Will my next Samsung 160 gb be quiet?

Magic · Post by **Magic** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:20 pm

I've been very confused for a while, and I'm sure I'm not alone. If I buy a 160 gb Samsung 8mb cache pata drive from Newegg, will it be as quiet as the ones I bought in February of this year?

Or are they louder now? Or is there no way to know ahead of time?

Is there anything else I should consider? (Laptop drives are too small).

Thanks!

Putz · Post by **Putz** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:48 pm

The SP1614N I bought last week (not from NewEgg) is literally almost as loud at idle as the 20GB 7200-rpm Western Digital it was supposed to replace. In fact, they sound almost identical. I am extremely disappointed! It's got a JVC motor. If you happen to get a Nidec, you'll probably be satisfied, based on the opinions floating around here. The seeks are admittedly very quiet, though, and the performance is good.

I have been completely satisfied with three Seagate drives in the past two years (a 'Cuda IV, 'Cuda V, and 7200.7, all single-platter). Tomorrow, I'm going shopping to replace my brand-new Samsung with a Seagate. (I'll either sell the Samsung or give it a new home in my planned "basement backup server".) Many have reported that the seeks are loud on newer Seagates, but that's a price I'll gladly pay in order to eliminate idle whine. At least it's not as much of a lottery with Seagate, noise-wise.

Magic · Post by **Magic** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:09 pm

Putz...please report back once you get the Seagate. What size are you getting?

Anyone still selling Nidec based Samsungs?

johnsto · Post by **johnsto** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:28 am

if it's any help, i had a samsung 160gb (8mb) sata arrive this morning... with NIDEC motor! was a bit surprised...

i then proceeded to put a tiny FAT partition on it, copy the hitachi tools onto it, set my mobo to 'sata only' (legacy) mode, boot up, and turn AAM on. It's practically silent (couldn't hear it on the desk), and only created vibrations when I had it lying on my desk (in my shuttle it's stunningly silent).

so it seems the nidec models are still around... and it's definetely possible to turn aam on!

Magic · Post by **Magic** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:03 am

johnsto wrote:if it's any help, i had a samsung 160gb (8mb) sata arrive this morning... with NIDEC motor! was a bit surprised...

Sweet. Where did you order it from?

johnsto · Post by **johnsto** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:19 am

Magic wrote:Sweet. Where did you order it from?

I'm in the UK, so it was dabs.com if that helps. There's no guarantee all their drives are NIDEC tho

karmasalad · Post by **karmasalad** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:04 pm

Just thought I'd mention that I recently ordered a SP1614N from Newegg and got a NIDEC FDB model, so if you're looking for them, the egg might be worth a lottery ticket.

Putz · Post by **Putz** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 10:15 pm

Purchased and installed an 80GB 2MB Seagate (PATA) to replace the 160 Samsung. Performance is lower, but it's probably mostly because I bought a 2MB-cache model (found a really good price on it, but not the 8MB). Seeks are louder, but still acceptable to me. Idle whine is, as I've come to expect from Seagate, virtually nonexistant (read: inaudible when mounted in a case). I'm much happier. From this machine, I don't need performance or capacity -- I just wanted quiet... and I got it!

The Samsung will be relocated to serve a more appropriate purpose. FYI, after running for about 24 hours, the Samsung's idle whine got a little quieter. But it's still noticeable everywhere in the room when mounted in a case, so it's not acceptable in my living room PC.

johnsto · Post by **johnsto** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:36 pm

Hmm, I had almost the reverse. I bought a Seagate 160GB 8mb (SATA) last week, but it was FAR too noisy - could hear it further than my case fans. The seek noises were the culprit... because AAM can not be enabled on these drivers. Even with my PC idling, the seek noises were terrible.

That's why I went with Samsung... absolute peace - and it's given me that.

I believe the IDE version of the Seagate drive DOES have AAM enabled, so it is actually quiet.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Wed Sep 29, 2004 12:14 am

Yesterday I went out hunting a Samsung 160 SATA (SP1614C). I couldn't find even one. But I did manage to personally examine a huge number of Samsung disks including 80GB SATa, 80GB PATA, 120 SATA, 120 PATA, 160 PATA and every single one of them had the NIDEC FDB motor. But that's in Turkey so I wouldn't know about Newegg. But i did get the feeling that Samsung was finally shipping out all NIDECs.

As for my hunt for a Samsung, I have two 120 Seagate 8MB SATAs running. They used to be suspended and I wasn't bothered about the noise. But over time I think my hearing got improved. I took out the seagates to transfer to my new machine. While running tests in free air I noticed that BOTH have a very high pitched hum, the kind your ear tries to block out immediately so you wont notice it until it's gone. Plus, one of them does a head reset every 5 minutes which is very annoying. I'm not going into the overheating and requiring a front fan problems.

SilverBeard · Post by **SilverBeard** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:53 am

I just received a Samsung 160GB PATA (1614N) with a NIDEC motor from ncix.com.

Putz · Post by **Putz** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:22 pm

Lucky *******.