Just thought I'd let you know that I received a toppy from Empire Direct at the beginning of December and it had a Seagate drive. I'd assumed from reading posts here and on other forums that all these had disappeared from the distribution chain.
Empire Direct refused to swap it for a version with a Samsung drive (it was noisy - but they said that was normal). However they did agree to a refund since I sent it back within the 7 day period.
It's the first time I've ever encountered a company who are more willing to refund money than issue a replacement. However I've noticed that they are now selling them for more than I paid ...
The refund has finally come through after a number of p-hone calls. In the meantime I got a 250gb version from turbosat.
I must say that in view of their inflexibility and inefficiency I won't be going anywhere near Empire Direct in future.

That's very curious; certainly the impression I have from Turbosat is that there are unlikely still to be any boxes in distribution with Seagate drives. Do you know what firmware it had on it? That might give some clue as to how long it had been sitting on the shelf.

Nigel.

How did you find out the type of drive?

I have successfully executed HDInfo TAP - does this mean my drive is a SAmsung (I bought from ED at a similar time to you...)

Peer through the slots in the lid, and see how much of the label you can read!

Nigel

Didn't help! Can only see barcodes and numbers! But HDInfo only works with Samsung drives right?

Model SV1604E. Just googled and found out it's a Samsung - phew! Still, it's a very quiet, so don't know why I was panicing!

Mine was definitely a Seagate - I checked the serial number I could see through the grille on the top. Also - I loaded the hdd tap and it didn't give me the option to quieten that I now get with my new machine.
Sorry but I don't recall the firmware version, but I think it was fairly up to date.

I bought a TF5800 Black Panther from Empire Direct in December. The Toppy has the Seagate drive fitted, and while audible at times, it isn't a real problem. It had the latest firmware for the time and was new stock. I assume that Topfield do what a lot of manufacturers do and source parts that meet their specification from a number of sources. So one batch may have Seagates, another Samsungs.

While the noise doesn't bother me much, I have a Samsung 160GB spinpoint drive in my PC and will swop them when I get the time.

It's interesting to know that there are others out there. If there are people thinking of getting a toppy and worried about the noise issue, I recommend that they check with their supplier that they are going to get a Samsung drive rather than assume that this will be the case (as I did).
Of course, some suppliers may be prepared to do a swap, but Empire Direct is not one of them.