HDD Elastic Suspension... Show your pics!

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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Bobthebuilder
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Post by Bobthebuilder » Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:52 pm


Charles
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Location: Budapest, Hungary

Post by Charles » Tue Dec 27, 2005 3:12 pm

Volkswagen wrote:Image

Were can i buy a pair of these in the us ?
Yes, in any Computer shop, at least here in my Country... It cost around 1,2 $ here. :) (same in €)

I think I will buy an other, to suspend the other Samsung. But my ultimate goal is to have one, quieter HDD in the future with bigger storage capacity (or the same as now, between 200 and 250 Gb).

BR!

Charles
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Location: Budapest, Hungary

Post by Charles » Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:56 am

The second HDD... I am not really satisfied. Will change to something else. What silent HDD do you suggest?

The JVC Samsung is loud... the Nidec P80 is better...

Image

Happy New Year!

BR!

omgy
Posts: 76
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:14 pm

Post by omgy » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:10 pm

Front:
Image

Back:
Image

Two drives supsended in the 5.25" bay of an Antec 3000b.
One is Western Digital Raptor 74gb, the other is a Hitachi 250GB.
The Raptor runs at about 40 C without active cooling.
I can't get readings from the Hitachi but it feels slightly cooler than the Raptor.

This elastic fits in the back groove of the hard drives (see back.jpg) &
hold's the drives fairly securely when moving the case.
It is 1/4" Woven Elastic from JoAnn's; woven elastic maintains its width when stretched. You can buy it by the yard at JoAnn's .
Last edited by omgy on Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Erssa
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Post by Erssa » Tue Jan 24, 2006 6:06 am

Ok, here's my ghetto suspension.

Image

My 160gb samsung in DiskTwin. Screws are touching the rubber of DiskTwins. I'm using those wires that are found in almost every cable package, they are used to keep the cables nice and tight, everyone should have tons of them. I used short white ones on the rear and longer black wires in the front. The HDD would stay in place even if one of the wires would fail. Or even if both from the rear would fail, the power cord and ide cable would prevent it from falling to the bottom of the case.
Not exactly beautiful solution, but it was pretty swift installation and the samsung is pretty quiet to begin with.

Bottom nexus fan @ 900rpm (9V? It's fan mated, I have no idea of the voltage) is the only intake air in my system, there aren't any holes in the case except for the bottom intake and PSU exhaust. It's enough to keep the Samsung at 30-32c.

I am pretty satisfied to the silencing effect. During normal usage I don't hear the seeks and during night the drive is idle and quiet. I keep my computer on 24/7 and sleep with my head less then 2 meters away from the front of the case.

I'm going to use the same suspension for my upcoming raptor 150gb, when I retire this samsung from active duty and reassign it to be a non active drive image backup.

When I find out that the PSU of breeze isn't able to handle the heat of the system, I will probably just buy P150 or some other case that has soft mounting as a feature at that point. Hopefully there will be a small case with only two 5.25" slots, and two soft mount slots. Even that would be more then I or a big number of users would ever need. Ok, I think I went enough off topic...

peterson
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Post by peterson » Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:40 am

Clever! I have 2 Disk Twin lying around. I may have some use of them. :)

Pate
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Post by Pate » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:25 pm

My hard disk suspension, with heatpipe cooling! :)

Image

Pate

El Doug
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Post by El Doug » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:44 pm

nifty - does the vibration pass along the heatpipe at all? i assume the case wall it's attached to does not, considering its thickness

Pate
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Post by Pate » Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:13 am

El Doug wrote:nifty - does the vibration pass along the heatpipe at all? i assume the case wall it's attached to does not, considering its thickness
I wondered about that as well, but it seems the heatpipe is of so soft material that it does not transfer vibrations. The drives became really silent after I did that modification.

Pate

sanse
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Location: Netherlands

Post by sanse » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:18 am

The Arctic Cooling SIlentium series offers a very nice harddisc-silencer, but only for one drive. If you want to use a second drive in the case you have to mount the drive pretty un-isolated in a 3.5' bay.

Hereby a way to add isolation to that second drive too:

Rubber strips to be mounted on harddrive
Image

Rubber strips stuck to harddrive
Image

Harddrive with rubberstrips mounted in lower 3.5' silentium bay with elastic and zip-tie
Image

after this operation the slight hum was gone.
Last edited by sanse on Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

RaptorZX3
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Post by RaptorZX3 » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:07 am

hi there!
i have a few questions

i have a Sonata 2 case.

i've put my hard disk on the lower part of the case, i used 3 long rubber bands in my case AND i used a bath sponge under it, with a layer of "wrapping foam" on top of it just in case.

the 3 rubber bands support the hard-disk and touch that layer of "wrapping foam" under it. i placed a bath sponge under it in case the rubber bands crumble so the hard disk will not fall, it'll land on that thick "sponge-and-foam" piece.

my questions now:

-it is safe to put a hard disk directly on a bath sponge?
-if not, is it safer the way i've done it? (bath sponge, thin layer of foam on top, plus 3 bands of rubber touching that foam)

Tibors
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Post by Tibors » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:11 am

RaptorZX3 wrote:-it is safe to put a hard disk directly on a bath sponge?
The computer I am posting this with now has been running for about a year. All this time the HD has been lying on a synthetic carwash sponge.

RaptorZX3
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Post by RaptorZX3 » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:15 am

Tibors wrote:
RaptorZX3 wrote:-it is safe to put a hard disk directly on a bath sponge?
The computer I am posting this with now has been running for about a year. All this time the HD has been lying on a synthetic carwash sponge.
thanks for the answer

so can i take off that layer of foam on top of the sponge?

Flying Dutchman
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Post by Flying Dutchman » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:10 am

feel free, I can't see how a sponge is going to guide heat, so it's not like it's going to warm up. don't worry about electrical conduitivity.

btw if you are so troubled with your hard drive might falling, if you put it on the foam, is there a mechanism that constraints the drive to the foam, i.e. won't it fall sideways (in transport)

RaptorZX3
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Post by RaptorZX3 » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:32 pm

i don't plan in transporting this computer anyway...

i replaced regular rubber bands by clothing elastics, nearly 1 inch wide.

but my Sonata 2 case i have is a bit tricky, you have to use the lower compartment so you can put an elastic and push it more inside the case to support the front weight of the hard disk, to be sure the weight of it or the vibrations won't push it in a lower angle and eventually fall...i had to use the side hole where you usually pass the front case cables there.

i used 3 pieces of elastics, 2 main ones to support and 1 at the deepest of the case to support that front weight of the hard disk. should i put more? should i use this "criss-cross" technique so many peoples on this forum use?

tell me, anyone have a Western Digital WD2000JS (200gb SATA drive, 7,200rpm) and have/had vibrations problems with it?

Charles
Posts: 87
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Location: Budapest, Hungary

Post by Charles » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:26 am

Wow, nice suspension there!

I have been thinking to buy only one HDD (P80 Nidec Samsung) Instead of the two.

My thermal readings are 44 and 46 C for the two drives...

BR!
omgy wrote:Front:

Two drives supsended in the 5.25" bay of an Antec 3000b.
One is Western Digital Raptor 74gb, the other is a Hitachi 250GB.
The Raptor runs at about 40 C without active cooling.
I can't get readings from the Hitachi but it feels slightly cooler than the Raptor.

This elastic fits in the back groove of the hard drives (see back.jpg) &
hold's the drives fairly securely when moving the case.
It is 1/4" Woven Elastic from JoAnn's; woven elastic maintains its width when stretched. You can buy it by the yard at JoAnn's .

RaptorZX3
Posts: 867
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:57 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec (Canada)

Post by RaptorZX3 » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:40 pm

i tried another way today, by using the clothing elastics to hold the hard disk in place on the big bath sponge, but i could hear the hard disk whine more than before, so i turned back to the clothing elastics suspensions only, with the big piece of bath foam at the bottom (at around half-centimeter of the hard disk, just in case it fall someday, it would land on this instead of landing on a hard metal surface of the case).

goddammit i wish i could live in a more noisy environment so i wouldn't worry that much for a silent computer...

my computer store are such a__holes, they don't even have silencing stuff in stock like this AcoustiPack thing or other things to make computers more silent, like those great and silent Nexus fans...

Charles
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Location: Budapest, Hungary

Post by Charles » Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:41 pm

Which single HDD do you suggest more?

Samsung P80 200GB SataII or WD 250GB SataII?


Would it help, if I kept the few months old P80 NIDEC 120GB HD120IJ Samsung and "throw away" the SP1213C, and buy an other HD120IJ?

Would it be quieter?

BR!

Mr_Spork
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Location: UK

Post by Mr_Spork » Mon Mar 06, 2006 2:50 pm

This is my first shot at suspending the spinning things.

Nothing special... just used some elastic for underwear :)
Image

Here's the end result:
Image

I joined the elastic cord with stitches lol
Image

Although it's a bit of a pain taking the drives out, it's certainly made things a lot quieter than before and I might use some proper elastic cord in the future instead of the stretchy thing found in underwear.

Charles
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Location: Budapest, Hungary

Post by Charles » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:58 am

Wow! Nice and strudy-looking! :)

Hope they will last long...

BR!

wim
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Post by wim » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:36 am

looks way too tight to me, try loosen things a bit and see if the noise level goes down! of course you might be limited by the small space to work with there..

(you can test by putting your hand on the metal - if you can still feel any vibes then you can do a better job with the decoupling)

Myth!
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Post by Myth! » Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:11 pm

that's pants MrSpork !!!!!! :lol:

omgy
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Post by omgy » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:40 pm

Here is a 4-HDD suspension case made of hardboard & sewing elastic!

Front:
Image

Back:
Image

Charles
Posts: 87
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Location: Budapest, Hungary

Post by Charles » Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:07 pm

Very nice! I like the wooden box especially! 8)

BR!

williemues
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:07 pm

Aluprofiles and "spikes"

Post by williemues » Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:51 am

My first attempt on this topic was using L-shaped aluminum brackets with drilled holes for hanging in a selfmade cage in elastic ribbons.

After getting a 250 gb Samsung spinpoint I tried to place it, with the L-profiles on the bottom foam pad. It was very silent (and cool) but vibrated a bit, I thought, so I made 4 "spikes":

http://www.badongo.net/pic/156445

Much easier to fit than elastics and working very well (at least if you´ve only got one Hd). Temps are 10C above ambient.

http://www.badongo.net/pic/156430

andymaxwell
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Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:48 am

Cheapness

Post by andymaxwell » Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:15 am

My no cost solution. Raised above the Zalman intake fan for some airflow.

Image

I am SO amazed at the noise levels of my Samsun HD160JJ hard drive. I used to have a WD 80gb and that thing (after a few years of use) roared!

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AMD Sempron 3000+, ASrock K8NF4g-Sata2, Samsung 160gb SATAII, Artic Cooling Silencer 64 UltraTC, Corsair Valueselect 1x1gb CL3, Nexus 120mm rear exhaust fan, Zalman 90mm front intake fan, Seasonic SS300-FT psu

spaceman_spiff
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Post by spaceman_spiff » Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:42 pm

Here's the suspension from my new HTPC.

I'm using the 1/8" round elastic, and I've come up with what I believe is a new way to attach the drives. It uses heat-shrink tubing to attach regular HD mounting screws to the ends of the elastic. Pic=1000 words.

Image Image Image Image

Image Image Image

This seems more elegant and more secure than other methods I've seen, although it is a lot more difficult to remove / replace the drives.

I thought the drive bay cover would be a noise leak so I lined it with a small piece of Acoustipack.

Image

DE

Fat_bloater_dave
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Post by Fat_bloater_dave » Wed May 10, 2006 4:07 am

Here is my first HD suspension 3.5" HD in the 5.25" Bay under my CD drive Simply in some elastic and a 2.5" HD in the floppy drive bay with some foam to keep it from the sides.

Image

If your wondering why I have bothered with a laptop HD in the same case as a desktop one its because ive been planning on getting a fileserver up and running for a while but since im out of work my funds are rather low at the moment.

Chris Chan
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Location: Michigan

Post by Chris Chan » Wed May 10, 2006 7:36 am

@FBDave: straighten out the HDDs so that they're totally horizontal. Angled HDDs like that can fail fast.

slothrop
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Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 9:46 am

my version...

Post by slothrop » Sat May 20, 2006 8:00 am

Thanks to you guys my pc now is much more silent. And here is what i've done with my three seagate harddisc drives:

Version 1:
Image Image

Version 2: I used bigger foam cutouts and the weight of the drives is now better distributed.
Image Image

Flickr photoset

The green stuff i cut out of a nice soft camping mattress and it decouples quite well and as a side benefit dampens the "swinging around". The 5 1/4'' cage in the front bottom is for the (overpriced) silentmaxx hdd silencers, since this is a noise-insulated case by that manufacturer. They do recommend adding a fan if you use them, by the way. The fan in the bottom is regulated by electronic, decoupled and nearly inaudible, too.

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