Less 'whiny' drive?

sedimin · Post by **sedimin** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:04 am

Ever since I quieted down my video card's fan and my proc fan, my hard drives are my noisiest part.

While my Raptor drive is noisy, it's mainly so when seeking. However, my IBM 75GXP 80GB drive is very, very whiny. At first, I thought it was one of my fans, but I managed to locate the noise to the IBM drive.

Now, it's driving me friggin ' nuts!

I do have the money for a new drive, but I want a drive that will be used solely as a storage drive (as my Raptor is my main drive). In addition, I wanted to post here to see if other drives are as whiny as this IBM drive, or even less so.

Can any make a recommendation, or ease my fear that other drives will be 'loud' whiny, too?

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:28 am

The Samsung 1604 I recently reviewedhas NO whine whatsoever -- none that I can hear, anyway. The overall noise is marginally higher than a single platter 'cuda, but the 'cuda does seem to exhibit some residual whine in some samples, and perhaps as it ages. (Mind you, the 1604 was brand new; it could get noisier over time... most drives do)

sgtpokey · Post by **sgtpokey** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 9:21 am

If you want you, the Smart Drive 2002 completely removed any 'whine' noise from my old WD 40 gig drive, it should do just as well or better for your IBM, and if the raptor starts annoying you, you can get another Smart Drive for that as well... you did say you had the money

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=143901

sedimin · Post by **sedimin** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:05 am

sgtpokey wrote:If you want you, the Smart Drive 2002 completely removed any 'whine' noise from my old WD 40 gig drive, it should do just as well or better for your IBM, and if the raptor starts annoying you, you can get another Smart Drive for that as well... you did say you had the money

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=143901

But would this overheat the drive and cause dmage to it? I've taken my computer apart enough times with the last week that I don't want to keep doing so. :p

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:11 am

smardrive probably will not overheat your drive: see the SPCR review.

sedimin · Post by **sedimin** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:21 am

MikeC wrote:smardrive probably will not overheat your drive: see the SPCR review.

I'm just erring on the side of caution.

I'll order one. Thanks sgtpokey and mucho thanks Mr. Chin!

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 4:09 pm

my seagate dont whine nor does my maxtor, tho it sounds like a fan :\

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 4:23 pm

yeah, I never realized how much of my PC's noise problems actually resulted from my Western Digital 1200JB SE HD. I replaced it with a 120GB Hitachi 180GXP w/ 8mb cache yesterday and the difference for me was HUGE!!! The drive exhibits VERY little whine as mentioned in MikeC's "Recommended HD" section, and for its top-notch performance, it's worth it!

THANKS MikeC and the rest of the SPCR Community for provided excellent reliable data on this site! ***I've been burned sooo many times by "dubious marketing" that I nearly do not trust most website opinions and specs...ugh!

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:45 am

First of all - a 80GB Deskstar 75GXP?

Now to your question:

I have had a number of Deathstars, and, if there is no problem with the drive, they can be adjusted to an extremely low noise level, with no annoying whine.

Go to IBM and find the "IBM Feature Tool" - you will probably get forwarded to a Hitachi page, and they might call it something else.

You can use the feature tool to turn down the noise on your drive (of course this will also reduce performance slightly). As you adjust the settings, you can hear the seek noise go up and down - pretty cool.

If, while you are adjusting, the whine remains at a constant level, there may be something wrong with your drive. In this case, you can try to RMA it for being out of acoustic spec.

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 7:41 am

the whine is from it rotating at 7200
so unless it slows down the rpm it will be there all the time?

Mirar · Post by **Mirar** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:30 am

I was just planning to ask if anyone knew if the 160Gb Samsung SpinPoint V80 was quiet (5400 rpm), since I'm considering that as a new disk for my server... It's priced at 8.50SEK/Gb here (9SEK=$1), quite reasonably.

It seems to equal the 1604 model, so there I go. If the 7200 rpm model is quiet, surely the 5400 one must be too?

As for a whiny 75GXP: I'd say it's dying. Get a new disk before it's too late.

I regularly move important data on to new drives, since they will give up sooner or later. (Usually later. Sometimes sooner.) The 75GXP has a bad reputation, as well. My 40Gb 75GXP gave up a year ago. (I didn't knew they came in 80Gb sizes? I thought it was 20Gb/platter.)
Also, a new disk will give you more Gb for the money then a hdd silencer, and it will probably be more quiet in the end anyway.

A quick trick to lower the whine and vibration is to suspend it in elastics, as you probably know by now. But the 75GXP might die from overheating then...

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:39 am

It seems to equal the 1604 model, so there I go. If the 7200 rpm model is quiet, surely the 5400 one must be too?

Seems reasonable to me.

As for a whiny 75GXP: I'd say it's dying. Get a new disk before it's too late.

Not sure that the whine is necessarily a pre-death symtom. ALL of my IBM 75 GXPs whined all the time -- I had 3-4 at one point. Only one actually died -- the rest I sold off.

Mirar · Post by **Mirar** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:44 am

Not sure that the whine is necessarily a pre-death symtom. ALL of my IBM 75 GXPs whined all the time -- I had 3-4 at one point. Only one actually died -- the rest I sold off.

Well, true. The one I had whined too, especially compared to a 120GXP or a Barracuda IV. But it didn't whine that bad.

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:52 am

The trouble with all this talk about noise is that it is so hard to know what the other guy is hearing. We really don't know just how whiny that IBM of sedimin's is, do we?

Riffer · Post by **Riffer** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 10:13 am

The trick is to distinguish between normal idle noise, seak noise, and a whine.

I have had two Deathstars spontaneously develop a constant high pitched whine, that had not previously been present.

I don't know if this would have led to failure, as I promptly RMA'd the drives because I can't stand high pitched noises.

That's why I like the feature tool. When adjusted properly, I was able to reduce seek noise, and normal idle noise is not that loud for the IBM's.

Of course, you may be able to eliminate even the whine by mounting the drive in one of the many ways suggested on this forum.

Yomat · Post by **Yomat** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 4:17 pm

MikeC wrote:The trouble with all this talk about noise is that it is so hard to know what the other guy is hearing. We really don't know just how whiny that IBM of sedimin's is, do we?

Of course.

.. but with this site we can read opinions of people who knows what they talk about. When you read about 5 'true' opinions about a product you can easily tell whats it all about. Even if one or two of them are a bit off. One always have to beware of "self-deceptive" individuals. And I havent yet seen a site who both spotted and hung out a vendor person (digitalix) like that.

Mirar:
Samsung's previous 5400 model 'Spinpoint V60' got _lower_ idle noise than a cudaIV in a test on Tomshardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20020920/index.html
Which doesent have to mean anything.. but it indicates that the V80 could be down there. On the other hand the 5400 is budget. Perhaps they dont spend as much juice, in tech, on it as the 7200 variant. And its only the 7200 variants they market as 'quiet' drives.

By the way. Is there any reason why a 5400 generally would make less noise? I dont know enough of the technology to know. It would make sense though.. but I do have heard some quite noisy 5400 drives.

sedimin · Post by **sedimin** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 11:59 am

MikeC wrote:The trouble with all this talk about noise is that it is so hard to know what the other guy is hearing. We really don't know just how whiny that IBM of sedimin's is, do we?

It sounds like a whiny, high-pitched fan. It's not that bad, but it is very noticable and annoys me when I don't have some other noise (music or games) to drown it out.

I had a 45GB 75GXP and it died, but I got a RMA and the refurbed one has lasted me many years. Granted, I don't use it because I now have my Raptor and this 80GB drive (I'm sure it's 75GXP...), but I'm sure this drive isn't dying.

And Radeonman, my Rator drive doesn't have a whine (unless the IBM is dorwning it out), but the seek times sound like a my old Seagate drive from yesteryears. It does give off a hefty seek noise, but it' not annoying in the least an dlets me know when the drive is active (as my Intel board doesn't connect right with my LIan Li HDD LED).

I ended up ordering a SilentDrive encase for this drive, but haven't had time to put it in, yet. Hopefully some time this week.

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:16 pm

sedimin wrote:I ended up ordering a SilentDrive encase for this drive, but haven't had time to put it in, yet. Hopefully some time this week.

Ooh... Quote from Recommended HDDs...

Molex Silent Drive -- Frankly, this product is here so that we can caution you about it. While providing some noise reduction, it is known to overheat drives. The manufacturer warns about use against 7200 RPM hard drives, yet one reads ongoing accounts of users damaging their 7200 RPM drives in the Silent Drive. We would only use it with 5400 RPM drives and keep an eye on drive temps. Design and construction quality are not great. Dec/02. First hand experience

Send it back!!

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 3:26 pm

Smart Drive, not the Silent Drive! There is a massive difference, except in the words of course.

sedimin · Post by **sedimin** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 6:56 am

Oops.

Ah well, my bad. Does anyone know of a Canadian retailer where I can get a Smart Drive?

What the hell WAS I thinking?!

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:04 am

no cdn retailer

sedimin · Post by **sedimin** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:11 am

MikeC wrote:no cdn retailer

Ah well. Maybe I can use this enclosure for another drive, or for something else.

I'll start looking for a quieter drive, just to be safe.

Thanks!

attnet · Post by **attnet** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 9:36 pm

How in the world do you have a 80GB 75GXP?

The "75" in the model number indicates the maximum storage capacity for that particular line...in the case of the 75GXP, 75GB. Of course I guess you can never discount the freak occurance every now and then, whether by mislabling or whatnot, but I would check more carefully into that matter.

Pjotor · Post by **Pjotor** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 2:36 am

Use a 5400 rpm drive together with a SilentDrive. Works like a charm, and the drive doesn't really have to be quiet since the SilentDrive drowns just about all the noise out.

Edit: The SilentDrive is also considerably cheaper than the SmartDrive.