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    Samsung spin point 2tb 9.5mm 2.5 inch. Any good?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by King of Interns, May 4, 2014.

  1. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    I see this has been released and fully compatible for use inside laptops!

    Has anybody done the upgrade and can report noise, temp, performance etc.

    Very tempting buy after a LONG wait!!


    Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
     
  2. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    For myself, too many negatives:


    High capacity drives with Seagate and Samsung as the brand names along with 5400 RPM spindle speeds are a recipe for disaster ime.

    The sequential speeds will be the fastest (marginally) by default of the high platter density, however, in every other respect the drive will fall on it's face, performance-wise.

    The higher the platter density the higher the latency becomes as the heads need much more time to stop bouncing around between tracks and lock in on the track they're supposed to read or write to.

    Seagate/Samsung also has the worst track record with these important characteristics ime in real world use. If this was a TravelStar Hitachi drive, I would be more positive.

    If you really need 2TB of online data with you at all times: I pity you (from a performance perspective). This would be the last drive in the world I would be considering for a new/newer system in 2014 as the primary/only drive. If we're talking an SSD/HDD setup this would still be relegated to storage only - and in that case: an external HDD makes more sense to me (keeps the notebook more robust by taking out mechanical storage) even if it makes for a bigger/heavier total carrying weight.



    See:
    Samsung Spinpoint M9T Hard Drive Review | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews



    This would have been tempting in 2009/2010, but the world has surpassed these dinosaurs by leaps and bounds - even for mobile use as they're aimed to be.

    With a good USB3.0 enclosure, I could see this being indispensable to save work projects to.



    Using this inside a notebook in (almost) Q3 2014 is like tying an inflatable raft around your neck and going swimming.





    .
     
  3. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Don't buy Samsung they are the worst HDD manufacture for reliability, though Samsung is among the best make for SSD`s go figure, they were sold to Seagate but stock is still out there, the best make for reliability is Western Digital.

    John.
     
  4. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    I haz one, it's great. Read this. You won't get 2.5" 9.5mm 2TB HDD from any other make, so why bother reading WD fanboy crap, and the other guy's bla-bla-bla about M9 performance as a primary drive who didn't even notice your notebook has SSD+HDD right in your signature.
     
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  5. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    With regards to not reading signatures: they're off. Slows down my forum browsing experience too much. ;)

    WD miles ahead of Seagate and Samsung mechanical drives - still can't touch Hitachi drives though...


    You 'haz' one? The OP should take a recommendation from someone with no spell check and a link about how to take the drive he's asking about out of an external enclosure? That's a recommendation?


    OP: I at least jump started your topic with my real world experience on HDD's. Hope more useful posts follow for your consideration.
     
  6. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    Uh, oh!
    OK, you asked for it. There are no other 2TB 2.5" than M9T and WD Green atm.
    2.5" 2TB WD Green is crap, overall and in terms of size, reliability, speed, and price.
    You're not familiar both with internet slang and where to get cheap M9T's from, but have an expert opinion to share with us.
    How great of you! So valuable!
     
  7. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    So, you really are your namesake, huh?

    If you read for comprehension: I don't recommend any drives with high platter density because of the performance issues I brought up.

    My expertise comes from actually using them for a few decades... that still doesn't excuse your link with how to take a drive out of an enclosure when the question is how do they perform...


    As for internet slang? Better to use proper English when we're discussing technical issues. We're not just hanging out watching the clouds go by with a beer in our hands, after all. ;)
     
  8. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    tilleroftheearth, let's wait for topic starter's answer and see if he is satisfied with my estimation of drive's noise, temp, performance, etc., which I described as great, and whether he finds an instruction on removing the drive from external case useful, regarding the fact M9Ts are usually sold in those cases, badged Seagate Backup Plus STDR200020Xs, while bare drives cost over 1.5x last time I checked.
     
  9. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    FlashInTheNight86, I can agree to that. Let's see how the OP responds.
     
  10. octiceps

    octiceps Nimrod

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    Where are you guys getting all this BS about hard drive brand reliability from? The sensationalist posts on the Backblaze marketing blog which have already been ripped to shreds and discredited time and again?
     
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  11. DackEW

    DackEW Notebook Consultant

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    I have been using it for two months and perfect. It is the highest capacity 2.5" 9mm HDD, also the fastest. It have some spinning noise, but which one does not? Temperatures are all good.
     
  12. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    Yeah, the whole brand A is awesome, brand B sucks things is tiresome. Unless you are running a data center with hundreds or thousands of brand new drives from each manufacturer, just shut your mouth because you have no idea what you are talking about.
     
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  13. n=1

    n=1 YEAH SCIENCE!

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    Agreed. For a storage drive, as long as the quality isn't so bad that it fails after a month or as long as there's a good warranty, reliability shouldn't really factor into your decision.
     
  14. nipsen

    nipsen Notebook Ditty

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    ..wow, that's hilarious. They actually started up the production of Spinpoint drives again? About time, since they were really good, in the sense that they were cheap.. and still didn't suck, unlike the rest of Samsung's line, and most "mid-range" hdds with the competition. But this still is hilarious.

    Anyway - from tests, seems like the drive favors sequential reads and have, just like the previous models, a very solid average seek latency (specially when compared to drives that should be faster by specs) and low latency on sustained writes. This means using a drive like this as your primary drive won't give you blisteringly fast peak operation on boot and during context shifts. You will probably also notice a hit compared to the most expensive hdds if you capture a lot of video, or run video editing software that typically expands the movie in the background and saves it to disk, instead of loading it to ram only.

    However, everything else will run just fine. And in return for the performance hit terms of max peak transfer (which won't actually happen outside specific workloads.. servers may see it during a sustained write, any PC will see it extremely rarely), the drive spins silently (still the same old oil suspended ball-bearing system I guess), and it uses fairly low amounts of power. Note as well that the acoustic noise can be tweaked, so that you can trade some performance for an even less noisy drive.

    This thing here is the ultimate choice for a laptop in the sub ssd performance and price category, in other words.

    Seriously, though - where did this come from? I thought Samsung's hdd line had been dropped into a lake of fire or something.
     
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  15. Atom Ant

    Atom Ant Hello, here I go again

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    It is a high quality Samsung drive, very satisfied with. However just for safety reason I have two of them; one in laptop, the other one a copy of that in safe place.
     
  16. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    I will be getting one at some point. Feedback looks good! I will be using this to back up my blu-ray re-encoded rips (my own collection but have to leave the physical disks overseas) I have more to add now so this is a good buy.

    How much generally have people paid for this drive? What is a good price?
     
  17. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    *hugs 40mb mobile internet*
     
  18. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    Meaker, my ISP is faster - but ads, sigs, avatars and other similar kaka still slows it down. :)

    When I'm reading my forums (about a dozen times a day) I can read them as if I'm reading a pdf downloaded on my computer.

    I've tried 'mobile internet', but all the devices I've seen are just too mickey mouse for my tastes (nothing beats a QC, Windows 8.1 update 1 notebook with 16GB+ RAM with IE11 and flip ahead enabled). ;)
     
  19. octiceps

    octiceps Nimrod

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    You use IE, no wonder your browsing is kaka.
     
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  20. be77solo

    be77solo pc's and planes

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    Ha, I had a similar thought about his lack of signatures comment on page 1, but wasn't going to say anything... maybe that's how you like to read the forums tiller, but man, you are unfortunately missing a ton of important info in regards to who you are responding too...

    Seems a bit off for someone that has chosen "Wisdom listens quietly..." as your slogan. :D

    Back on topic, curious to give this drive a shot, can't beat the storage space for the money if it's a decent drive.
     
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  21. DackEW

    DackEW Notebook Consultant

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    The last 4 off comment should be deleted (+this), how is that connect to this topic and who cares?
     
  22. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    The best I can find is £122 incl postage and import charges to Japan. Is this a good price. Also this is just for the bare drive.

    What do you guys think? Cheers


    Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
     
  23. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    Any other browser I've used is too slow, doesn't load the pages I want in the way I want or actually interferes with my O/S (and you can't touch that!!!) - you can laugh at IE11 but you can't deny how fluid it feels with flip ahead enabled on a modern platform.

    As for missing important information? Possibly. But if it is that important, it will be worth repeating (or pointed out to me). Most of them are not important ime, and since we all contribute to forums on our own time and dime, the sigs stay off. ;)


    Edit: The most important point that made me decide that sigs are irrelevant and mostly for ego boosts is when you search for an old post and the sigs have been updated but the content of the post is obviously much different. If the original sigs stayed with the original posts, they would be more useful. But I still would not compromise my time by enabling them again.



    On topic: again, as to the question of 'is it a decent drive?': for storage, anything will do. For performance; ugh.
     
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  24. be77solo

    be77solo pc's and planes

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    Good point on the signatures getting updated, I've pondered that as well on whether or not they should be revised in old posts or stay as they originally were at the time.

    They do come in handy when trying to help someone, particularly on a laptop that has multiple configuration options, but you bring up some good points.

    Also, I'm a fan if IE11 as well :hi2:
     
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  25. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    I just ordered another one for 122$ per drive in usb 3.0 enclosure, and that's not cheap. Your price is much worse due to currency difference. However, if it's the best you can get, I'd still take it.
     
  26. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Do you mind sharing where you purchased from? Ebay?

    I can order from the US if the source ships to Japan. In fact the one I found is from the US at 160 dollars on ebay.
     
  27. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    Local store network, they don't handle international orders, and again, that's rather expensive.

    You should look for Seagate Backup Plus 2TB Slim, model numbers are STDR200020X where X depends on box color. The cheapest I found on ebay with Japan shipping costs $110+$35. I suggest you check local stores once more, these drives are quite common.

    Another point in buying them locally rather than from abroad is sooner or latter Seagate might start putting native USB3.0 interface on those drives, making them useless for internal use. The drive is very easy to open without damaging the case and check, so you can return it to seller just in case that happens. There are no reports of such drives with native USB 3.0, though.
     
  28. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Thanks for the advice. I will look into those part numbers when i purchase. Much appreciated. I will give rep when back on the computer. Cheers!!

    I will check local stores however Japan is very expensive for electronics. Almost double to the us! Likely to charge 200-300 dollars for one.

    Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
     
  29. DackEW

    DackEW Notebook Consultant

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    You mean this? I think shipping from Europe seller does not need to fill out customs declaration form (I never had to do), so you won't be charged by import fees in Japan.
     
  30. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    I bought one just now for 88 pounds total. Looking forwArd to this :)


    Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
     
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  31. davidricardo86

    davidricardo86 Notebook Deity

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    I've seen the M9T for as low as $85, and then $90. I want two too for redundant mass storage.
     
  32. DackEW

    DackEW Notebook Consultant

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    That was sure mistake price, these drives an amazon cost $235. Or you might mention the ones which pulled from external HDDs? Anyway, those prices went up high as well. I guess the $85 won't happen again in the next two years, because on that price range the 1TB versions going.
     
  33. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Nope I just bought one for 88 pounds. Not $85 but nowhere near $235 dollars. Yes the cheap ones are the external HDD's.
     
  34. Qing Dao

    Qing Dao Notebook Deity

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    I can buy the internal only ones for about $150 and the external seagate ones for like $120 here in China. This is pretty high, as normally hard drives can be bought a little cheaper here than in Europe or North America.
     
  35. Atom Ant

    Atom Ant Hello, here I go again

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    I also bought several of these when they were still cheap, but now the external ones are around $150 at newegg and sometimes $200. In amazon some good deal still exist, but far not as good as a month before... I guess Seagate do not want the external ones for internal use and for resale. I also heard something about redesign and the new ones will be soldered.
     
  36. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    I hope not mine!
     
  37. DackEW

    DackEW Notebook Consultant

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    Hope that is only rumor, i will need this drive too.
     
  38. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    I suggest those interested buy them ASAP, they will definitely make a native USB version.
     
  39. jedisurfer1

    jedisurfer1 Notebook Deity

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    hey guys in what external portable drives are these in? The toshiba canvio 2tb enclosures? I think I'll buy one and just yank out the drives.
     
  40. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

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    jedisurfer1, STDR200020X Seagate Backup Plus 2TB Slim.
     
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  41. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Seagate Backup Plus STDR200020Xs
     
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  42. jedisurfer1

    jedisurfer1 Notebook Deity

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    thx FlashInTheNight86 and King of interns
     
  43. Aeny

    Aeny Notebook Consultant

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    My Seagate Backup Plus STDR2000203 arrived, tore it apart and still found a 2.5" 9mm drive with a sata connector in there. I hope the same for others that ordered it :thumbsup:

    Paid €114 for it, that's about €39.99 cheaper that buying a bare drive, oh you silly hdd industry. :rolleyes:

    ~Aeny
     
  44. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Not shabby. Copying files across now via usb 3.0 (via expressport) and gets total of about 115MB every sec! Very quick considering the expresscard slot isn't exactly full speed usb 3.0 capable!
     
  45. FredFlint_

    FredFlint_ Notebook Consultant

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    I have one and it runs a bit faster than the m8 1TB and is also a bit cooler.
     
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  46. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Anybody know which hdd is in the Samsung STSHX-M201TCB 2TB 2.5" is as it`s only £75 and maybe less with discount codes.

    John
     
  47. dukenukem

    dukenukem Notebook Guru

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    just snagged a m9y 2tb off ebay,will ahve it in a few days as it just shipped.
     
  48. Zer0 C00l

    Zer0 C00l Notebook Consultant

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    I put 2 of these drives in my alienware as I always need more storage for blu ray rips. I've had many different hard drives in my alienware. I went from 2x 750GB stock HDD's that came with the machine + a 256GB crucial realssd c300 to 2x 1TB HDD + 512GB crucial m4 then I went to 2x 1.5TB travelstar 5k1500 + 1TB samsung evo now I'm at 2x 2TB spinpoint m9t and the same ssd as there is no sane option for greater than 1TB in SSD yet. I'm now at a total of 5TB of internal local storage on my m18xr1

    I have a lot of experience with the speed of different hard drives in the same machine. I can confidently say when I copied my large blu ray rips onto the 2TB drive it was leaps and bounds faster than the 750GB and 1TB drives I had for sure without a doubt. It was closer in speed to the 1.5TB travelstar but I think it also beat the travelstar by a few minutes too (few minutes on a large 1.2TB transfer). So to the people who said these drives are slow it depends what you are using it for. Yes its random read and write probably isn't the greatest but all HDD's suck at this, this is why we all use ssd's as our primary drive and anyone that hasn't made that switch needs to catch up badly because they are living a decade behind every 1 else. If you are doing big sequential writes and reads like you would for media storage this 2TB drive is a top performer in that aspect, it's insane density really speeds up those big sequential writes HD movies are.

    I bought the barebones internal version of the drive for 135 dollars each on ebay and a combined shipping charge of 5.75 for USPS priority mail. So it was about 275 dollars total out the door price for 2x 2tb samsung spinpoint m9t HDD's
     
  49. Abula

    Abula Puro Chapin

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    Just bought a 2x Samsung M9T from amazon, and got them yesterday, really nice drive, i can tell you i consider my self a fanboy of Hitachi mobile drives, i have owed 4x 5K500B, 2x 5k750, 1x 7k500, 1x 7k1000, 2x 5k1500, all great drives, but the M9T is pretty good, very little vibration, runs cool, the only thing in question to me its reliability, but so far so good. For what ill be using, storage on my laptop, external usb3 enclosure and PS4, atm is my favorite, only time will tell how it holds on.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  50. Apollo13

    Apollo13 100% 16:10 Screens

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    That is pretty good, especially considering it's only 5400 RPM. 122.5 MB/s average, that's not too far below my desktop's 7200 RPM Toshiba (148.5 MB/s average). This may well be a contender if I do eventually make another HDD upgrade on my laptop. SSD is tempting, but being able to store nearly as much as I can on my desktop would also be nice. No more questions about what to copy over if I had the M9T.

    I'm also a fan of Hitachi's mobile drives, with both of my laptop's drives having been Hitachi. Samsung has had a pretty good reputation over the years, though. Not usually the fastest, but usually a pretty reliable, solid drive.

    (That is average, right? I usually use HDTune, which gives min, max, and average sequential speed separately, although it's lacking in the 512K and 4K categories in the free version)
     
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