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Seagate Momentus 7200.2 160GB 2.5" hard drive
Submitted by Devon Cooke on Mon, 2007-11-12 23:28.
Storage
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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
([email protected])
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Vibration
1-10
(10 = no vibration)
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Subjective Notes
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UNIT UNDER REVIEW:
Seagate Momentus 7200.2 ST9160823ASG |
20 / ? / 22
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7
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Seagate's 7,200 RPM notebook drive updated with perpendicular
recording and fall detection. Fixes the high power consumption of the
7200.1, but otherwise is not much of an improvement. Our sample had higher
vibration than any notebook drive we've tested, and the overall noise
level was closer to a desktop drive than a notebook drive. |
Seagate Momentus
5400.3 160GB
ST9160821A
|
19 / ? / 20-21
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8
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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 100GB
HTE721010G9SA00
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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 100GB
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 120GB
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 80GB |
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.
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Toshiba 60GB MK6022GAX |
22 / ? / ?
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?
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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 40GB 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 40GB MHT2040AT |
16 / ? / ?
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?
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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.
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Toshiba 40GB MK4025GAS |
16 / ? / ?
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?
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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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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 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.
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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.
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AUDIO RECORDINGS
Audio recordings were made of the drives and are presented here
in MP3 format. The recordings below contains 5 seconds of ambient noise, 10
seconds of idle noise, and 10 seconds of seek noise. Drives that feature AAM
(currently all non-Seagate drives) are also recorded with 10 seconds of seek
noise with AAM enabled.
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.
Reference Comparatives:
HOW TO LISTEN & COMPARE
These recordings were made
with a high resolution, studio quality, digital recording system, 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. They represent a quick snapshot of what we heard during
the review. Two recordings of each noise level were made, one from a
distance of one meter, and another from one foot
away.
The one meter recording
is intended to give you an idea of how the subject of this review sound
in actual use — one meter is a reasonable typical distance between
a computer or computer component and your ear. The recording contains
stretches of ambient noise that you can use to judge the relative loudness
of the subject. For best results, set your volume control so that the
ambient noise is just barely audible. Be aware that very quiet subjects
may not be audible — if we couldn't hear it from one meter, chances
are we couldn't record it either!
The one foot recording is
designed to bring out the fine details of the noise. Use this recording
with caution! Although more detailed, it may not represent how the subject
sounds in actual use. It is best to listen to this recording after you
have listened to the one meter recording.
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CONCLUSIONS
As a performance drive, the speedy 7200.2 has its merits. However,
bear in mind that this is Silent PC review. Our bias favors low noise,
and, acoustically, the 7200.2 doesn't pass muster. Our interest in notebook
drives is largely based on using them as quieter alternatives to desktop drives,
but our 7200.2 sample is no quieter than a good desktop drive, it's slower,
smaller and four times the price. We could hope this is an anomaly, but without
at least a handful of samples to compare, there's no way to know.
Taking noise out of the equation, it's possible to be a bit more
positive. Elsewhere on the web, it has been widely reviewed as the fastest notebook
drive (though this may already have changed with Hitachi's latest offering).
Power consumption has been brought back in line with most other notebook drives,
and, if you pick up the right model, the G-Force Protection should do wonders
for road warriors.
We have no doubt we are going to see the market for speedy notebook
drives expand, so we look forward to seeing a quiet drive in this category some
time in the future. Perhaps the 7200.3 will win our affection...
Many thanks to Seagate
for the Momentus 7200.2 sample.
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SPCR Articles of Related Interest:
SPCR's Hard Drive Testing Methodology
SPCR's Recommended Hard Drives
Seagate Momentus 7200.1 100 GB SATA Notebook
Drive
Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160 GB Notebook Drive
Hitachi E7K100 7.2k-RPM Notebook Drive
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