No more Samsung hard drives

Glenn · Apr 19, 2011, 12:03:54

Seagate has acquired the Samsung hard disk business

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/19/seagate_samsung/

The HDU choice has just got smaller.

Ray · Apr 19, 2011, 12:08:15

bu**er, that's bad news.

JB · Apr 19, 2011, 12:24:29

I have used Samsung hard disks exclusively for a few years now and been very happy with them.

pctech · Apr 19, 2011, 13:12:29

That's a shame.

I wonder if they'll apply to Gene Roddenberry's estate or whoever now owns the rights to Star Trek so that they can use the Borg line "resistance is futile, you will be assimilated"

Seriously, they seem to be swallowing up all the really decent hard disk manufacturers.

zappaDPJ · Apr 20, 2011, 09:25:37

I'm another one that's been using Samsung drives exclusively for a number of years but I would no longer recommend them. Over the last year, quite a number have failed, so far four out of around thirty bought with a fifth unit on its way. I've seen quite a few reports of high failure rates recently so I know mine is not an isolated experience. I also don't like their eco-friendly drives, they have a habit of spinning down/parking the heads which can make seek times ridiculously slow.

JB · Apr 20, 2011, 12:11:13

Quote from: zappaDPJ on Apr 20, 2011, 09:25:37
I'm another one that's been using Samsung drives exclusively for a number of years but I would no longer recommend them. Over the last year, quite a number have failed, so far four out of around thirty bought with a fifth unit on its way.

That's really good information Zap.

I only have about six in use but four are approaching three or four years old. It might be worth replacing them and moving the to less mission critical duties. Question is, what manufacturer to replace them with?

All my data is well backed up but it is still a PITA to have to change drives due to failure.

esh · Apr 20, 2011, 13:16:37

Well I didn't see that coming.

WDC, Seagate, and Samsung were my three usual go-to companies for HDDs. Sadly I still can't justify arrays of Intel/Sandforce SSDs

zappaDPJ · Apr 20, 2011, 13:20:50

What to use instead is a tough question. I usually bulk buy after doing some research but that's twice now I've had issues, the first was bulk buying (a few hundred units) the infamous IBM Deathstar. It would be helpful if manufacturers were made to publish failure rates.

armadillo · Apr 20, 2011, 18:57:15

Quote from: 6jb on Apr 20, 2011, 12:11:13
Question is, what manufacturer to replace them with?

I wonder now how much real difference there is between manufacturers. I have used Seagates for at least 10 years and never had a problem, though my result is not statistically significant and I could just have been lucky.

But when you look at the labels, every drive is made in China. Drive manufacture is reasonably specialised. There cannot be that many companies making magnetic platters, drive motors and the integrated circuit boards and memory chips. My guess is that one or two Chinese factories make the parts for all the drives. Then they either assemble all the drives and the big name manufacturers get to put their own labels on; or, at most, the manufacturers do a bit of assembly themselves and then put the labels on. The only difference I can see is if the various manufacturers have different quality sampling tolerances. So, even if they all buy from the same Chinese factory, perhaps one manufacturer pays to have 2% of their drives sampled and another manufacturer pays to have 4% of them sampled. That would lead to some difference in the effectiveness with which bad batches could be rejected.

Publishing failure rates would be very difficult as it would need some standards. Failure might depend on how a drive was used. Is it run continuously or is it powered down and spun up again several times per day? Is it mounted horizontally or vertically? What is the ambient temperature? What is the surface temperature of the drive? Unless there are standards for measurement, each manufacturer would attempt to run their drives in what they regard as the most favourable conditions and then figures would not be comparable.

A valid comparison depends both on standardised test conditions and large enough samples to make any difference statistically significant.

Glenn · Dec 20, 2011, 14:24:54

The sale of Samsung's hard drive business is now complete.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/20/seagate_completes_samsung_buy/

Rik · Dec 20, 2011, 15:39:08

Bugger.

pctech · Dec 20, 2011, 18:58:55

Ah yes I remember now but have had lots more important stuff to think about this year.

Niall · Dec 21, 2011, 00:02:09

I've been using samsung and seagate for the last 6 or so years, and not had a problem with either. This is good news as far as I can see

Simon · Dec 21, 2011, 00:21:00

What's the recommendations now then? I've had Seagate and have not had any problems with them, but I've heard of others that have.

Rik · Dec 21, 2011, 09:23:47

I suppose that one certainty in life is that all HDs eventually fail, leading to bad press if there's a faulty batch.

stevenrw · Dec 21, 2011, 12:04:23

Bugger indeed Rik. I had been waiting for the effects of the Thailand floods to bring down the cost of the HDDs again, then I was all set to buy a 1tb Samsung F3, based on great reviews for performance. Western Digital Caviar black are well rated but I understand they are prone to a very audible ticking noise.
So what do we buy for a 7200 1Tb drive now? Should we be looking toward ssd's with much smaller volumes to run os only perhaps?

Rik · Dec 21, 2011, 12:07:22

That's certainly the way I've had my machines built in the past, only using conventional HDs. An SSD drive for the OS should really pay dividends in performance.

Glenn · Dec 21, 2011, 12:09:17

WD are buying Hitachi, so the choice is getting smaller all the time