Western Digital SATA drives? Quiet?
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Western Digital SATA drives? Quiet?
I've been thinking about getting a second harddrive because I've been running out of space lately.
I currently have a 120GB Seagate Barracuda of some sort and it's quiet enough (it doesn't bother me).
Recently I've been setting up new machines for other people with large Western Digital SATA drives and have been surprised at how quiet they are so I'm thinking of getting one of these.
Western Digital SATA 160GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM WD1600JD (3year) -$108.59 Can
http://www.greenlyph.com/product_info.p ... cts_id=241
OR
Western Digital SATAII 160GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM WD1600JS (3year) - $103.12 Can
http://www.greenlyph.com/product_info.p ... ts_id=1155
I'm guessing the only difference between the 2 is that one is SATAII and the other is regular SATA which makes no difference to me because I only have an ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe motherboard that I doubt can make use of SATAII so I'm gonna have to jumper the drive to work at regular SATA speed anyway.
Like I said, I've listened to them in other people's computers and I could barely hear them, even in a system that had 2 80GB WD drives in Raid0.
The best store around only sells Western Digital drives so that's another reason I'm looking into buying one.
Any opinions on Western Digital SATA drives?[/url]
I currently have a 120GB Seagate Barracuda of some sort and it's quiet enough (it doesn't bother me).
Recently I've been setting up new machines for other people with large Western Digital SATA drives and have been surprised at how quiet they are so I'm thinking of getting one of these.
Western Digital SATA 160GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM WD1600JD (3year) -$108.59 Can
http://www.greenlyph.com/product_info.p ... cts_id=241
OR
Western Digital SATAII 160GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM WD1600JS (3year) - $103.12 Can
http://www.greenlyph.com/product_info.p ... ts_id=1155
I'm guessing the only difference between the 2 is that one is SATAII and the other is regular SATA which makes no difference to me because I only have an ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe motherboard that I doubt can make use of SATAII so I'm gonna have to jumper the drive to work at regular SATA speed anyway.
Like I said, I've listened to them in other people's computers and I could barely hear them, even in a system that had 2 80GB WD drives in Raid0.
The best store around only sells Western Digital drives so that's another reason I'm looking into buying one.
Any opinions on Western Digital SATA drives?[/url]
most people here get pretty fanaticle about noise, and if its not the absolute quietest product in the catagory then its not good enough.
one thing to think about, while it may not sound loud to you now, it may end up driving you nuts later on when you start getting used to a lower ambient noise volume and the hard drive becomes the loudest thing in your system.
in the end, noise is a perception, and everyone percives it differently. so if its acceptable to you then it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks because your the one that is going to be using it.
one thing to think about, while it may not sound loud to you now, it may end up driving you nuts later on when you start getting used to a lower ambient noise volume and the hard drive becomes the loudest thing in your system.
in the end, noise is a perception, and everyone percives it differently. so if its acceptable to you then it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks because your the one that is going to be using it.
as long as it's not whiney
Yup.
To me an annoying drive is one that makes a high pitched whine but just being able to hear it when it's "working" isn't a problem. To some people any sound is bad.
To me an annoying drive is one that makes a high pitched whine but just being able to hear it when it's "working" isn't a problem. To some people any sound is bad.
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I currently have 3 WD SATA 320 GB drives and a Seagate 120 GB SATA drive.
I prefer the 3 WD's to the 1 Seagate as the Seagate is over 5C hotter, and much, much louder in seeks and idle even.
Be careful though, on the newer SATAII's from WD... I don't think they've yet perfected their transfer rates, as I have seen a few reports that actually showed my generation I drives to be MUCH faster than the newer SATAII's.
I prefer the 3 WD's to the 1 Seagate as the Seagate is over 5C hotter, and much, much louder in seeks and idle even.
Be careful though, on the newer SATAII's from WD... I don't think they've yet perfected their transfer rates, as I have seen a few reports that actually showed my generation I drives to be MUCH faster than the newer SATAII's.
That's good to know because I can't use SATAII on my older P4C800E-Deluxe motherboard anyway.thetoad30 wrote: Be careful though, on the newer SATAII's from WD... I don't think they've yet perfected their transfer rates, as I have seen a few reports that actually showed my generation I drives to be MUCH faster than the newer SATAII's.
I am very happy with my twin WD 160 SATA drives, but I do have very good mounting technique for them:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10450
I never tired them with standard mounting, but as mounted above I cannot hear them at all.
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10450
I never tired them with standard mounting, but as mounted above I cannot hear them at all.
The SATA version, JD, has higher decibel ratings for acoustics:
JD 160 GB:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 33 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 35 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 34 dBA (average)
PATA version JB 160 GB:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 26 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 31 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 27 dBA (average)
You can verify the above on WD's site.
JD 160 GB:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 33 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 35 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 34 dBA (average)
PATA version JB 160 GB:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 26 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 31 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 27 dBA (average)
You can verify the above on WD's site.
When I purchased my WD's directly from WD about 8 months ago, I asked their technical support about the specs on their website. They said that some of the specs have not been updated to reflect the new Fluid Dynamic Bearings and are they are not all accurate on their website.JVM wrote:The SATA version, JD, has higher decibel ratings for acoustics:
JD 160 GB:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 33 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 35 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 34 dBA (average)
PATA version JB 160 GB:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 26 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 31 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 27 dBA (average)
You can verify the above on WD's site.
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I must add my word of caution too:
If you are going to be using these drives, make absolutely sure that you are using some kind of dampaning material when mounting them. Something like grommets. Otherwise these things will resonate.
I know most people on here would read that and go "duh", but I believe that these new FDB's are more prone to vibration than other more conventional bearings. While my WD "screamers" were extremely loud in terms of whining, I must admit that they didn't vibrate nearly as much as my newer hard drives. However, I will trade vibration for whining any day, as it is really easy to reduce vibration, but bearing noise is, obviously, not.
If you are going to be using these drives, make absolutely sure that you are using some kind of dampaning material when mounting them. Something like grommets. Otherwise these things will resonate.
I know most people on here would read that and go "duh", but I believe that these new FDB's are more prone to vibration than other more conventional bearings. While my WD "screamers" were extremely loud in terms of whining, I must admit that they didn't vibrate nearly as much as my newer hard drives. However, I will trade vibration for whining any day, as it is really easy to reduce vibration, but bearing noise is, obviously, not.
I think I'm gonna get the JS SATA version. It's cheaper and the stats on the WD website say it quieter than the JD.m0002a wrote:When I purchased my WD's directly from WD about 8 months ago, I asked their technical support about the specs on their website. They said that some of the specs have not been updated to reflect the new Fluid Dynamic Bearings and are they are not all accurate on their website.