Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB

Results Analysis

It's pretty clear from our results that the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB is a pretty phenomenal performer so far as mechanical drives go, comfortably outperforming last generation's fastest consumer hard drive, the Western Digital 150GB Raptor, in every test and resoundingly thrashing the competing quad 250GB platter Seagate 1TB drive.

As both 1TB drives are built using such similar technology, it’s clear that the difference in platter size and thus data density is the key here. Because the read/write heads have less far to travel on the Samsung F1, thanks to more data being packed into the same surface area, the overall drive performance increases enormously in comparison to the competing Seagate drive.

It’s also worth a mention that the Samsung F1 was an extremely cool customer throughout our time with it. While we don’t record specific hard drive temperatures (namely because each drive will inevitably use a differently calibrated temperature sensor), we can report that the F1 ran extremely cool even under heavy load when copying our Windows boot image to the drive and while still warm to the touch, was noticeably cooler than the Seagate 1TB.

Although this isn’t of much consequence for drive longevity, as both drives will have been tested to run at load in even searing hot temperatures, it’s of great advantage to those looking for a hard disk for a media PC, where keeping things cool in a confined environment is key.

The drive was also very quiet throughout testing too, and while vibrations will be a problem in cases without vibration dampening mechanisms, general drive use results in only the lightest of drive noise.

Value and Final Thoughts

So it’s faster than the competition, cool and quiet, but obviously Samsung wasn’t happy with releasing just a great high capacity hard drive – it had to go and make it affordable too. At just a little over £73 the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB works out at just over seven pence a gigabyte, which is frankly ludicrously good value for money, especially when you compare it to the more expensive and slower Seagate 1TB which sells for closer to £80.

There's also the competition from Western Digital, and while we’ve heard the Western Digital Caviar Black Edition 1TB drive might just be able to pip the Samsung in performance (something we’ll be looking at in a future review), right now it too is priced a lot higher than the Samsung, with prices floating around the £90 mark.

Putting it simply, we love the Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB. It’s everything a great enthusiast product should be; fast, practical, great value and affordable. Last week we said that the SSD, while starting to show some of its potential, was still a long way off replacing the conventional hard disk, and this drive is the reason why. With massive capacity, blazing performance and a price tag we can all afford, this is the hard drive we here at bit-tech would all buy. In fact, between us, we’ve just bought our sixth – how’s that for a recommendation?

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Score Guide