Samsung Spinpoint F1
I heard so many good things about the Spinpoints that I ordered three 750 gig drives from Newegg (along with a Western Digital 640 gig...and 8 gigs of RAM...and a Pioneer 115D); all of which arrived before my Mac Pro did. I have two of them (Spinpoints) set up in a software RAID 0 in bays 2 & 3 for media storage. The Western Digital is the new boot drive.
Without a doubt, the drives are quiet. Heck, they're already quiet when running; and they're completely silent when they spin down. But be aware that they do indeed spin down when idle for a few minutes. And if I have to access them from an idle state, I get a spinning beach ball while the one in bay 2 winds up (I can hear it starting up), then I still have to wait for the one in bay 3 to start up before an app can open the file (the dock icon just keeps bouncing in the meantime) or write to the array. It's not a big deal for me. I just want to make everyone considering the 750 gig Spinpoints aware that you might have to wait a few seconds from time to time when accessing a file or writing to the drive. For me this usually happens when I'm surfing for a while and come across something I want to save to the array or access a file on the array. The drives have spun down and I have to watch the beach ball for a few seconds (like...I don't know...10-12 seconds max) before the file will open or I can save something. If I didn't have them set up in RAID, it'd be 5-6 seconds. Again, not a big deal for me.
I'm actually trying to decide if I want to keep the RAID setup. I think the drives are fast enough on their own that I could keep everything on individual drives without the risk that comes with RIAD 0.
Keeping on topic with the spirit of the thread, I'm sure I also made my Mac Pro better with the addition of the Western Digital boot drive...and the Samsung Spintpoints...DEFINATELY with the Samsung 202N and Pioneer 115D DVD drives (the original "superdrive" was riplocked); I just didn't play with the computer for very long before I started upgrading given that I had parts waiting for its arrival;D.
Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.
James
I heard so many good things about the Spinpoints that I ordered three 750 gig drives from Newegg (along with a Western Digital 640 gig...and 8 gigs of RAM...and a Pioneer 115D); all of which arrived before my Mac Pro did. I have two of them (Spinpoints) set up in a software RAID 0 in bays 2 & 3 for media storage. The Western Digital is the new boot drive.
Without a doubt, the drives are quiet. Heck, they're already quiet when running; and they're completely silent when they spin down. But be aware that they do indeed spin down when idle for a few minutes. And if I have to access them from an idle state, I get a spinning beach ball while the one in bay 2 winds up (I can hear it starting up), then I still have to wait for the one in bay 3 to start up before an app can open the file (the dock icon just keeps bouncing in the meantime) or write to the array. It's not a big deal for me. I just want to make everyone considering the 750 gig Spinpoints aware that you might have to wait a few seconds from time to time when accessing a file or writing to the drive. For me this usually happens when I'm surfing for a while and come across something I want to save to the array or access a file on the array. The drives have spun down and I have to watch the beach ball for a few seconds (like...I don't know...10-12 seconds max) before the file will open or I can save something. If I didn't have them set up in RAID, it'd be 5-6 seconds. Again, not a big deal for me.
I'm actually trying to decide if I want to keep the RAID setup. I think the drives are fast enough on their own that I could keep everything on individual drives without the risk that comes with RIAD 0.
Keeping on topic with the spirit of the thread, I'm sure I also made my Mac Pro better with the addition of the Western Digital boot drive...and the Samsung Spintpoints...DEFINATELY with the Samsung 202N and Pioneer 115D DVD drives (the original "superdrive" was riplocked); I just didn't play with the computer for very long before I started upgrading given that I had parts waiting for its arrival;D.
Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.
James