Samsung SpinPoint F4EG 2TB Hard Drive Review – Win7 WEI and Conclusions

WIN7 EXPERIENCE INDEX

The Win7 Experience Index (WEI) represents Microsofts method of rating computer systems and, more specific to our usage, provides a storage evaluation through a graduated rating system up to 7.9 on PC components and the system as a whole.

This benchmark is built into Windows and anyone can use it by simply typing:

• Go to Win Orb/All programs/Accessories and right click on the Command prompt;
• Click Run as Administrator
• In DOS, type winsat disk and hit enter.

One of the main benefits of this built-in benchmark of storage performance is that it gives you a clear view into how the operating system itself uses data, and the types of accesses that are important for file system usage.

This benchmark shows some large differences between the performance of the drives quite clearly. The difference between a score of 6.7 to 7.8 is rather large in the sequential readings. Again we see some excellent gains in write speed as well, along with major gains across the board in different aspects of storage performance.

A key measurement here is the “Total Run Time” entry at the bottom of the test. Note that the single drive took 3 minutes to run the assessment, while the array took slightly more than 1 minute. This is a testament to the more flexible performance of an array compared to a single drive.

Single F4EG

4x F4EG in RAID 0

CONCLUSIONS

At the end of the day in this testing I came away very impressed with the performance of even the single F4EG drive.

PERFORMANCE

I well recall using previous generation Green series from several manufacturers. This could often be easily categorized as painful! Slow response times were the accepted norm when dealing with some different types of lower rpm drives. Also, the gains in power, noise and heat weren’t nearly enough to deal with the slower performance.

This is where the F4EG really shines and truly shows itself as a  a next-generation device. With denser platters, and an advanced formatting system, this drive jumps leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. The power requirements for,  not only idle but load as well, are very minimal. The drive is very quiet, and runs much cooler than 7200 rpm counterparts.

VALUE

The Samsung F4EG 2TB HDD is extremely competitive when it comes down to the price per gigabyte with pricing forund at $80 per with free shipping from many retailers. This equates to .03 per gigabyte which is truly a wonderful price point!

With respect to RAID and larger capacity, the typical user can purchase two of these drives for the normal cost of a single 2tb 7200 rpm drive. You are effectively doubling your capacity, and with the benefits of creating a RAID array, the user can invest in a substantial performance increase. This holds particularly true for consideration of mass storage where these drives will really excel in this type of application.

RELIABILITY AND REPUTATION

Samsung has long standing and proven reputation with respect to their hard drives and and haven’t been plagued by the large numbers of DOA drives and mass RMA’s as seen with many other manufacturers. With the added backing of a 3 year warranty, I really feel that it would be hard to go wrong with selecting these drives for your data storage needs.

EDITORS COMMENTS

Paul Alcorn is an independent reviewer who lends his service to The SSD Review and is one of the most recognized storage experts in the industry today. His ability to show the true value of such a product to both the consumer and enterprise puts a new spin on the way readers are looking at products such as the Samsung Spinpoint F4EG 2TB 5400 hard drive.

We would like to thank Samsung for providing sample drives for this venture.  We believed that we could show Samsungs ‘forte’ with respect to the F4EG in the consumer field but were a bit hesitant that we could do so when it came to enterprise use.

The end result not only demonstrates that the F4EG is a wise choice with respect to value, capacity, performance and reliability in the enterprise field, but also, Paul was generous enough to demonstrate how to create the RAID array itself for such use.

The Samsung Spinpoint F4EG 2TB EcoGreen HDD is deserving of the Editors Choice Award from both  consumer and enterprise points of consideration.  Nice drive Samsung!

 

Pg1 – Introduction and Specifications

Pg2 – Test Bench and Protocol

Pg3 – GPT vs MBR Parttitions

Pg4 – ATTO & HDTune Pro Benchmarks

Pg5 – Crystal Diskmark and HDTach Benchmarks

Pg6 – Win7 WEI and Conclusions