Spinpoint F3 or Caviar Black? 1TB

Ziggy4 · 31 Oct 2009 at 16:50

Hi All,

I am going to be changing my drive config shortly. Planning to replace a Raptor RAID0 setup with a second Intel SSD for games / apps, and use my existing backup drive (VelociRaptor) as a paging / temp file volume. So I am going to be looking for a new drive to serve as my backup volume. I've narrowed the choice down to a Spinpoint F3 or Caviar Black in the 1TB capacity. As well as backup I archive patches, installers, and software discs to my current drive and plan to do so again. Saves a lot of hassle when re-instaling Windows. So both read and write speeds are fairly important.

Any advice on which to choose would be very much appreciated. Performance is difficult to gauge overall. I hear the Caviar is noisy but it does come with a 5 year warranty vs Samsung's 3 years. I've previously had a Spinpoint F1 and was pleased with it but then again my current 3 WD's have also served me well. Soooo....? Ah, the dilema. : )

Thanks in advance for any input.

Sirrel Squirrel · 31 Oct 2009 at 17:35

From reviews I've read the F3 is the one to go for

Ziggy4 · 1 Nov 2009 at 01:54

Thanks for the reply. Leaning towards the F3 right now but coud be persuaded otherwise if anyone has any experience of the Caviar.

explicit4u · 1 Nov 2009 at 02:04

Again, i would go with the F3

OCP · 1 Nov 2009 at 04:00

I had the 750GB Blacks as raid 0 and had no problems with it. It comes with 5 years warranty where as the Sammy's come with 3. You'll probably wont notice the difference but I think the Sammy's are on 500GB platters? Which means its faster. Again, you'll probably won't notice the difference.

Hotwired · 1 Nov 2009 at 06:10

Got both as 1TB drives, difference is... not noticeable, HDD benchmarks are exaggerated as making all the difference when it means approximately naff-all but according to them the F3 is a better performer in most areas.

The F3 is certainly cheaper and that's why I'd suggest to get one.

Ziggy4 · 2 Nov 2009 at 14:50

Many thanks for all the replies. Difficult to gauge based on synthetic benchmarks and especially good to hear from someone who has tried both. If the performance difference is minimal I might just take the £10 hit and stump up for WDs extended warranty.

demon8991 · 2 Nov 2009 at 15:19

F3 for me!

I bought one at the weekend!

Read a lot of reviews and the F3 comes out on top on pretty much everything!

Ziggy4 · 2 Dec 2009 at 12:41

Many thanks again for all the input folks. Ordered the F3 yesterday and should have it today. Only problem was I also just had to make use of the one week only offer on the 160GB Intel SSD. So it cost a wee bit more than planned!

Morfik · 2 Dec 2009 at 13:03

Good choices!

demon8991 · 2 Dec 2009 at 14:31

Been using mine for a good few weeks now run Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit an absolute dream!!!

Now using my old F1 for storage!

jamjar · 2 Dec 2009 at 16:00

demon8991 said:
Been using mine for a good few weeks now run Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit an absolute dream!!!

Now using my old F1 for storage!

is that a Samsung F3 1TB you are using now ? sorry kind of missed the thread ha!

demon8991 · 2 Dec 2009 at 16:34

jamjar said:
is that a Samsung F3 1TB you are using now ? sorry kind of missed the thread ha!

Yer it's a very good drive!

dr4g0nf1y · 2 Dec 2009 at 16:36

the drives do make a whine/crunching sound if you have them raided which isn't good for a first time install but I can't fault them

jamjar · 2 Dec 2009 at 18:04

dr4g0nf1y said:
the drives do make a whine/crunching sound if you have them raided which isn't good for a first time install but I can't fault them

what is meant by Raided ? :confused:

jamjar · 2 Dec 2009 at 23:00

dr4g0nf1y said:
the drives do make a whine/crunching sound if you have them raided which isn't good for a first time install but I can't fault them

So if there not Raided there quiet drives then ? :confused:

Ziggy4 · 7 Dec 2009 at 10:19

I have to say I have found the F3 to be a very quiet drive. I am unable to hear it at all while sitting at my desk. I suppose if I was to get down right near the case I might. Even when making heavy use of the drive e.g. backup, defrag, etc I don't notice any sound. At least I can't hear it above the cooling fans.

I couldn't resist running some benchmarks too and I was very impressed. In synthetic benchmarks it outperforms my VelociRaptor in sequential read and write! The VR only takes the lead in 4K read / write which is OK as I'm using it as a paging volume now. Can't fault the performance of the F3 at a mere £60! Very tempting to throw a couple of these in RAID0 at some point.

StillUndisputed · 7 Dec 2009 at 19:32

Spintpoint 3!

COYS · 7 Dec 2009 at 20:16

My 2 F3s are vry quiet, at least in comparison with my
Raptor anyway!

PakJai · 7 Dec 2009 at 22:52

Spinpoint F3. Getting a couple of them myself.