Is this good Fantom Drive model?

[TylerDurden389]

There's quite a few of these things, and price normally wouldn't be a factor for me, but this is a steal, permitted it's a good model compared to the ones that cost more. Base price for the best Fantom drives are around $130, but these are on sale for $80.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=M261-8322

[kpmedia]

That's an excellent drive if you want USB3.
I prefer the eSATA drives, which currently only has USB2 --- but I never use the USB aspect anyway.

[TylerDurden389]

Thanks KP. Gonna order them tomorrow.

[dpalomaki]

Looks interesting!
Any idea what brand/model nd what RPM drives are inside the package?

[TylerDurden389]

The specs don't say anything about RPM drives.

[kpmedia]

Drives this size are generally 5400rpm. Few are 7200rpm.

If you're using USB1/2/3 to connect, the rpm doesn't really matter that much. Even with eSATA (SATA I, usually), the rpm doesn't matter that much. Only when you get to SATA II/III internal drives does the rpm come into play.

The more rpms, the louder the drive. So you lose the quietness for (usually imagined) speed increases.

We just bought 4 eSATA Fantoms for $95 each, both from Amazon and a trusted eBay seller. So $80 is an awesome deal.

Fantom uses whatever drive meets the minimum specs, which are somewhat demanding. They have a solid brand name, and are not about to screw that up by saving a few pennies/dollars on junk drive suppliers. Lately, it's Seagate and Hitachi. I've seen WD and even Toshiba in the past, but not many. I've got 6 Fantoms sitting here on the desk, two connected, and one is processing a video as we speak.

[TylerDurden389]

KP, just curious. Why do the prices of these Fantom drives differ if they all have the same samount of space? Amazon's prices usually vary between $100-$130 (though it's different right now to holiday specials). The only differences I see is the number and letter code at the end of their titles (U32/EU/UA, etc...)

[kpmedia]

Stupidity, mostly.

Fantom has had the 2tb models for about 4-5 years now. It started off GD2000, then the model numbers changed as the product was slightly renamed (GDP2000EUS, GD2000EU, etc) and new variations added (g-force, green, quad, etc).

There are two main drives -- G-Force (7200rpm) and Green (5400rpm).
Both can be black or silver, and the green drives has a green oak tree branch around the FD logo on the side of the drive.

'Quad' is just a Mac drive, with Firewire 400+800, in addition to USB2 and eSATA.

I'll be honest with you -- I see no difference between the "green" and "non-green" drives. Speeds are pretty much identical, even with eSATA (SATA I).

But because the model numbers differ, some companies (Amazon and Newegg mostly) list them as separate drives. They're not. So you get this silly price difference on the same drives. However, when the drives are shipped, they're usually not the exact number shown. I purposely wanted an older model for an old and cranky eSATA card, but got the new model. I ended up just replacing the old VIA eSATA card instead.

[TylerDurden389]

Thanks again KP.