New Samsungs no longer quiet

one80 · Post by **one80** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:43 pm

It's a Maxtor Diamond Max 10 200GB PATA. It has BAH41BM0 printed on it which looks to be a revision of the 6B200P0. It was manufactured Dec 2004. I have set the seeks to the quiet setting using the Maxtor tolls on the "Ultimate Boot CD".

I didn't listen to the recordings of each hard drive before buying the new Samsung, but perhaps I should have as you can hear quite a difference in the seek noises of the two drives:

Maxtor DM10

Samsung SP120

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:25 am

I've used both the DM10 (250GB) and the P120 (200GB) and I'm finding it hard to believe that you found the P120 to be louder.

My DM10 sample was very loud when weeking, much louder (well sharper) than my Raptor, whose seeking isn't too sharp to me. The DM10 also gave a bit of a wooshing noise while idle.

The P120's quiet compared to both (I'm defragging to test them).

BangoO · Post by **BangoO** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:50 am

one80 wrote:The seek/read-write noise is terrible, and I've played around with the AAM settings through both the Hitachi tools and Samsungs disk utilities but neither seem to make much, if any, difference at all. So I've decided to go back to my Maxtor DM10 which has far, far quiter seeks and is only marginally louder at idle.

Exactly the same here, I have some Maxtor DM10 (ATA, SATA, 250/300Go), the Samsung is by FAR the most noisy !

My system has a fan on the NB, a stock 7800GTX and a stock X2 3800+ as I just bought it and didn't take care of the noise yet... and yet I can't stand the noise of the Samsung, I will have to give it back (if I can)

spolitta · Post by **spolitta** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:52 am

jermaink wrote:I've used both the DM10 (250GB) and the P120 (200GB) and I'm finding it hard to believe that you found the P120 to be louder.
.

I dont find it hard to believe at all,

I had a brand new P120 which sounded alot louder than my 2 years old WD both AAM enabled.

Looks like the new P120s are very different from sample to sample. What I did was to order a few and choose the best ones then sold the rest. You will loose some money but that was my only option to have a large quiet HD.

nici · Post by **nici** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:13 am

So basically DM10/MaxLineIII are pretty constantly slightly louder than the 120s, but the variance between samples is much smaller? Based on what i´ve read in several threads here the samsungs can be very good or very bad with large sample variance, and maxtors are mostly good.

Seek noise on the Maxtors are loud, mine is also louder than the Raptor. Haven´t tried with AAM though, if its as effective as one my no longer in use DM9 the seeks could be very very quiet. The DM9 had quieter seeks than my spinpoints(P80) when all had AAM enabled, the DM9 had terrible idle noise though..

But quite frankly i couldn´t give a rats ass about seek noise... you could even say i like it.

The only personal experience i have with P120 is a 200Gb sata, it sounded CLONK CLONK CLONK CLONK CLONK(it was DOA) so i returned it and got the Maxtor MaxLineIII 250Gb and im happy with it.

mshan · Post by **mshan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:21 am

Hi guys:

Is the only valid criticism of the SP2514N that it's seeks are loud? (i.e. everything else is on par with the old Nidec motored P80 series?)

Also, are these seeks high pitched, scratching noises or just loud, full bodied thunks?

MoJo-chan · Post by **MoJo-chan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:19 am

rei wrote:just bought a 250gb samsung sata2 against my better judgment. i'm hoping somehow it's quiet. it'll be sold again for a loss rather quickly if it turns out to be another heavy seeker :/

Make sure you give it some time. The Samsungs seem to take a little while to "burn in". After a week of heavy use mine are now definately quieter.

iatacs19 · Post by **iatacs19** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:34 am

I have the 200GB SATA version. With AAM enabled it is indeed very quiet, the vibration noise and seek noise dimished greatly from all-out performance mode. BUT, actual performance is also greatly reduced, mainly seek/read performance is noticeably slower, much more than my old WD 1600JB.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:55 pm

Well, I just bit the bullet and picked up an SP2504C on eBay -- hopefully I won't regret it. I'll let you guys know how quiet (or loud) the drive is.

Locklear · Post by **Locklear** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:55 pm

i just bought myself a 160GB p80 to use as a torrent drive (constant read/write activity). First thing i did was turn on AAM at max settings, and the read/write sounds were muted lower then my hearing can pick up with the case standing on my desk 60cm or so from my head. Vibration is also very low. It's a Nidec motor model.

But the idle noise is another matter. This drive is easily the component making most noise in my system now. There is a constant background noise that sounds akin to the woshing of waves on a beach, only with no change in pitch. It's freaking annoying. It's so loud it's partially drowning out the read/writes on my Raptor and Barracuda 7200.8, and it's drowning out the nV Silencer completely, which used to be the loudest component and i could clearly hear ramp up when starting up a game.

vEnEx · Post by **vEnEx** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:19 am

Chaendler wrote:I think Drive-A-Way is not a solution, because it does not reduce the seek noises very much, because de disk is in contact with the aluminium.

That's not fully true imo. I own a Nexus drive-a-way, and I'm pretty happy with it. The HD is never in real contact with the outher part of the box, since the internal is all foam and the top has 2 'stripes' to get in contact with the HDD to pass all the heat through the top of the box.
My opinion on thisone is that it makes a difference, and it silences a part (not all, but that's about impossible), but I'd rather go with one of those Smart Drives, since the Nexus box does make your HDD heat up more.

nici · Post by **nici** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:31 am

vEnEx wrote:...since the Nexus box does make your HDD heat up more.

Bacon and eggs, anyone?

MoJo-chan · Post by **MoJo-chan** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:42 am

I have five 200GB SATA Samsungs, model SP2004C and firmware VM100-33. NIDEC motors. My system is very quiet, water cooled with only Panaflo 92mm and Yate Loon 120mm fans running at 4.5V. Three of the drives are suspended vertically, and the other two are mounted horizontally in suspended SmartDrive2002 enclosures.

Seeks are very muted, a bit louder than a Baraccuda IV but only a little. They are quite soft as well. Idle noise is pretty low, audiable over the fans but not from more than 1m away unless you spend some time listening for them. My case is a server case, heavy with lots of thick metal. I'm going to get some sound deadening for it too I think.

I would say that the sound has gotten better over time, so new owners should probably give the drives 100 hours or more to run in. They also seem to settle slightly after being on for half an hour, as they heat up.

I should say that perhaps I have a somewhat higher tolerance for noise than some on this forum - I have a clock that ticks and the central heating can make quite a bit of noise some times. Not much I can do about the latter. But I do think my hearing is quite good, I'm into audio so...

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:18 pm

The SP2504C arrived today, and I have to say I'm very surprised. After reading about all the bad results, I was a little worried. However, mine seems to be pretty quiet. Obviously louder than my 5400RPM 2.5" WD, but it doesn't seem to be any more obnoxious than the old single-platter Barracuda IV I used to own.

Installed in the case I can only hear it when it is very quiet and I listen very closely. This is with the side panel on, the case about three feet away, and using the stock SLK3000-B hard drive mounting. Suspended I am 99% sure it would be inaudible.

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:16 am

frostedflakes wrote:The SP2504C arrived today, and I have to say I'm very surprised. After reading about all the bad results, I was a little worried. However, mine seems to be pretty quiet. Obviously louder than my 5400RPM 2.5" WD, but it doesn't seem to be any more obnoxious than the old single-platter Barracuda IV I used to own.

Installed in the case I can only hear it when it is very quiet and I listen very closely. This is with the side panel on, the case about three feet away, and using the stock SLK3000-B hard drive mounting. Suspended I am 99% sure it would be inaudible.

All these with or without AAM?

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:27 am

The Samsung is out of the box, I have not bothered tinkering with the AAM settings yet.

peterson · Post by **peterson** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:21 am

So it's a bad buy?

gustavs_a · Post by **gustavs_a** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:22 pm

Having enjoing the silence of Barracuda IV 40Gb many years, I was disappointed with SP2504C. Whine is minimal, but the lower frequency (humming like a fan) idle noise is rather loud, but not very irritating (compared to Barracuda IV, which is almost inaudible, except some idle whine (may be developed over time, not sure it was there at first)). Vibrates a lot. Seek noise seemed OK, haven't tried using the AAM. Motor: Nidec.

I don't recommend this HDD for people seeking extremely quiet HDD, especially for those who have a PC running 24/7 in the bedroom. Maybe I just got a bad drive? I'm not so sure.

I'm back to using 'Cuda IV. My next HDD will most probably be 2.5"

Edit: SP2504C might be one of the quietest large capacity HDDs however, don't know.

Juliusz · Post by **Juliusz** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:52 pm

I've got HD080HJ (80gb SataII) and only seek noise is audible... spinning platers are only barely audible whe you put ear to hdd. So maybe only high capacity models are loud...

IdontexistM8 · Post by **IdontexistM8** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:34 am

Just put a SP2514N out of the box in an external enclosure and it's noticeably different to the old 160gb units I have. The idle whoosh is about the same, perhaps a touch higher but there's no hint of whine.

The seeks are acceptable, not great when you are transfering from multiple drive sources. What it has got is this occasional idle 'chatter' which is mildly annoying. There's nothing similar on the 160s.

It may well be unnoticeable with AAM at it's quietest and perhaps it's another thing that goes with burning in.

The final difference is a much louder wind down when the power is switched off, not nearly as smooth as others. IMO Similar to WD.

I've got another one to install when I've got the space, so I'll be able to compare soon.

dexton · Post by **dexton** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:09 pm

I see some of you (quite a bunch actually) have the P180. Did anyone of you add any noise dampening material in yours? My noise issues are pretty much harddrive related so this is what Ive done so far:

http://aegd.cjb.net/dexton/osorterat/Dsc00432_800.jpg
Thats 20mm thick material.

and together with this, does a pretty good job (especially for seeks):

http://aegd.cjb.net/dexton/osorterat/Dsc00754_800.jpg
yes, the dust filter needs some cleaning

This is 10mm material but it doesnt really obstruct air flow for the front intake(still at least 10mm clearance). I also removed the plastic "vents" in front of the dust filters because they seemed to maybe affect air flow.

As for harddrives, Im looking at the Hitachi and (perhaps also) a Samsung P120 250GB. Another alternative for the 2nd drive(storage) is a Samsung V120CE...
Samsung 2005 Catalog, see page 14

Johan

cjpark · Post by **cjpark** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:10 am

Recently bought a 2504C to replace my older 160gb w/ nidec. The new one is just the slightest bit louder, but by no means loud (with AAM enabled)

peterson · Post by **peterson** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 6:30 am

Just got my SP2504C in the mail. No time to install today though.
But it says Rev.6 on the circuit board. What does that mean?
Nidec motor here too.

rei · Post by **rei** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:32 am

followup to the hd i bought in dec. finally put it in, noisy as hell.

rei · Post by **rei** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:44 pm

The saga continues...

PATA 250GB 7200rpm Samsung I bought this week has a less pronounced seek grind, AAM dulls it a little but I suspect the flimsy aluminium construction of the X-Qpack is aggravating matters.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:27 am

I recently got a SP2504C with the Nidec motor. Seeks are very, very loud. About as loud as the WD400JB this drive is replacing. Considerably louder than my WD2500KS.

What tool are you using to check/change the acoustic management settings?

Thanks!

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:01 am

My SP2004C came with AAM enabled by default

(and still it's louder than I'd expect the "king" of quiet HDD to be).

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:59 am

QuietOC wrote:What tool are you using to check/change the acoustic management settings?

UltimateBootCD contains tools from all major HD manufacturers. If you read the descriptions in the menus it is obvious which one you need, but I can't remember the exact name now.

As noted by a lot of other people, putting AAM at it's quietest setting didn't have much effect with my SP2504C.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:20 pm

Did enabling AAM have any effect on drive speed for those who have tried?

I have AAM enabled and I've noticed that my drives (200 & 250GB P120 SATA) are extremely slow when doing multiple tasks. If i have the slightest bit (100-500kb/s) of traffic to or from my drives i.e. using torrents, unRARing a file takes about 5-10 times longer!

This is horrible, and I don't know wheather it is my harddrives or anything else that is the bottleneck.

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:16 pm

MoJo-chan wrote:Make sure you give it some time. The Samsungs seem to take a little while to "burn in". After a week of heavy use mine are now definately quieter.

I noticed that with my 250 Gb samsung drive, it was a bit noisy at first, but quietened down with use