Samsung has announced a new 2TB desktop hard disk with what it claims is the world's highest areal density - the EcoGreen F4EG.
The drive - designed to offer high capacity while drawing a minimum of power - stores a whopping 667GB on each of its three platters, which the company claims not only allows the power consumption to be kept to a minimum but also improves performance over four-platter rivals.
Despite Samsung's claims of ultra-high density, it's not the first company to release a 2TB disk with three platters: rival Western Digital beat the company to the punch nearly a month ago with the launch of the three-platter Caviar Green WD20EARS featuring the same 667GB-per-platter density.
Going back to Samsung's offering, however: the company claims that the reduction in platter numbers from four to three helps the new EcoGreen drive draw 23 percent less power in standby mode than the F3EG drive it replaces. However, the company hasn't proffered energy usage statistics for when the drive is in use, so it may be an innovation better suited to occasional-use data drives rather than an add-on for a constantly streaming system.
While benchmarks haven't been released by the company yet, Samsung claims that the increase in density improves performance over the drive's predecessor with seek times getting a small boost. Read and write speeds are likely unchanged, however.
The F4EG features a 32MB cache, a 3.0Gb/s SATA interface with Native Command Queuing support, and will be hitting shelves in 1.5TB and 2TB capacities some time in September. Sadly, Samsung has yet to suggest pricing - although with the older F3EG still retailing at about £90, you can expect to pay a slight premium for the increase in performance and power drain.
Are you pleased to see Samsung adding higher density drives to its line-up, or will it take a two-platter F1 before you consider upgrading your storage? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
The drive - designed to offer high capacity while drawing a minimum of power - stores a whopping 667GB on each of its three platters, which the company claims not only allows the power consumption to be kept to a minimum but also improves performance over four-platter rivals.
Despite Samsung's claims of ultra-high density, it's not the first company to release a 2TB disk with three platters: rival Western Digital beat the company to the punch nearly a month ago with the launch of the three-platter Caviar Green WD20EARS featuring the same 667GB-per-platter density.
Going back to Samsung's offering, however: the company claims that the reduction in platter numbers from four to three helps the new EcoGreen drive draw 23 percent less power in standby mode than the F3EG drive it replaces. However, the company hasn't proffered energy usage statistics for when the drive is in use, so it may be an innovation better suited to occasional-use data drives rather than an add-on for a constantly streaming system.
While benchmarks haven't been released by the company yet, Samsung claims that the increase in density improves performance over the drive's predecessor with seek times getting a small boost. Read and write speeds are likely unchanged, however.
The F4EG features a 32MB cache, a 3.0Gb/s SATA interface with Native Command Queuing support, and will be hitting shelves in 1.5TB and 2TB capacities some time in September. Sadly, Samsung has yet to suggest pricing - although with the older F3EG still retailing at about £90, you can expect to pay a slight premium for the increase in performance and power drain.
Are you pleased to see Samsung adding higher density drives to its line-up, or will it take a two-platter F1 before you consider upgrading your storage? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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