Silencing a whiny Maxtor...

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Tue May 20, 2003 8:59 am

Does anyone know an easy way to do this without having the drive overheat? And no, im not going to buy a Seagate yet... Would some foam work?

This is the loudest thing in my system besides the TruePower which I am currently looking for some Panaflo M1As to put in.

Thank you!

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:02 am

what model cos im gonna get a dimond max plus 160gig soon

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:08 am

It's a..

Maxtor DiamondMax 8 (the previous generation) with FluidDynamicBearings

ATA133 compatible, 2MB buffer, single platter 40GB.

The manufacturer's site says about 27DB but the whine is bugging me! Anyone else?

edcrane · Post by **edcrane** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:18 am

i have the diamond max 9, and the two things to quiet it down are:

1. accoustic management for the chirping noises.

2. enclosure for the idle whine.

I followed the spcr path and made my own enclosures out of carving rubber. It eliminates a huge percentage of the noise (maybe 85%), but does require some active cooling. If you 5v an L1a or similar 80mm, you should be fine. The only thing I would add is that if you're doing multiple drives, and you're going to be trying to direct the majority of the airflow between them, you're going to run up against some airflow issues. The best thing to do (in my experience) is to use the rubber to mount the fan to the actual enclosures and create a funnel like surround to keep the air from just blowing around the wide parts of the enclosures. Also, make sure you have some kind of exhaust fan that will keep negative airpressure in the case to improve efficiency (a 4cfm exhaust fan dropped my enclosure temps from 45c to 42c).

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:23 am

edcrane wrote:i have the diamond max 9, and the two things to quiet it down are:

1. accoustic management for the chirping noises.

2. enclosure for the idle whine.

I followed the spcr path and made my own enclosures out of carving rubber. It eliminates a huge percentage of the noise (maybe 85%), but does require some active cooling. If you 5v an L1a or similar 80mm, you should be fine. The only thing I would add is that if you're doing multiple drives, and you're going to be trying to direct the majority of the airflow between them, you're going to run up against some airflow issues. The best thing to do (in my experience) is to use the rubber to mount the fan to the actual enclosures and create a funnel like surround to keep the air from just blowing around the wide parts of the enclosures. Also, make sure you have some kind of exhaust fan that will keep negative airpressure in the case to improve efficiency (a 4cfm exhaust fan dropped my enclosure temps from 45c to 42c).

Hmm, I could do this as the bays in my Chieftec case already make something of a tunnel.

I dont quite follow you though, would the rubber be strapped tight around the hard drive with the fan blowing over that? Am I missing something? How did you avoid the issues on either side of the hard drive where the screws are?

And other than that where would I get the rubber and would I need any special tools? Thanks!

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Tue May 20, 2003 10:56 am

Radeonman wrote:
Athlon Powers wrote:Does anyone know an easy way to do this without having the drive overheat? And no, im not going to buy a Seagate yet... Would some foam work?
Buy a seagate!

Well, the articles here at SPCR advertise carving rubber with a fan (I'm too lazy to go find the URL). If you too are lazy, but rich, then I'd reccomend the Smart Drive 2002, or if you're just worried about vibrations, then the NoVibes would probably do you well. Ed also beat me to the punch and reccomends the same. If you want to use the cheiftec case (I use the same), then you'll probably have to mount your drive up top.

If you are worried about overall sound, why not invest in some melamine (see the cases and dampening forum for the thread) - it's damn cheap.

WOW! Would that Melamine work if I sandwiched my Maxtor between two slabs? I could probably also use it for vibrations from my buzzing CDRW! Looks very tempting...I might get some!

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Tue May 20, 2003 11:06 am

I don't see why the Melamine wouldn't work. I'm working on something similar. The foam isn't very strong though. If you glued two sheets together to laminate them it would be better.

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Tue May 20, 2003 11:12 am

how bad is the idle whine?:| on the 9s
got me worried now

some mates say theres are silent, but there pcs arent was quiet as ppls here i think
meep

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Tue May 20, 2003 11:20 am

pingu666 wrote:how bad is the idle whine?:| on the 9s
got me worried now some mates say theres are silent, but there pcs arent was quiet as ppls here i think
meep

Hmm, even though the seeks may be 30DB the whine is clearly audible, it mostly drowns out my TruePower (the TruePower has the standard fans, haven't modded it yet) and three 5v case fans.

Thats why im looking at compressing it with Melamine foam...

However, I am going to order some Melamine tonight when I get home so if you are willing to be patient Ill tell you how it goes.

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Tue May 20, 2003 12:10 pm

pingu666 wrote:how bad is the idle whine?:| on the 9s
got me worried now some mates say theres are silent, but there pcs arent was quiet as ppls here i think
meep

I've got a DiamondMax Plus9 120Gb in my rig now (waiting for the CudaIV's to show up) and with the acoustic management enabled it's damn near silent. I'm not as picky about PC noise as some but after getting rid of my Western Digital, my rig is about as quiet as it's going to get for a while.
My wife has to check to see if the PC is on by checking the front bezel lights!

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Tue May 20, 2003 12:29 pm

hmm well ill order one on thursday if ive got enuff spare cash

quix · Post by **quix** » Tue May 20, 2003 1:23 pm

i have two maxtor plus9's (both 120gigs) in my system, both decoupled (no other silencing), and they are very quiet! it has NO whine at all, just some shhhh kind of sound, well, like noise, but without high frequencies! i have good ears (me thinks) and there are no other moving parts in my system. i can hardly believe a IV can get any quieter!

ok, i just went upstairs, and checked that sound again. there is a barely hearable, very high frequency whine, but i heard it now the first time, being 2-3cm next to the hd. i cant notice it when 20cm away, so it really isnt a problem, i didnt even notice it before! that is with the case open!

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Tue May 20, 2003 4:03 pm

quix wrote:i have two maxtor plus9's (both 120gigs) in my system, both decoupled (no other silencing), and they are very quiet! it has NO whine at all, just some shhhh kind of sound, well, like noise, but without high frequencies! i have good ears (me thinks) and there are no other moving parts in my system. i can hardly believe a IV can get any quieter!

ok, i just went upstairs, and checked that sound again. there is a barely hearable, very high frequency whine, but i heard it now the first time, being 2-3cm next to the hd. i cant notice it when 20cm away, so it really isnt a problem, i didnt even notice it before! that is with the case open!

Hmm, the whine must be much better on those. It is very noticeable on mine.

edcrane · Post by **edcrane** » Tue May 20, 2003 4:38 pm

Athlon Powers wrote: Hmm, I could do this as the bays in my Chieftec case already make something of a tunnel.

I dont quite follow you though, would the rubber be strapped tight around the hard drive with the fan blowing over that? Am I missing something? How did you avoid the issues on either side of the hard drive where the screws are?

And other than that where would I get the rubber and would I need any special tools? Thanks!

See the spcr article: http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... =67&page=1

I don't think it will fit within your drive bay. I just took mine out entirely for this mod, but if you only have one or two drives, that shouldn't be necessary. The only tool you need is a razor and tube of crazy glue.

If you take a look at the article, you'll see that the rubber has, by far, the best noiseblocking attributes. I wouldn't screw around with any other material, unless the drive is already near silent (in which case decoupling might do it for ya). In regard to the DM9's, I've run three different ones, and they've all exhibited the same sound. In a room with relatively low ambient noise, the whine is very audible (Acoustic management doesn't do much for the whine). I've also gone through the HD silencing thing 3 times with a retail enclosure and two home brewed setups. The retail enclosure I used was a bit noisy (stock fan was 40mm) and not all that great in the temp department. The 2nd home brew setup was quieter than no enclosure, but still only reduced audibility by perhaps 38%. I'm VERY enthusiastic about the rubber enclosure. cooling the outside of the rubber works just as well as cooling the actual drive. As long as the enclosure is made super close to HD dimensions, you prob won't even need thermal grease. In the end, the reduction in noise yielded by this technique is nothing short of amazing, and it's dirt cheap (cost me $5/drive for 4 hd's).

JimK · Post by **JimK** » Tue May 20, 2003 5:41 pm

I think there must be a unit to unit variation on the DM+8 drives as I also have one that does not make any objectionable noise. FedEx delivered my Fortron 120mm PSU this afternooon and I replaced the old PSU. The CompUSA thermal control 80mm fan that I was using to drop the drive temp from 38 - 42 range to the 28 - 30 range suddenly was TOO LOUD.

I disconnected the fan and things are a lot quieter but the drive temp is now up to 39

The Maxtor is mounted in a large 3.5" to 5.25" adaptor sitting on foam at the bottom of my microATX case.

I will try to get the drive up into the inlet airflow otherwise it is a Panaflo L1A at 5v to cool it off. Will have to tune the airflow a bit in the morning and watch it tomorrow.

Passive cooled P II 333, one fan, e-mail machine!

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Wed May 21, 2003 5:02 am

gonna buy it today

. see what its like :S

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Wed May 21, 2003 6:29 am

JimK wrote:I think there must be a unit to unit variation on the DM+8 drives as I also have one that does not make any objectionable noise. FedEx delivered my Fortron 120mm PSU this afternooon and I replaced the old PSU. The CompUSA thermal control 80mm fan that I was using to drop the drive temp from 38 - 42 range to the 28 - 30 range suddenly was TOO LOUD.

I disconnected the fan and things are a lot quieter but the drive temp is now up to 39 The Maxtor is mounted in a large 3.5" to 5.25" adaptor sitting on foam at the bottom of my microATX case.

I will try to get the drive up into the inlet airflow otherwise it is a Panaflo L1A at 5v to cool it off. Will have to tune the airflow a bit in the morning and watch it tomorrow.

Passive cooled P II 333, one fan, e-mail machine!

I dont know about that, I've gone through one DiamondMax 8 and three D740X with this problem...but the D740X dont have FDB...

EDIT: Changed DiamondMac to DiamondMax, cant give the competition attention.

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Wed May 21, 2003 6:57 am

my mums d740x is awful. ill do a report on the maxtor i bought

JimK · Post by **JimK** » Wed May 21, 2003 10:35 am

AP,

Maybe it's an age thing

My high frequency hearing may finally be going. In this case it may not be an altogether bad thing. I will have to find some older music that has some high freq. and listen to it again, perhaps something will now be missing

edcrane · Post by **edcrane** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:05 pm

JimK wrote:AP,

Maybe it's an age thing My high frequency hearing may finally be going. In this case it may not be an altogether bad thing. I will have to find some older music that has some high freq. and listen to it again, perhaps something will now be missing

could also be ambient noise- I'm sure there's a tremendous difference in the settings we're talking about here.

Athlon Powers · Post by **Athlon Powers** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:20 pm

edcrane wrote:
JimK wrote:AP,

Maybe it's an age thing My high frequency hearing may finally be going. In this case it may not be an altogether bad thing. I will have to find some older music that has some high freq. and listen to it again, perhaps something will now be missing
could also be ambient noise- I'm sure there's a tremendous difference in the settings we're talking about here.

I dont think so, it is noticeably quieter when Windows turns off the hard drive.

Silencing a whiny Maxtor...

Silencing a whiny Maxtor...

Re: Silencing a whiny Maxtor...