Internal Samsung F4EG HDD ($120)

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced the F4EG, the world’s highest-density, environmentally friendly hard disk drive (HDD) for the desktop market. The EcoGreen F4 features a 2-terabyte capacity – 667GB for each of its three disks – and is capable of storing up to 880 hours of DVD video or 500,000 songs in MP3 format. The internal F4EG utilizes Samsung’s high-density design technology to provide better performance, low power and improved reliability to its EcoGreen hard drives.

“Storage-hungry multimedia professionals, gamers and home PC users continue to increase the amount of video, music, photo and other personal data they store and back-up,” said I.C. Park, vice president, Storage Sales, Semiconductor Business, Samsung Electronics. “The F4EG delivers all the benefits of a low-power drive yet features top performance quality and is environmentally friendly.”

With its three disks and advanced technology, the F4EG drive is 19 percent better in standby time performance and has 23 percent lower power consumption in standby mode than the previous four-disk model, the F3EG.

Eliminating halogen compound and brominated flame retardant from the PCBA, the new model is produced with eco-friendly materials and meets all the environmental regulations including RoHS (Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) which is applied worldwide, including the European Union.

Samsung’s new hard drive utilizes its low noise operation technology SilentSeek and NoiseGuard to achieve quiet system operation.

The F4EG incorporates a 3.0Gbps SATA interface, Native Command Queuing and a 32MB buffer memory. The 3.5” F4EG drive is available in 1.5TB and 2TB capacities in the United States and EU markets with a MSRP of $119.99. Initial shipment is scheduled for early September.

Comments

Samsung is the first HDD manufacturer able to put 2TB on only three platters in a desktop device. All the other firms are using four disks or more.

With 667GB per disk, the Korean company could reach 2.6TB inside a 3.5-inch form factor with four platters or not far from 4TB with five disks, but with the problem encountered with drive at more than 2TB with some Windows OS.

With only three disk and six heads, rather than four and eight respectively for Seagate and WD, Samsung will have the possibility to offer a lower power machine and at a better price for 2TB. The company announced its former F3EG (2TB, 4 disks) at $180. Here the official price announced starts at only $120.