Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160GB Notebook HDD

2.5" HDD NOISE COMPARISON
Drive Model (linked to review)	SPL Idle / AAM / Seek (dBA@1m)	Vibration 1-10 (10 = no vibration)	Subjective Notes
UNIT UNDER REVIEW: Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST9160821A	19 / – / 20-21	8	The successor of the Momentus 5400.2, featuring perpendicular recording technology to boost capacity to 160 GB. It also happens to be very quiet. Subjectively, it's probably too close to call between this, the 5400.2, and the Samsung, although the Samsung measures the best. A very good, if expensive, choice for a quiet system.
Hitachi TravelStar E7K100 HTE721010G9SA00	20 / 21 / 21-22	8	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	8	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	9	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	7-9	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	9	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.
Samsung MP0402H	17 / 18 / 19-20	8	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.
Hitachi Travelstar 5K80	19 / – / 20	–	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 / – / –	–	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 / – / –	–	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.
Fujitsu MHT2040AT	16 / – / –	–	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 / – / –	–	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.
Seagate Barracuda IV ST340016A	21 / 23 / 25-26	6	In idle, it remains the quietest of all 3.5" drives. This sample is almost 4 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	4	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. Because the Seagate does not support AAM, the AAM portion of the recording was omitted, so for this drive, the recording is only 20 seconds long.

Keep in mind that the 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.

Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST9160821A (Idle: 19 / Seek: 20-21 dBA@1m

Reference Comparatives:

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

CONCLUSIONS

The 5400.3 ST9160821A is all about perpendicular recording. It allows a 30% boost in capacity and provides a small increase in drive throughput. The best part is that these gains come without an increase in noise or power consumption: The 5400.3 is a touch quieter and consumes a little less power than its predecessor, the 5400.2. In fact, it is competitive with the quietest 5,400 RPM drive that we know of, the Samsung MP0402H, which has just one quarter of the 160GB capacity of this 5400.3.

So, what's the catch? There are two, but both will fade in time:

1. Cost: Many people are probably unwilling to pay the current ~US$350 price for a 160 GB drive.
2. No SATA now, but it will be available later this year.

Aside from these two small issues, the Momentus 5400.3 is a great choice for use in the quietest systems.

Many thanks to Seagate for the Momentus 5400.3 sample.

* * *

Discuss this article in the SPCR Forums.

Help support this site, buy from one of our affiliate retailers!

Search: All ProductsComputersPhotographyElectronicsSoftwareVideo GamesMoviesMusicBooksToysOfficeJewelry & WatchesApparelHealth & BeautyHome & GardenBabies & KidsFlowers & GourmetSporting GoodsMusical Instruments