Samsung A1 1.3 inch info

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hjreggel

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 23, 2005
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When I read about the new 1.3 inch Samsung SpinPoint A1 series, it reminded me of the old Microdrive days that were actually the reason why I started my website with harddisk information. The whole site was originally a list of small form factor harddisks that got seriously out of bounds ;-)

Here's the first information about the 40GB drive
Samsung 1.3"
More coming soon. When I'm back home, the results from the sustained write/read test are supposed to be saved and the PC shut down.

I also bought some other external disks containing various drives, so more photos and information will be added. Check the "News" page for links to Seagate and Cornice pages.
 
Just an update regarding the write rate: As I assumed, the disk suffers from "misaligned writes" due to the fact that the disk stores 1024 bytes per sector, but acts as if it had the usual 512 bytes per sector.

The factory format has the start of the data area (cluster 2) on an odd sector, so the disk firmware seems to be patched for odd sectors first. The easier way would have been to patch the filesystem, so that the data area starts at an even sector.

The short version: If you run normal benchmark software, it will usually start at sector 0 forcing misaligned writes, leading to awful write rates. My own software can use an offset, so I just have to re-run the test with 512 Bytes offset.
 
Now I have more information and charts available.

I tested the harddisk through another USB bridge, and it looks like I have to get a true 40-pin ZIF to full-size adapter to see the full write performance of the disk. Both USB bridges show some impact on the write performance, but the loss is small.

Samsung 1.3 Inch Page
Transfer Rates

By the way: Does anybody know of a device using the 12GB Cornice Dragon 2 Storage Element? That's the most important item missing in my collection...
Edit, bonus question: Any devices using the Toshiba 0.85" harddisks?
 
cool stuff, thx for the info. BTW been to your site in the past, good info!
 
I could not resist and ordered the 30GB version. There seem to be different versions for the 30GB LaCie little disk, one with the 1024 bytes per sector HU030HA, and one with the 512 bytes per sector HU035HA. At least the one I got has the 512 bytes per sector HU035HA. It has a much cleaner write graph, due to the "proper" sector size. However, the average sustained read rate is about 2.5MB/s lower than for the 40GB model, due to the lower density.

See: Samsung SpinPoint A1 30GB HU035HA

BTW: My ZIF-ATA to ATA adapter should arrive within the next two weeks, so I'll be able to get a better graph for the HU040HA. As you can see, the NEC bridge is fast enough for the HU035HA.
 
There was some delay, but I finally got the ZIF-ATA adapter two weeks ago. As I assumed, the USB bridge influenced the write performance of the HU040HA.

HU040HA ATA Performance

That means that the 40GB HU040HA works perfectly if you have your data aligned to odd sectors, and use a cluster size of at least 1KB. Otherwise, the 30GB HU035HA with native 512 bytes per sectors is the better choice.

In the meantime I was able to rip many other drives out of various USB drives, see my Microdrive History in case you are interested.
 
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