Thanks once more for the info mate ... and not to be too much of a nit picker but I quickly skimmed those tests and I do have two thoughts/comments about them:
... the Samsung they use is a 1TB drive, the WD is a 2TB drive - the response of the 2TB is obviously going to be slower than a 1TB drive (esp assuming they have the same cache size) ... EDIT2: ... OK the cache size is twice as much on the WD, but still, there is a hell of a lot more sectors to access and manage on a 2TB disc, which again is gonna slow it down a fair ol bit ... mechanical parts and all that.
The difference between the two is very marginal in most tests, and in some tests which probably represent a high percentage of how we access our discs (like random reads and writes) it looks to me like the WD is actually quicker :shock:
Not really a true comparison and at the end of the day ... I don't trust Samsung still, I also want 2x 500GB instead of one 1TB drive (more performance tuning options, esp pagefile being separated from windows and apps) so WD blacks it is
EDIT: BTW OCUK were bloody useless today - I put in a webnote, asked them for availability, shipping costs and their best price on all that kit plus and an answer this morning if possible ... the following answer came tonight at around 6pm:
"Thank you for webnote.
The item is still out of stock and we do not have a confirmed ETA. If you would like to contact us through the order webnotes system or call 0871 910 910 1 we will be happy to progress your order."
Looks like my undisclosed but very cheap, mainstream, international online shopping giant with all products ready to ship is gonna get the order then :sad:
... big scary moment about to happen as I press the "buy now" button [gulp]
... although not as scary as when my wife and the bank manager sees what I did to our account