[Kevin OBrien]

The 1TB Samsung Spinpoint M8 offers a mainstream 9.5mm drive height with two 500GB platters, bringing high capacity notebook storage to the masses. Previously if you wanted a 1TB internal hard drive, the only option was to buy a bulky notebook that supported the larger 12.5mm drive sizes. With the Spinpoint M8, just about any machine can now have a beefy storage system ready to warehouse digital assets.

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[Brian]

For those interested, we're also benchmarking the WD Scorpio Blue 1TB in 9.5mm right now and hope to have that review up in the next week. The Samsung M8 does run about $20 cheaper though it looks like.

[fallbreak]

Brian, on 28 July 2011 - 02:19 PM, said:

For those interested, we're also benchmarking the WD Scorpio Blue 1TB in 9.5mm right now and hope to have that review up in the next week. The Samsung M8 does run about $20 cheaper though it looks like.

Nice. I have 3 of those Scorpios on hand right now. Made July 13th, 2011. I don't think I ever had such fresh drives in use ;-)
Is your sample a "B5N" (round label, bottom side) Example. Those seem to use more power.

[danwat1234]

Don't know who would buy the WD 1tb when the Samsung is $20 cheaper and a great performer.

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danwat1234, on 31 July 2011 - 01:39 AM, said:

Don't know who would buy the WD 1tb when the Samsung is $20 cheaper and a great performer.

It's for benchmarking. Don't worry - it's not paid out of my pocket ;-)

[Brian]

That is a good point though, Samsung is definitely kicking butt when it comes to price.

[danwat1234]

Both the Samsung M8 and the WD 2-platter 1TB have been removed from Newegg, can't find it!
Good news is that m8 is here(http://bensbargains.net/deal/204983/) for $80 if you use coupon code "ICECREAM"

[code65536]

I'm a bit confused about the M8's sector size. SR's review (as well as every single review on the web) says that Samsung is using Advanced Format with these M8 drives. Additionally, Samsung's press release about the M8 prominently touted the use of AFT (which I suspect is where all the reviews got the info about AFT?). But...

1) There is no mention of Advanced Format on any of the M8 pages on Samsung's website.

2) There is no indication of Advanced Format on the drive sticker. (I've never met an AF drive that didn't plainly identify itself as such on the label, but maybe the M8 is bucking that convention?)

3) Acronis 2011 (which advertises itself to be AF-aware) apparently does not think that the M8 is AF because when I used it to clone my old drive to the M8, it created all three partitions with non-4K alignment.

So the available evidence would seem to suggest that the M8 is NOT Advanced Format. But, of course, that contradicts with Samsung's PR. So either Samsung's marketing/PR people made a mistake or I need to find another way to clone this drive...

Does anyone here have contacts with Samsung with whom they can get some clarification about this?

This post has been edited by code65536: 13 August 2011 - 10:51 AM

[TSullivan]

I will be back in the office Monday morning. I am almost certain the M8 reported 512/4k in the Intel RST control panel, which would indicate Advanced Format.

[oskarom]

Hi,

Well written and very informative review, thanks!

There is though one thing I found missing, noise levels, I realy need to find out how loud this drive is.

I'm especially interested in comparision between M8 500GB vs. M8 1TB models, single platter vs. dual platter.

I need a secondary drive in my laptop and I don't want to completely ruin my newly found silent world with SSD's


Regards
Oskar