Pros: Virtually bulletproof, not fast but not a drag on your system, either.
Cons: Only a 2MB cache, at this point (2007), Samsung offers reliable, faster drives.
The Bottom Line: If you find one at a bargain, it's still worth having, and will give you years of trouble-free service. But look at newer Samsung drives, too.
jsc1973's Full Review: Samsung SpinPoint P80 SP1604N 160 GB ATA-133 Hard ...
The Samsung SP1604N has been on the market for about four years now, and is somewhat obsolete, but it's still available for sale at a lot of online outlets. So for the sake of anyone considering purchasing one, I'll say a few words about it.
The SP1604N is part of Samsung's P80 series of hard drives, which come in both ATA133 and SATA interfaces. They are all very similar in performance, regardless of the interface used. This is the version I purchased for my own machine, although I have also worked with many similar Samsung SATA drives.
Performance-wise, it's a very ordinary drive even by the standards of 2003, with only a 2MB cache, and middle-of-the-pack seek times for a 7200 RPM drive. This isn't the hard drive you'd choose for a gaming machine, or for any other application where maximum performance is the ultimate goal. It would be good in a HTPC setting, though, as it's one of the quietest 7200RPM drives on the market.
That said, I've never regretted purchasing the drive. In fact, it still is in use as the primary hard drive in my backup system. It's the only four-year-old hard drive I have ever trusted in any computer that I use personally.
And that's where a Samsung P80 hard drive has its niche. My own experience with their dependability isn't an isolated tale; many systems integrators choose Samsung drives for this reason, and this particular model came with a full 3-year warranty at the time it shipped. In other words, if being able to depend on your hard disk is the most important thing to you, this is a drive worth considering, although I'd recommend taking a look at Samsung's newer offerings for not much more money.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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