The SV0844A (Voyager 6) is another run-of-the-mill Samsung from the very late 90’s. This particular example is from April 1999, showing an ordinary drive in an era where capacity points exploded.
These drives were fairly common in OEM systems, at least in much of the UK (and, possibly the majority of Western Europe). While many hold up well today, this particular example isn’t a prime example from the time period.
Drive Attributes ------------------------------------- Samsung Voyager 6 SV0844A ------------------------------------- Capacity 8.4GB Mfc Date 1999-04 Format 3.5" Interface PATA Platters 2 Heads 4 Cache 512KB RPM 5400 Origin Korea (SEC) -------------------------------------
The SV0844A features two platters & four heads. It offers 8.4GB in total capacity.
The label offers useful information, mostly pertaining to jumper settings & overall capacity. Some items are lacking, such as cache & spindle RPM, but it’s good enough.
This unit was produced in Samsung’s factory in Korea.
Samsung’s exterior design had changed very little since the days of the Winner series, with the same overall design language being present on this unit too.
This drive features a rather huge package in the centre, being a custom chip from Samsung (the only useful notation being SEC, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.). The TDA5147BH from Philips (now producing under NXP for semiconductor parts) is a combination voice coil motor & spindle motor driver IC.
There’s nothing too interesting aside.
The rear of the board is as blank as ever. Nothing interesting!
This unit utilises a spindle motor from Nidec. Samsung wound down their spindle motor business in 1999 (the exact year this drive was manufactured), so it’s not too surprising to see it utilise something else.
Being almost a quarter of a century old, it’s not a massive surprise to stumble across a drive in distress. This particular unit does function to a certain degree, allowing performance benchmarks seen above, but its days are surely numbered.
Unlike many of Samsung’s other models from the same period, this drive isn’t very loud when it seeks. Perhaps a shame for those who hope for the “Samsung noise guarantee” when considering models for an old machine, but one of these units in good condition may not be a bad choice in the end at all.
Samsung Voyager 6 SV0844A – Product Specifications (.pdf. opens in new tab)
If you missed the video I made on this drive, you can find it here: