One of the newer drives in this group test, the SpinPoint Voyager range was launched by Samsung in September 2000, with an interesting range of features designed to separate it from the crowd. Samsung is not the biggest name in hard drives in the UK, but it has been gaining ground recently, and some of this drive's features go some way towards explaining that increase in popularity.

As with some of the other drives in this group test, operating noise and capacity are two key points of the Samsung drive's marketing message. With 20GB per platter throughout the range - which includes 10.2GB, 30.6GB and 40.8GB models - our 20.4GB drive featured just the one platter, with two recording surfaces.

This high areal density, coupled with a spin speed of 5,400rpm, means that the drive's performance should be good. Samsung quotes an average seek time of 9ms, which is certainly impressive, and the drive has a 512KB buffer to help the data along.

Near-silent operation is another feature touted by Samsung for this drive, with a claimed operating noise of 30dB, partly through sound deadening materials and quiet motors, and partly through noise-cancelling algorithms.

As our drive was one of the 'H' models in the range, it can support Ultra-ATA/100 interface controllers, while the more basic units are limited to Ultra-ATA/66, with backward compatibility to the 33MB/sec standard.

Other nice touches include a protective outer layer around the drive to help reduce impact damage during transit or installation, SMART compliance and a three year warranty that includes technical support access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.