> > Recently,  have noticed that Samsung has entered the HDD market
> > place and is offering  a product that it looks to me to at least
> > meet and some times surpass the others. In particular, I have been
> > looking at the Samsung VG34323A 4.3GB HDD. It offers UltraDMA and a
> > 512KB cache at a price that blows everyone else out of the water
> > under $160. Is there something that I should know or am missing?
> > Has anyone had any problems or experence with these products?
>
>   I've used Samsung HDDs whenever I could *find* them, at 340MB,
> 560MB, 850MB and 1.2GB.  I've recently seen their 2.1GB for $109 and
> 2.5GB for $139.  I have not seen their 4.3GB.
>   I have no reason to believe that their newer drives are of any
> lower quality than earlier efforts.  They have traditionally put
> about twice as much cache on the drive as their competitors, and I
> appreciate that.
>
>   But I've wondered about their distribution -- I've often been
> unable to find them, and you've only just noticed them.  And I
> *thought* I had heard that their HDD division had gone bankrupt
> amidst the Asian crisis of the last three months, which could produce
> lowered prices, but with no manufacturer support (i.e., warranties on
> these drives may be meaningless).
>   I may have misunderstood.  I don't mind a good price on quality
> equipment for personal use, but I can't recommend an unsupported unit
> for critical servers.
>
I agree with David and am a owner of a Samsung 2.1GB HDD and have mixed
feelings. I've noticed a considerable number of bad sectors upon scandisk
and defragging. The upside is that the performance is quite admirable and
somewhat competitive with my 2 Western Digital HDDs (1.6GB & 2.0GB).
However...as far as the reseller route -- who knows where the heck it's
been and how it got to your front door. I had a small concern and tried to
contact the dealer/reseller and they were nowhere to be found! I agree that
it is OK to use Samsung drives as long as the data and its
dependibilty/warranty are worth the risk.