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2.5" HDD NOISE COMPARISON
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Drive Model
(linked to review)
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SPL
Idle / AAM / Seek
(dBA@1m)
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Vibration
1-10
(10 = no vibration)
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UNIT UNDER REVIEW:
Hitachi TravelStar E7K100
HTE721010G9SA00 |
20 / 21 / 21-22
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8
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| Hitachi's flagship 7,200 RPM notebook drive,
competing directly with the Seagate Momentus 7200.1, and beating it handily
in terms of both noise and idle power consumption. Power management is
disabled, as the drive is targeted at the server and workstation segments,
where low power is not a requirement. Unfortunately, the high rotation
speed causes a lot of vibration, which resonates at the relatively high
(and audible) pitch of 120 Hz. |
Seagate
Momentus 7200.1
ST910021AS |
21 / – / 22-23
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8
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| Seagate's performance-oriented notebook drive,
with a 7,200 RPM spindle speed that translates into a seek time that approaches
desktop performance. Unfortunately, the faster spindle speed causes corresponding
increases in turbulence noise (at idle) and power consumption. Subjective
noise quality is good for both seeks and idle, but the level of noise
is closer to desktop drives than the super quiet Samsung MP0402H. Vibration
resonance is at 120 Hz rather than the usual 90 Hz for notebook drives. |
Seagate
Momentus 5400.2
ST9120821AS |
20 / – / 20-21
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9
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| Too close to the Samsung
MP0402H to crown either drive as low noise champion, but a very good choice
in any case. Idle noise has slightly more "wind noise" than the Samsung
but no high frequency noise at all. Although AAM is not supported, seeks
are completely inaudible when placed on soft foam. Consumes more power
than most notebook drives. |
| Western
Digital Scorpio |
20 / 21 / 21
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7-9
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| Sample variance makes it hard to rank the noise
this drive, but it belongs somewhere between the Samsung notebook series
and the Seagate Barracuda IV. Idle noise is mainly a low frequency motor
hum with little high frequency whine. Seeks are almost too quiet to notice,
and can be characterized as a low rumble. AAM has not effect, but it would
be hard to improve the seeks anyway. Vibration ranged from the level of
the Barracuda IV to below the Samsung MP0402H. |
| Fujitsu
MHT2080BH |
22 / 23-24 / 23-24
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9
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| Idle noise is rather disappointing;
it sounds undamped and is louder than the Barracuda IV. Seeks are about
average for a notebook drive, rising about 1-2 dBA/1m above idle. The
Fujitsu has the lowest vibration of any drive tested. May avoid the intermittent
clicking problem common with notebook drives because it waits for 10-15
seconds after a seek before unloading the heads. Consumes ~0.2W more than
other notebook drives in all power states. |
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17 / 18 / 19-20
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8
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| The acoustics of this drive are virtually identical
to the Fujitsu MHT2040AT, a considerably slower 4200 rpm drive and the
quietest we've encountered. The Samsung is extremely quiet, and there
is very little if any high frequency noise to speak of. It has minimal
vibration, but placing it on soft foam does reduce low freq. noise audibly.
The unit used in the test PC was suspended in elastic string and mostly
surrounded by soft but dense foam. Seek noise is somewhat more audible
than the 1 dBA gain suggests, but very soft. |
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19 / – / 20
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?
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| The Hitachi comes very close
to the Samsung, but has a slightly sharper and higher pitched sound, with
perhaps a touch more vibration as well. The seek noise is a touch louder
too. When inside even a very quiet desktop PC, the slightly higher noise
level of this drive over the Samsung may not be audible. The performance
is superior, according to SiSoftware Sandra 2005, and also subjectively. |
| Toshiba
MK6022GAX |
22 / – / –
|
?
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| Slightly louder than the Seagate Barracuda
IV single platter 3.5" reference hard drive. The noise signature has the
broadband shhhh quality exhibited by the Samsung SP 3.5"
drives, but higher in pitch, a bit like the Seagate. A trace of whine,
but not like the Seagate Momentus. Seek noise is only moderately louder
than idle, perhaps by 3 dBA. Vibration is higher than any of the 4200rpm
drives; similar to the Momentus. Performance seems quite speedy, as it
should be with 16 MB cache and 5400rpm, but inconsistent results with
all the benchmarks tried stops me from publishing results. |
| Seagate
Momentus ST94811A |
24 / – / –
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?
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| The Momentus has a terrible
constant "pure" tone somewhere in the 6~10KHz range. It drops 2-3 dBA
in level when the listener or the mic faces the edge of the drive because
of directionality of the high frequency whine. Seek noise is substantially
higher, probably 3~5 dBA. Vibration is much lower than any 3.5" drive,
but higher than either of the 4200rpm drives tried. A real disappointment,
but it did perform about as fast as or faster than the Seagate Barracuda-IV.
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| Fujitsu
MHT2040AT |
16 / – / –
|
?
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| The only noise maker in the Mappit
A4F PC, which seemed virtually inaudible to me. The noise is not
inaudible, but very low and soft, easily dismissed in the ambient noise
of all but the quietest spaces. There is no high pitched whine to speak
of, and the seek noise does not seem more than maybe 2 dBA higher than
idle. It is the slowest performer of all the drives here. Extremely low
vibration. |
| Toshiba
MK4025GAS |
16 / – / –
|
?
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| This 8 MB cache 4200 RPM
drive offers better performance than 2 MB cache 4200 rpm drives, and it
is identical in both idle and seek noise to the Fujitsu above. Extremely
low vibration. |
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RETIRED REFERENCE HDDs
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| Seagate
Barracuda IV ST340016A |
21 / 23 / 25-26
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6
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| In idle, it remains the quietest
of all 3.5" drives. This sample is almost 2 years old, but seems unchanged
in noise. There may be a touch of high frequency whine but it is very
low in level, and easily obscured when mounted in a PC case. Seek is considerably
higher, possibly as much as 5~6 dBA. Low vibration, but much higher than
any of the notebook drives. |
| Samsung
SP0802N (Nidec motor) |
21 / 23-24 / 25-26
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4
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| The idle noise is a touch higher,
and its seek may actually be lower than the Seagate B-IV. Similar vibration
level as the B-IV, but there are reports of some samples exhibiting much
higher vibration levels. This is cured by HDD decouple mounting (suspension
in elastic material or placement on soft foam), which is virtually mandatory
for a truly quiet PC anyway. |
AUDIO RECORDINGS
Audio recordings were made of the drives and are presented here
in MP3 format. The recordings below contains ten seconds of idle noise, followed
by ten seconds of seek noise with AAM enabled and ten seconds more with AAM
disabled.
Keep in mind that the audio recordings paint only part of the
acoustic picture; vibration noise is not recorded, and drives often sound different
depending on the angle from which they are heard.
Please note: This recording was made correctly. If you can't hear
a difference between idle and AAM seek, it's because the difference is too small!
Hitachi
TravelStar E7K100 HTE721010G9SA00 (Idle: 20 / AAM: 21 / Seek: 21-22 dBA@1m)
Reference Comparatives:
Seagate
Momentus 7200.1 ST910021AS (Idle: 21 / Seek: 22-23 dBA@1m)
Seagate
Momentus 5400.2 ST9120821AS (Idle: 20 / Seek: 20-21 dBA@1m)
Samsung
MP0402H (Idle: 17 / AAM: 18 / Seek: 19-20 dBA@1m)
Western
Digital Scorpio WD800VE (Idle: 20 / AAM: 21 / Seek: 21 dBA@1m)
Nexus 92mm
case fan @ 5V (17 dBA@1m) Reference
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HOW TO LISTEN & COMPARE
These recordings were made
with a high resolution studio quality digital recording system. The hard
drive was placed on soft foam to isolate the airborne noise that it produces;
recordings do not take into account the vibration noise that hard drives
produce. The microphone was centered 3" above the top face of the hard
drive. The ambient noise during most recordings is 18 dBA or lower.
To set the volume to a realistic level (similar to the
original), try playing the Nexus 92 fan reference recording and
setting the volume so that it is barely audible. Then don't reset the
volume and play the other sound files. Of course, tone controls or other
effects should all be turned off or set to neutral. For full details on
how to calibrate your sound system to get the most valid listening comparison,
please see the yellow text box entitled Listen to the Fans
on page four of the article
SPCR's Test / Sound Lab: A Short Tour. |
CONCLUSIONS
The E7K100 represents one of the best compromises between drive
performance and noise that we've seen. The noise level is the same as most other
notebook drives: Inaudible except to the extremely sensitive and/or picky. Even
better, drive performance should be on par with most desktop drives; both rotation
speed and areal density are similar. Not only that, the drive is targeted at
the server and workstation markets, so power management (and the associated
performance and longevity issues) should not be an issue. The E7K100 has the acoustic
advantage of a notebook drive without the usual disadvantages.
Thanks to all of the above, the E7K100 is well positioned to lead
the upcoming transition to 2.5" drives. That's not to say it doesn't have drawbacks, but most of the drawbacks are a matter of circumstance and convention
rather than any inherent flaws in the design.
As with any new technology, the E7K100 costs an arm and a leg, and it is difficult to find. Large OEMs
should not have a problem of course, but pickings are pretty slim from the retail
side. In fact, at the time of writing, I was unable to find any online stores
that carry the specific model reviewed here. However, several sites had lower
capacity models, and several had the 7K100 (no "E") with a 100 GB
capacity. Given the similarity between the two models,
the non-"E" version could easily be substituted with APM was disabled.
In spite of its advantages, the E7K100 is unlikely to become a
smash hit among desktop PC users — it simply costs too much. Until it comes down in price, it
will most likely remain a rosy indicator of good things to come.
Many thanks to Hitachi
Global Storage Technology for the TravelStar E7K100 sample.
Discuss this article in the SPCR Forums.
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