph

alexanderino writes...

Does anyone else own, or plan to get, one of these beauts?

I bought a 7200.9 300GB for $220+ a couple of months ago, otherwise I would have gone for this :(

Viper6 writes...

I bought a 7200.9 300GB for $220+ a couple of months ago, otherwise I would have gone for this :(

Damn :-P I nearly went out and bought the same drive last week from MSY for $149, but then I did some preliminary research and stumbled across the 320 GB gem ^_^

Try flogging it off to someone who couldn't care less about synthetic benchmarks and drive revisions.

i got a couple of seagate 300Gb 16M and a couple of WD 300GB 8M drives a few weeks back and the wd's peform better speedwise

Are they PATA or SATA? Do you know which specific models? Would love to see some benchmarks.

alexanderino writes...

Does anyone else own, or plan to get, one of these beauts?

Im contemplating migrating my current 1 terabyte of storage (various Sata and Pata 200-250gb drives, some of it raided) over to some of these in a Raid 5 array. Would need 4 of them to replicate the space but I can rest easy knowing its all got fault tolerance :)

alexanderino writes...

Are they PATA or SATA? Do you know which specific models? Would love to see some benchmarks.

there sata drive

ill run the benchmark again and post not sure if it will say the models (and i cant see the stickers unless i take the drives out)

/dev/hdc: "WD IDE drive"
Timing cached reads: 2448 MB in 2.01 seconds = 1219.68 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 124 MB in 3.01 seconds = 41.25 MB/sec

/dev/sda: "WD SATA drive"
Timing cached reads: 2440 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1219.40 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 192 MB in 3.01 seconds = 63.70 MB/sec

/dev/sdb: "WD SATA drive"
Timing cached reads: 2444 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1221.58 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 198 MB in 3.02 seconds = 65.63 MB/sec

/dev/sdc: "Seagate SATA drive"
Timing cached reads: 2440 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1218.37 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 176 MB in 3.03 seconds = 58.13 MB/sec

/dev/sdd: "Seagate SATA drive"
Timing cached reads: 2448 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1222.51 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 178 MB in 3.03 seconds = 58.80 MB/sec

Thanks :-) You can find the model designations under Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager -> Disk Drives or using Parted in Linux.

would 4 of these be faster in RAID-5 than 2 Raptor 74GB in RAID-0?

Dunno, but have a look at this:

forums.storagereview.net...indpost&p=229798

4 of these drives in RAID0, 124.8 MB/sec average. Latency is still 13 ms.

ok i ran it again and got the models apparently i was very confused i had the drives backward thought and a b were the WD's and c and d were the Seagates

turns out the 16m Seatages do perform better sorry :)

/dev/sda: ST3300622AS:
Timing cached reads: 2756 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1378.08 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 192 MB in 3.02 seconds = 63.66 MB/sec

/dev/sdb: ST3300622AS:
Timing cached reads: 2752 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1375.86 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 198 MB in 3.01 seconds = 65.70 MB/sec

/dev/sdc: WDC WD3000JS-19PDB0:
Timing cached reads: 2744 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1370.75 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 168 MB in 3.01 seconds = 55.75 MB/sec

/dev/sdd: WDC WD3000JS-19PDB0:
Timing cached reads: 2744 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1369.56 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 176 MB in 3.01 seconds = 58.54 MB/sec

/dev/hdc: WDC WD2000JB-00GVA0:
Timing cached reads: 2740 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1369.55 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 180 MB in 3.01 seconds = 59.70 MB/sec

Personally I'd be wary of new disc recording technologies.

Reliability is prime concern and generally new technologies can fail quite badly (eg. glass platters on IBM Deathstars).

vallik writes...

turns out the 16m Seatages do perform better sorry :)

This has been my experience as well ;-) Thanks for the benchmarks.

BTW, you might find this interesting: forums.storagereview.net...?showtopic=22806

@Thrawn: very good point, and it's something that's been on my mind since I learnt of perpendicular tech. I'm currently running DBaN on it, and the verification hasn't thrown any errors so far [88.78% done]. In the past, it has caught out disks that were about to fail butreported no errors during a full format.

Nonetheless, will be keeping a close eye [and regular backups!] on the drive.

Edit: DBaN has done its task in 2:45:21. Speed varied from 84000 to 64500 kBps. Zero errors reported :-)

Here you go: HD Tach graph :-)

I picked one up tonight. Haven't used it yet though, but will be keen tomorrow night to get it operational.

Was going to go for the WD 74Gb Raptor, but no store in the city had it in stock at a reasonable price.

Have just finished reading about it on SR, and they keep talking about the noise of the drive on seeks, so I'm hoping my Sonata case will aid in that area.

How is the noise after you've had some time to play??

It remained totally silent throughout the benchmark tests -- even while the random access test was carried out, I couldn't hear a thing. Every other drive I have owned breaks out into a chorus resembling rain on a roof.

I suspect you'll be pleased with it :-)

From what I read, it would appear that they operate much better in RAID0.

Given they are so cheap, might have to look into this sooner rather than later. :)

But how quiet is this drive? My SATA Seagates are shocking, older 120gb is great..

bqpd writes...

But how quiet is this drive?

Read my posts, dude :-P Quietest drive I've ever had, can't hear a thing even at full load.

alexanderino writes...

Read my posts, dude :-P Quietest drive I've ever had, can't hear a thing even at full load.

That's good - I did read your posts, but some people's version of 'quiet' is other people 747 turbines. If you literally can't hear a thing from this drive, and if both of your ears work and your hearing is of an average or better standard, and can hear all frequencies, then it is truly a wonderful drive, that SPCR will no doubt put on their recommended list, if it is not there already :) I've been waiting for a drive like this!

bqpd writes...

SPCR will no doubt put on their recommended list

www.silentpcreview.com/a...le611-page1.html

Doesn't look that great at all actually. :( Maybe the lower capacity ones with less platters are better, but this one sounds like a screamer.

alexanderino writes...

Quietest drive I've ever had, can't hear a thing even at full load.

Hmmm is the drive suspended in a vacuum by any chance? Hehe, nah I'm just kidding. I'm just disappointed with Seagate's new drives... and want to make sure the next one is really really quiet.

Right :-) To compare with this, I have a 250 GB 7200.8 with makes quite a racket when seeking, and a WD 160 GB 1600JS that is quiet, yet audible.

To be honest, I can make out a very faint hissing when the 7200.10 is going full throttle, but I have to consciously look out for it.

And my hearing is not too bad, either.

Some people have found it to be the noisiest drive they've ever owned, but I suspect they are aberrations. Hopefully Seagate have got it right from now on.

Do these drives have NCQ

yes they do. you could have looked on seagates site

Nuke The Whales writes...

Doesn't look that great at all actually. :( Maybe the lower capacity ones with less platters are better, but this one sounds like a screamer.

Not surprising for 4 platters. More annoying are the reports coming in for the 320GB - they're described as either extremely quiet or extremely loud:

forums.storagereview.net...topic=22660&st=0

So, much like Dell and their LCD panels, it sounds like another bloody lucky dip.

alexanderino writes...

Benchmarks reveal average transfer speeds of 65-67 MB/sec, with a max of around 78-79 MB/sec and 50+ MB/sec for the first 90% of the disc. In other words, it's bloody fast :-)

when the speed for the non-perpendicular drives for cpmparison

The Keymaster writes...

More annoying are the reports coming in for the 320GB - they're described as either extremely quiet or extremely loud:

Yeah - bloody frustrating; I steered a mate away from this unit (ST3320620AS) and to the ST3300622AS based upon the conflicting reports I've read.

Bara-suishou writes...

when the speed for the non-perpendicular drives for cpmparison

WD 160GB SATA: 35.4/61.0/52.6 MB/sec [min/max/avg]
Seagate 250 GB SATA: 32.9/68.5/55.1 MB/sec [min/max/avg]

HD Tune stats of my other drives.

Thanks for the smart assed reply Graham

My reason for asking the question from people who actually own one of these drives was because i have had conflicting reports from some etailers about this.
I also looked at the seagate link that they provided and there is no mention of NCQ

www.seagate.com/cda/prod...1081,759,00.html

Sorry i should have known better than to ask questions in a forum! what was i thinking.

hubgod writes...

Sorry i should have known better than to ask questions in a forum! what was i thinking.

Well in this forum anyway! Sold one the other day, I can ask my customer for some feedback if you like.

Viper6 writes...

I bought a 7200.9 300GB for $220+ a couple of months ago, otherwise I would have gone for this :(

im flapping spewing.

i bought 2x 300GB 7200.9 from umart for $189 each

they told me they wouldnt discount them because god knows...

a couple weeks later they went down $168.... and now this ffs
oh well
**** a duck

Seeing that you're in Sydney, I would've bought them from MSY for $149 each -- it's been listed at that price for some weeks now.

But why didn't you want a 7200.10 drive? Didn't you know they were coming? Or were you in no position to wait?

alexanderino writes...

I would've bought them from MSY for $149 each -- it's been listed at that price for some weeks now.

"NO STOCK"

any they were selling the 7200.8 not the 7200.9

But why didn't you want a 7200.10 drive? Didn't you know they were coming? Or were you in no position to wait?

i wanted the 7200.10

but the wait was too long and i needed drives there and then.

i guess im just gonna have to wait till 750GB drives are a reasonable prices before a splash on them

I had a brand new 2 week old 7200.9 300GB completely crap itself on Sunday morning. It just died with the 'click of death', no warning, or premature clicking. It semi-recovered later in the day and almost booted windows, but it was making a horrible grinding noise. I tried again to boot it later on Sunday night, and it wouldn't (and continues not to) even detect on POST.

A 320GB 7200.10 is currently en-route as the replacement.

Yikes :-P Were you able to recover any valuable data off it?

Since then, I have bought a couple more of the 7200.10 320 GBs. All running fine, fast and quiet, AFAIK.

I have one as well, in an external enclosure, and it's fast and very quiet.

I'm led to believe that the PATA models are quiet, but the SATA ones are loud...but I only have my one (PATA) confirming instance of that theory.

For what it is worth, have a look at this post if you want to change the AAM setting of your drive. It may work.
www.motherboardpoint.com...own-the-hdd.html

sydbod writes...

It may work.

Sorry to burst your bubble. It won't. Unless you can reflash the firmware (!!void warranty etc!!), you won't be able to change it.

t

ţáemμη writes...

Sorry to burst your bubble. It won't. Unless you can reflash the firmware (!!void warranty etc!!), you won't be able to change it.


I think that is what it it is supposed to do (reflash). That is how all the other drives do it.
Under Linux these sort of reflash modifications are easy to do.
Yes you may be correct in that any reflash can void warranty if it goes wrong.
:)

sydbod writes...

That is how all the other drives do it.

Nah. Most you can edit using a small dos based utility. Each manufacturer has a different utility for it. But 7200.10's are incapable of this.

Reflashing HDD firmware -> :X

t

ţáemμη writes...

Nah. Most you can edit using a small dos based utility. Each manufacturer has a different utility for it. But 7200.10's are incapable of this.


Seagate supported AAM, but they took the utility to change this feature out due to patent issues.
I think AAM is a S.M.A.R.T. command, so it is supposed to be the same for all the different hard drives.
I remember reading somewhere a post from Seagate that if people want to change the setting on their drive then they should look up on the net and use an aftermarket utility. I am certain they would not have made such an announcement if it was not meant to be change. Just wish I could find that announcement again. I think it was in an interview to a Seagate bigwig from one of the computer sites about why seagate removed the utility.

EDIT: mind you, that small dos based utility does a reflash of part of the firmware (SMART parameters) that is standard across all new hard disk drives. Just so long as that utility does not do a check of what brand of drive you are using and stop you if you do not use the companies brand of disk.

I just got my new 7200.10 320GB replacement drive yesterday.

It's fairly quiet, a bit quieter than my dead 7200.9 300GB. On the outside, it looks physically identical to the 7200.9, same case, same chips, everything. The only difference is the stickers. Drive was made in China. The 7200.9 was made in Thailand and my ole trusty 120GB SATA IV in my old PC was made in Singapore.

eh, iirc my drive (7200.10 320gb) was made in singapore. same product i guess.

I bought 3 x 7200.10's 320gb and put them in RAID 0 a few weeks back. They were 170 ea.
My HDtach is somewhere else on a post but I can't find. New linky:

web.aanet.com.au/wjtopp/...hdtach720010.jpg

Here's tech reports review of the 7200.10 750 GB. They also measure noise and power consumption and it's deffo worth the read.

techreport.com/reviews/2....10/index.x?pg=1

Interesting link that shows the cost per gigabyte for various HDDs based on SecretNet pricing. The 320GB 7200.10 is right in there at $0.51 / GB ($162).
www.secret.com.au/cgi-bi...-hddcostpergb.pl

I only recently purchased the PATA version of this drive (ST3320620A) so as to fit inside my new external enclosure (NexStar:LS).

It appears to have the identical spec www.seagate.com/cda/prod...1085,751,00.html

Anyone manage to get one of these 320gb SATA-II 7200.10 that's made in Singapore?

VVVVV writes...

Anyone manage to get one of these 320gb SATA-II 7200.10 that's made in Singapore?

Mine is made in China :-(

Hi Michael, thanks for the reply. Does the drive actually state "Made in China"? Mine has "Made in Singapore" [VVVV, take note] but also carries the MIC logo.

Have you benchmarked it? :-)

alexanderino writes...

Hi Michael, thanks for the reply. Does the drive actually state "Made in China"? Mine has "Made in Singapore" [VVVV, take note] but also carries the MIC logo.

The static bag had a seal sticker on it which said "Made in China", and the sticker on the drive says the same thing.

All the drives I bought had no sticker on the static bag. As for the drive label itself, have a look at the first pic: techreport.com/reviews/2....10/index.x?pg=1

See the MIC logo? The drives I bought sported the same, and apparently it stands for Made in China (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm most grateful]

alexanderino writes...

See the MIC logo? The drives I bought sported the same, and apparently it stands for Made in China (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm most grateful]

I don't know any better, but googling for "mic seagate" turn up this:
www.quantum.com/Servicea...s/AIT/Index.aspx
The MIC chip, on the other hand, is a 64Kb EEPROM that is mounted within the tape cartridge itself, and allows a direct and immediate connection to the tape drive's memory. Whenever MIC media is inserted into a Sidewinder AIT drive, an interface connects with the MIC and allows information to be directly read from or written to the MIC chip.

Which is obviously talking about tapes, not HDD's. :confused:

t

MIC may refer to:
Malaysian Indian Congress
Mary Immaculate College, Limerick
Methyl isocyanate
Message Integrity Code
Miami Intermodal Center
Microbiologically-influenced corrosion
Military-industrial complex
Minimum inhibitory concentration
Ministry of Information and Communication (South Korea)
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Japan)
Model Integrated Computing
Mortgage Investment Corporation

mmmmmmmmm

OCC|xlr8ed writes...

mmmmmmmmm

go Wikipedia :)

VVVVV writes...

Anyone manage to get one of these 320gb SATA-II 7200.10 that's made in Singapore?

yes, me

dammit does anyone else's one make a damn annoying pitch pitch noise?

i returned it back for a replacement and still there!!!!

or am i just getting wrong impression when people say this thing is "quiet"

it's like the sound you hear at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan when Tom Hanks only hears this whirl kinda thing while the other sound effects are gone

i have a dell sc430 server which currently has an 80g and 2x 300g hd's in raid 1.
i think im going to get one of these seagate, then i can partition and store os on 20 and have 3 x 300g in raid 5...
320g is a very convenient size for me ;)

The drive isn't as quiet as the older 7200.9's IIRC.
This drive is 2.9 bels seek accoustics, while the other ones are about 2.8 or 2.7

I've had my ST3320620AS for a couple of weeks now and it's the best hdd I've had (to be fair, I was coming from a 250gb PATA 7200, WD aswell which is noisy as hell compared to the seagate), games and apps have never loaded so fast! I'm thinking of picking up another one and running them in raid, they're so cheap!

Anyone bought one recently in Melb that's made in singapore? Please pm me the shop if you don't mind. Thanks in advance!

alexanderino writes...

Does anyone else own, or plan to get, one of these beauts?

Got one yesterday and it is a beaut! I can confirm that mine is also very quiet - especially compared to our old PATA 60GB Seagate (ST360021A). Seems very fast too.

I have ordered 2 of these drives today, i guess its a lucky dip to see what i get

I recently bought one of these.
Very happy with the speed and noise ect.
I just have one problem and maybe someone could help me

Ever since i installed it i have been having problems with my computer restarting randomly and it hanging.

A friend told me it could be an issue with the power supply as i am only running a 400w
any help would be much appreciated

Alibrando writes...

Ever since i installed it i have been having problems with my computer restarting randomly and it hanging.

A friend told me it could be an issue with the power supply as i am only running a 400w

If it's a no-name 400W unit, then I'd definitely suspect it as a possible cause. Can you possibly borrow another PSU to test the theory? That's your best bet.

I have one of these drives, made in china, in a coolmaster x-craft caddy, its formatting away now, doesn't seem loud, well no louder then the case fans.

Review

www.elitebastards.com/cm...&id=84&Itemid=27

does any one know if the Seagate 320gb SATA HDD at MSY are the 7200.10 model?
im getting a new HDD at the end of the week and i'm still deciding on what to get...
i want something quiet and fast... and this seems to fit the bill!

I'm waiting to get mine. God damn retailer has taken the money out but hasn't shipped them. >_<

VVVVV writes...

Anyone bought one recently in Melb that's made in singapore?

Not closely related but i bought the last Singapore made 7200.10 320gb SATA (out of a stack of around 10 HDDs) from Digital Aus, Capitol Square, China Town Sydney, yesterday 25/07/2006. I think they still have some singapore make 7200.10 in other capacity.

All other shops that i visit have only China made one.

Note that the Singaporean made 7200.10 is in a clampshell storage while the Chinese made ones are in static, brown bag.

I've had a ST3320620AS in a Welland eSATA/USB2 enclosure for a few weeks now. I corroborate with others that the drive is very quiet in this enclosure, however there is vibration. The noise of a drive seems to be dependant on mounting you provide, with different brands/models being unique, the drive is part of a system that must work together to achieve a low noise. This is also important with the controller/drive.

I haven't benchmarked the drive, no need as this drive is in an external enclosure for storage purposes. The drive does seem to be more than capable with eSATA.

I can give a thumbs up to this drive, I would not hesitate to purchase another seagate, I actually prefer them based on my experience. This is the best consumer grade drive I have had, it has a lot going for it. If your lucky it'll be an excellent match for your hardware, otherwise try another brand/model.

Check out that 5 year warranty !

FlakeyJake writes...

does any one know if the Seagate 320gb SATA HDD at MSY are the 7200.10 model?

Yeah, the Seagate 320GB SATA drives that MSY sell are the 7200.10 model.

shanec writes...

I have one of these drives, made in china, in a coolmaster x-craft caddy, its formatting away now, doesn't seem loud, well no louder then the case fans.

Sweet, i should be getting the same caddy so hopefully mine is just a quiet.

alexanderino writes...

Does anyone else own, or plan to get, one of these beauts?

I should get off my butt and do my tax return so I can afford these, its currently on the top of my "to buy and cannot afford just yet list" I've used 50% of my storage capacity already so its almost time to add more drive space.

¤poknat¤ writes...

I should get off my butt and do my tax return so I can afford these

That's what my mate did... "A couple of grand should do it", he says...

Tax man had other ideas: "A couple of grand ... Pay NOW!"

* Can anyone say, "Bye, Bye Conroe System etc?" ... :-( *

Edit: I'll be picking up 4 of these drives on Sunday - local computer markets. Cheap as chips. :-)

It'll be good to get rid of the collection of 60/80/120 Gig drives - all they achieve is a lot of noise for little storage.

Yeah got one of these drives for myself a few weeks ago, it's been great and is noticably faster than the drive i replaced it with. Can hear the occasional seek sound when it's just doing short frequent accesses but it's no louder than other hard drives i have owned, besides which i have a fairly quiet machine.
I also have here an 7200.10 IDE 320 gig, does that also use the Perpendicular recording like the Sata one? This one is for my brother's machine, No Sata on it.

I'm looking to go to Singapore in the next few months. Hopefully they'll have the made in SIN ones there.

Anyone had experience buying HDDs there? What's the cost comparison like?

fishy writes...

I'm looking to go to Singapore in the next few months. Hopefully they'll have the made in SIN ones there.

Anyone had experience buying HDDs there? What's the cost comparison like?

According to a Singaporean forum (forums.hardwarezone.com/...300&page=6&pp=15) there seems to be a lot of China made in singaporean shops.

Pricewise, it was around 170 Singaporean dollar.

z2177199 writes...

Note that the Singaporean made 7200.10 is in a clampshell storage while the Chinese made ones are in static, brown bag.

What's the difference between the two other than the packaging?

The Black Flag writes...

What's the difference between the two other than the packaging?

According to internet's rumors (google), the Singaporean made is refer because Made in Singapore - Seagate factory vs Made in China - Maxtor factory (and Seagate had a higher QC compare to the old Maxtor)

Regardless of the making origin, in order to get a quiet drive, you have better chance of getting a silent motor (see picture in this link forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?p=2157618) if you bought the drive from a shop and visually inspect it instead of order/buy it online.

The Black Flag writes...

What's the difference between the two other than the packaging?

There shouldnt be except for origin, packaging is up to the distributor not where its made in

z2177199 writes...

Regardless of the making origin, in order to get a quiet drive, you have better chance of getting a silent motor (see picture in this link forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?p=2157618) if you bought the drive from a shop and visually inspect it instead of order/buy it online.

Very interesting. Thanks for that.

AnandTech hosts Western Digital and Seagate: 320GB grudge match

www.anandtech.com/storag...wdoc.aspx?i=2803

I just got one of these. Mines made in Singapore, and has the 'quiet' motor. I've never complained about HDD noise before, but this one sounds like mouse squeaking and has a general rumble that seems a little louder than my 120G series 7's. Very annoying. Hopefully it will go away as the motor wears in.

It seems the identification of "quiet" models is flawed ?

Vinco writes...

I just got one of these. Mines made in Singapore, and has the 'quiet' motor. I've never complained about HDD noise before, but this one sounds like mouse

I bought the Chinese model (at the time had no knowledge of Singapore and Chinese variants). Absolutely quiet - completely inaudible (Lian Li case).

And VERY fast. I was previously using hardware RAID 5 with 3 x 160GB Seagates - this is faster as an independent disk.

sdb: Current: sense key: Medium Error
Additional sense: Unrecovered read error - auto reallocate failed
end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 349025791

Looks like mine just bit the dust. Perhaps that was what all the racket was about..

Ouch, Vinco. Hope you didn't lose any data.

Now put that 5 year warranty to use! :-)

Looks like that motor really did wear in, right in. Hope you get this sorted without too many problems. Maybe the "china made" model is the one to try next.

Yeah I think it was bung from the word go. Hence all the chirping and squeaking was probably sectors being reallocated. The store I bought it from was closed today, so hopefully tomorrow I can get another one. I'll try to get one from an sg site other than AMK.

I just bought the Seagate 320GB 7200.10, it works as specified, fast and relatively quiet -- it's certainly quieter than the 250GB 7200.9 I was using before.

I'm a happy chappy, Seagate hasn't let me down yet.

alexanderino writes...

just bought Seagate's latest champ for $189.

AUD? thats way to expensive...

crich writes...

AUD? thats way to expensive...

I wouldn't say that. It's a little higher than the average price, but not WAY too expensive. Paying $236 (highest on Staticice, almost $100 more than cheapest) would be way too expensive.

I have found usually if the drive costs a bit more, you get the cost of the service that backs it up. That is not just the warrenty of the manufacturer. However, sometimes you just pay more.

ajhwp writes...

I have found usually if the drive costs a bit more, you get the cost of the service that backs it up. That is not just the warrenty of the manufacturer. However, sometimes you just pay more.

Bahhh ... Humbug ... and other dismissive words !!!

But ANY Seagate HDD for the cheapest price you can find from ANY store and take full advantage of an Australia Post postage cost to the Bottany (shipping) Terminal in Sydney (approx $5) - the drive is replaced in less then 10 days (99% of the time) and the return shipping is paid for by Seagate!!!

LOCAL warranty only serves to SLOW the replacement process by a number of days/weeks - essentially at the local providers pleasure :-(

(However, local warranty on other items is often worth its weight in gold :-) )

I bought three of these. All good so far! I see they are steadily dropping in price
as low as $144!!! Two Singapore & one Chinese! Will see?

chrisbillabong writes...

I bought three of these.

Three??? You must be a "tourist" ... ;-)

... I purchased FOUR today ... that makes me "hard core" ;-)

(I was going to purchase FIVE, but that would have made me look like a "hard core" wannabee ;-) )

Edit: Without a word of a lie here; I purchased my HDD's and the first thing I did was look at the colour of the "glue" around the motor ...

But, bugger me, I forgot the colour of the "good glue drive" and the "bad glue drive" ...

SOLUTION? "Just buy the drive handed to you ... " :-)

Playing with Vista! I have installed on one and just swap between them!
I bought the three over the last four weeks.
And as you know, one is external.

Best value at the moment. I am going to RAID O when I'm finished.

chrisbillabong writes...

Best value at the moment. I am going to RAID O when I'm finished.

Buy (minimum) ONE more drive and go RAID 5 ... best, maximum storage - cheapest backup solution available :-)

(I went RAID 5, so I'm seeking justification ;-) )

Singapore = Pink! Also says "Product Of Singapore" & In a bubble pack!

China = Blue! "Product Of China" in bag with sticker seal saying same!

Chief Procrastinator writes...

ONE more drive and go RAID 5

Best performance with 2 isn't it? I have nothing that I am worried about losing
Have 5 externals!

chrisbillabong writes...

Singapore = Pink! Also says "Made In Singapore" & In a bubble pack!

What does it matter? Seagate warranty is always good :-)

... I'd love to talk more about this, but I've got a splitting headache - only developed since this afternoon ... ;-)

Edit: Seriously, there is a "whine" coming from my PC -but I suspect it is the stock cooling fan of the AMD 939 processor ...

... damn cheap AMD 939's ... I should have bought "this quality" 939 a couple of weeks ago ;-)

Yeah! Five years. cya

crich writes...

AUD? thats way to expensive...

I got one of the first drives that landed in Australia, and $189 was almost the cheapest you could find one for.

This Wednesday, I just might get another one for $144 ;-)

Chief Procrastinator writes...

Bahhh ... Humbug ... and other dismissive words !!!


Ah well, I guess you have more experience than me here Chief.

Just had my borken one replaced. Computer shop guy was mister grumble pants, rekoned that I was the first person so far to have one fail.

Anyway, so far so good. No chirps. No squeeks. In fact is the thing even on? I swear I can't hear it.

They are quiet and seem to kick ass a bit better! They must be selling a million, really at a sweet price at the moment. Shame the 750 Gb is so dear though!

Chinese made isn't so bad these days.

Oh well! 4 years, 350 odd days left of warranty.

It's bloody quiet, isn't it? =) Mine is, too. Does yours have the pink goo near the motor? Is it made in China or Singapore?

I have two Singapore (Pink) & one China (Blue) who knows which is better!

The China-made drive is supposedly the worse of the two. Apparently, it's an ex-Maxtor factory [if it's true, that's scary].

Correct me if any of the above is wrong.

Time will tell!

Errgh! I must be jinxed. The replacement drive is completely silent, however i cannot format it!!!

blood:/home/vinco # mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb1
...
Writing inode tables: 1962/2385


It gets to about 80% then the syslog starts to show errors

sdb: Current: sense key: Aborted Command
Additional sense: Scsi parity error
end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 504630421
Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 252315179
lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1
ATA: abnormal status 0xD0 on port 0x977

I've swapped leads, controllers, kernels, bios patches etc. Tomorrow I'll try another computer, but so far it looks like I'm jinxed.

Try removing the jumper on the drive itself. That will switch it from 1.5 Gb/s to 3 Gb/s mode. Worth a try.

chrisbillabong writes...

I have two Singapore (Pink) & one China (Blue)

My drive is made in China, and has pink insulator.

ajhwp writes...

My drive is made in China, and has pink insulator.

You have just blown the whole colour code thing out of the water!!!

The bloody Chinese have got onto the pink glue secret!

alexanderino writes...

Try removing the jumper on the drive itself.

Tried it didn't do much. Now the drive is telling me its no longer partitioned. Oh boy!

alexanderino writes...

Try removing the jumper on the drive itself. That will switch it from 1.5 Gb/s to 3 Gb/s mode. Worth a try.

Whoa there - please explain.

Are you implying that the drive is shipped as a 1.5 rather than 3 Gb/s?

Rach3 writes...

Are you implying that the drive is shipped as a 1.5 rather than 3 Gb/s?

Yup. The drive is shipped with a jumper set to limit sata to 1.5Gb/s.

Remove the jumper and you have 3Gb/s!

SATA vs SATA II (Different to a jumper on IDE)

www.cdrinfo.com/Sections...?ArticleId=16014

alexanderino writes...

The China-made drive is supposedly the worse of the two. Apparently, it's an ex-Maxtor factory [if it's true, that's scary].

Correct me if any of the above is wrong.

It is true - that's why i was getti