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NOISE
Let's get this out on the table immediately: These FreeAgent Go drives are
virtually inaudible in normal use. In an ordinary room with some
ambient noise, like a computer or two running (even if they are very quiet ones),
the only way to tell whether one of FreeAgent Go devices is running is to pick
it up off the bare desktop and hold to close to an ear. With some Windows power
saving modes, the drive actually stops spinning, and the only way you know it's
getting any power at all is the light on the casing. Virtually no vibration
can be felt with either drive; this was actually morte true for the large 1TB
sample than the smaller 640GB one. When plugged in and left running on a bare
desktop, neither model can be heard from a meter away in a 18~20 dBA ambient
home office.
Here is a screen capture from our Spectrum PLUS Audio Analyzer, and the SPL
reading of the 640GB model from 1m. As mentioned, the 1TB device might be a
mite quieter, but it's hard to say because both are so quiet.
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The only change from the ambient curve in the chamber that the FreeAgent
Go drive causes is the little bump centered at 8~900Hz. Note that its
peak doesn't even reach the 0 dBA point.
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There's really no difference at all between the idle and seek noise, even though
the latter can be heard as a bit of muted chattering from very close up. The
change from idle barely registers on the spectrum analyzer screen, and its hardly
audible as a change in the recording below.
An Audio Recording of the FreeAgent Go 640GB was made with a high resolution,
lab quality, digital recording system inside SPCR's own 11 dBA ambient anechoic
chamber, then converted to LAME 128kbps encoded MP3s. We've listened long and
hard to ensure there is no audible degradation from the original WAV files to
these MP3s. It represents a quick snapshot of what we heard during the review.
There was no need to make a recording of the 1TB model; it sounds the same.
The recording starts with 7 seconds of ambient noise, followed by 10 seconds
of the drive in idle. For the most realistic results,
set the volume so that the starting ambient level is barely audible, back the
volume control off a touch to make it just inaudible, then don't change the
volume setting again while comparing all the sound files.
Comparatives (all bare drives):
- Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B 500GB 2.5"— Idle:
14 / Seek: 15 dBA@1m— One
Meter
- Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB ST9500325ASG 2.5"
— Idle: 16 / Seek: 18 dBA@1m— One
Meter
- WD Scorpio Blue 500GB WD5000BEVT 2.5" — Idle:
15 / Seek: 16 dBA@1m— One
Meter
- Samsung F2 EcoGreen 500GB HD502HI 3.5" — Idle:
12 / Seek (AAM): 15 / Seek (Normal): 16 dBA@1m— One
Meter
- Seagate 7200.11 1TB ST31000340AS — Idle: 18 / Seek: 19 dBA@1m—
One
Meter
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