Samsung launches 1TB MT2 2.5-inch HDD

22 Jul 10 07:00 by Randomus in category Hard Disk Drives

Samsung announced it is now shipping the 1TB Spinpoint MT2 internal hard drive that can be used in consumer electronics, such as DVRs, digital TVs, and other devices that support 2.5-inch drives.

The new Samsung drive is a 5,400RPM, three 33GB platter HDD that uses the SATA 3.0Gbps interface and 8MB buffer.  The South Korean electronics company also included SilentSeek and NoiseGuard solutions to quiet noise output.

The Spinpoint MT2 also has 20 percent faster read/write speeds and uses 4 percent less power than rival HDDs, according to Samsung.

Samsung is promoting its HDD for storage products such as digital TVs, DVRs, set-top boxes, and similar products.  The drive cannot be used in most notebooks since Samsung decided to use a very curious 9.5mm height dimension that will fit into a small number of notebooks.

“The new Spinpoint MT2 drive offers the largest capacity in what has previously been offered as an option for portable digital devices,” said I.C. Park, Samsung VP of storage marketing, in a statement.  “As the total storage solution provider, Samsung is committed to offering products that features exceptional performance and value across a wide range of computing and consumer electronics market.”

Samsung is now shipping the Spinpoint MT2 HDD with 750GB and 1TB storage capacities.  Pricing information on the two drives hasn’t been released.

This is an important step forward for manufacturers trying to cater to a consumer market spending more time in the living room.  The use of set-top boxes, DVRs, and similar devices continues to increase, with Web-connected HDTVs also expected to significantly increase over the next five years.

13 Comments on Samsung launches 1TB MT2 2.5-inch HDD

YogiBoar
Posts: 222
Posted on: 22 Jul 10 11:46
Presumably this will fit in a NC10 Notebook. Wow!
vroom
Posts: 7493
Posted on: 22 Jul 10 11:51
I like that new drive, this could be the next update for my toshiba laptop.
debro
Posts: 13337
Posted on: 22 Jul 10 14:59
Who seriously needs 1TB in a laptop? .. assuming it fits into it ....
Better off with a seagate hybrid drive ...

It's great & all for PVR's & etc.

Hurray and whatnot.
Chriscreative
Posts: 72
Posted on: 27 Jul 10 03:50
I like the new drive size, SATA 3.0Gbps interface? why not go SATA 6.0 it is time for faster HDD drive`s.
debro
Posts: 13337
Posted on: 27 Jul 10 04:27
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chriscreative View Post
I like the new drive size, SATA 3.0Gbps interface? why not go SATA 6.0 it is time for faster HDD drive`s.
Because ...
1) 10K RPM HDD's barely reach SATA-150 speeds with sustained throughput.
2) Access times for high performance HDD's benefit slightly from SATA-300, due to reduced latencies, and speedups from cache-ram.
3) Sata-600 is just absolute overkill on a High performance 3.5" 10K RPM HDD.

4) This is not a high performance desktop/server 3.5" HDD - it's a nettop/notebook 2.5" HDD.
Chriscreative
Posts: 72
Posted on: 27 Jul 10 10:32
I agree but all HDD, Motherboards, Desktops Laptops etc. should chance over to SATA 6.0 and USB 3 faster is always better. For backups and SSD for the operating system.
debro
Posts: 13337
Posted on: 28 Jul 10 11:13
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chriscreative View Post
I agree but all HDD, Motherboards, Desktops Laptops etc. should chance over to SATA 6.0 and USB 3 faster is always better. For backups and SSD for the operating system.
New stuff costs $$. Add on chips cost $$$. Most people would never notice the difference of Sata600 vs SATA300 over the next few years. It just costs more. Similarly with USB3.

When it's fully supported by the chipsets in a decent quantity of ports, motherboards will include it as standard. In the meantime, motherboards will come with USB2/ Sata300, with a premium for mobo's with USB3/SATA600 ports tacked on as an afterthought.
DrageMester
Posts: 19885
Posted on: 28 Jul 10 11:17
Quote:
Originally Posted by debro View Post
Similarly with USB3.
Not true. USB 2.0 is already limiting the speed (and power requirements) of current external harddrives and flashdrives, so USB 3.0 is sorely needed.
debro
Posts: 13337
Posted on: 28 Jul 10 12:28
Quote:
Originally Posted by debro View Post
It just costs more. Similarly with USB3..
Chriscreative
Posts: 72
Posted on: 30 Jul 10 05:32
Why have a quad core CPU high-end graphics cards etc, if other devices creates a bottle neck.???
debro
Posts: 13337
Posted on: 30 Jul 10 06:28
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chriscreative View Post
Why have a quad core CPU high-end graphics cards etc, if other devices creates a bottle neck.???
In a laptop? You honestly believe that those tiny little 2.5" platters rotating at 5400rpm with an 8MB cache are going to outperform a 3.5" HDD at 10K rpm with 32MB cache ...... Because I can't help but notice that you either don't understand, or haven't bothered reading, my previous post. 3.5" HDD at 10K RPM will rarely stress Sata1.5Gb/s at full speed with sustained reads (large files). Improvements in *BUFFERED* speeds show improvements on sata3.0Gb/s, most HDD caches can't provide enough bandwidth to transfer their entire contents at full speed on Sata6.0Gb/s Sata6.0Gb/s is overkill for desktop HDD's (SSD's are different). Suggesting that Sata6.0 is required on a 2.5" 5400RPM hdd is absolutely absurd. Your suggestion that the Sata6.0Gb/s interface will somehow speedup these slow 2.5" 5400rpm HDD's is comparative to suggsting that gold coating a turd, will provide equivalent value of a solid gold bar the same size. I cannot stress this enough ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Debro
1) 10K RPM HDD's barely reach SATA-150 speeds with sustained throughput. 2) Access times for high performance HDD's benefit slightly from SATA-300, due to reduced latencies, and speedups from cache-ram. 3) Sata-600 is just absolute overkill on a High performance 3.5" 10K RPM HDD. 4) This is not a high performance desktop/server 3.5" HDD - it's a nettop/notebook 2.5" HDD.
vroom
Posts: 7493
Posted on: 30 Jul 10 08:54
Quote:
Originally Posted by debro View Post
In a laptop? You honestly believe that those tiny little 2.5" platters rotating at 5400rpm with an 8MB cache are going to outperform a 3.5" HDD at 10K rpm with 32MB cache ......
No a 2.5" hdd at 5400 cant replace a desktop drive, but what if you need the extra storage room, and speed is not that important? A bigger HDD should be able to do the job nicely.

Quote:
Originally Posted by debro View Post
Because I can't help but notice that you either don't understand, or haven't bothered reading, my previous post. 3.5" HDD at 10K RPM will rarely stress Sata1.5Gb/s at full speed with sustained reads (large files). Improvements in *BUFFERED* speeds show improvements on sata3.0Gb/s, most HDD caches can't provide enough bandwidth to transfer their entire contents at full speed on Sata6.0Gb/s Sata6.0Gb/s is overkill for desktop HDD's (SSD's are different). Suggesting that Sata6.0 is required on a 2.5" 5400RPM hdd is absolutely absurd. Your suggestion that the Sata6.0Gb/s interface will somehow speedup these slow 2.5" 5400rpm HDD's is comparative to suggsting that gold coating a turd, will provide equivalent value of a solid gold bar the same size. I cannot stress this enough ....
I agree that most drive hardly use all the sata1 bandwidth (unless they are in raid), but my main concern is the Access time, and the only hard drive that can make it disappears is an SSD.
Sata3 will be great with SSD drives, all the rest conventional hard drives will simply do the same job as they do now with sata2.
debro
Posts: 13337
Posted on: 31 Jul 10 10:46
Quote:
Originally Posted by vroom View Post
No a 2.5" hdd at 5400 cant replace a desktop drive, but what if you need the extra storage room, and speed is not that important? A bigger HDD should be able to do the job nicely.
I'd still recommend a seagate Hybrid drive (500GB HDD + 4GB SSD).
If you really need 1TB of HDD space ... a separate external drive with USB3 & Esata(3Gb/s) would fit the job.
But I'd find it hard to believe that any user honestly needs more than 500GB storage installed in a laptop.

I know ... 640k is enough for anybody

This drive is squarely aimed at PVR's and portable storage. Samsung know their target audience
High performance drives are not required in these devices, although the minimal access times of SSD's would be a great thing - but capacity is definately the more important factor.
Tell us, what do you think about

Samsung launches 1TB MT2 2.5-inch HDD

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