I know the SilentDrive has been the scorn of this site. My experience of it follows, and probably differs from the general opinion here.
Pros:
It shuts the drive up. With the SilentDrive, all sounds are very muffled. If I put my ear close to it (holding it in my hand), I can hear very faint seek sounds, but nothing else. No whine at all.
It cools adequately, at least when mounted at the air inlet. With an 7200 rpm, 80 GB IBM drive (fairly noisy), the temperature peaks at 44 degrees C after copying four files, each at 800 MB, in parallell, followed by a defragmentation of the 15 GB C: partition. It is still 11 degrees C lower than the recommended maximum of 55; the normal running temperature is about 36 degrees C, which is 18 degrees lower. (The case temp is 37 degrees C, and the CPU temp around 47 degrees C. Ambient temp ~23 degrees C.)
It is readily available, and cheap compared to the alternatives. Of course I would want a Smart Drive! Problem is, it costs 60-something bucks and is not sold in Sweden (and possibly not in any part of Europe). The SilentDrive cost me less than half of that.
Con:
It doesn't dampen vibrations much. The constant, low-frequency vibrations from the drive are still transmitted via the mountings to the drive cage, and hence, I let it rest on a leftover piece of foam.
The quality could be better. This is not to say that it's bad. It's made of two pieces of aluminum, a semi-soft plastic box, and some foam. It works well enough, and there is no reason for me to think that it would break without physical abuse.
It may not be suitable for computers where the hard drive is constantly working hard. Obviously, a temperature rise of 10 degrees will shorten the lifespan, but I don't know by how much.
The general opinion is that the SilentDrive is crap. The only thing you seem to have read is the Recommended list, which I from now on will read with more caution. The person who compiled the list only states that the SilentDrive "... has been known to overheat drives." I'd say it's bad case ventilation and/or bad drive positioning, rather than the SilentDrive itself, possibly combined with cluelessness about the relationships between hard drives and temperatures.
On the whole, I can recommend this thing. Since most of you forum visitors check your temperatures every now and then, the temperature should be a non-issue; however, the quest for quiet is not.
I look forward to your comments. Happy silencing!
About the SilentDrive: A first-hand experience
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Pjotor, I'm glad to hear that you are having a good experience with the SilentDrive enclosure. It is indeed a very good silencing solution when used with cooler-running hard drives.
There is no question that even the Barracuda drives still exhibit some of that dreaded high-pitched idle whine noise (which I personally hate much more than seek noise). Both the SilentDrive and the Smart Drive will muffle this idle whine noise down quite a bit. However, I've found that the SilentDrive does a noticeably better job at silencing that high-pitched whine than even the much more expensive Smart Drive does. I believe this is due to the better effectiveness against high-pitched noise that the SilentDrive's rubber/foam barrier makes, in contrast with the metal barrier of the Smart Drive enclosure.
The only caution is that some drives with speeds of 7200rpm and greater might get too hot in the SilentDrive. There are also various 7200rpm drives that do perfectly fine in a SilentDrive.
One good compromise IMO is just to use the SilentDrive along with a current high-performance 5400rpm drive. While the SilentDrive enclosure can be risky with certain hotter-running 7200rpm drives, it always works very nicely with any 5400rpm drive due to the cooler operating speeds.
I personally have no issues with the build quality of the SilentDrive enclosures either. I've not understood why some people bring up that as an issue, unless they are simply not happy unless a part is made entirely of shiny metal or something (to show-off through a case window perhaps, etc).
Finally, yes the SilentDrive is so much more affordable than the Smart Drive too, which is a certainly consideration for many people as well.
So in short, I agree that the SilentDrive can be a fine silencing solution, but with the above caveat about certain hotter drives. I use both the the SilentDrive and the Smart Drive enclosures in my builds quite often, and they each definitely have their place!
There is no question that even the Barracuda drives still exhibit some of that dreaded high-pitched idle whine noise (which I personally hate much more than seek noise). Both the SilentDrive and the Smart Drive will muffle this idle whine noise down quite a bit. However, I've found that the SilentDrive does a noticeably better job at silencing that high-pitched whine than even the much more expensive Smart Drive does. I believe this is due to the better effectiveness against high-pitched noise that the SilentDrive's rubber/foam barrier makes, in contrast with the metal barrier of the Smart Drive enclosure.
The only caution is that some drives with speeds of 7200rpm and greater might get too hot in the SilentDrive. There are also various 7200rpm drives that do perfectly fine in a SilentDrive.
One good compromise IMO is just to use the SilentDrive along with a current high-performance 5400rpm drive. While the SilentDrive enclosure can be risky with certain hotter-running 7200rpm drives, it always works very nicely with any 5400rpm drive due to the cooler operating speeds.
I personally have no issues with the build quality of the SilentDrive enclosures either. I've not understood why some people bring up that as an issue, unless they are simply not happy unless a part is made entirely of shiny metal or something (to show-off through a case window perhaps, etc).
Finally, yes the SilentDrive is so much more affordable than the Smart Drive too, which is a certainly consideration for many people as well.
So in short, I agree that the SilentDrive can be a fine silencing solution, but with the above caveat about certain hotter drives. I use both the the SilentDrive and the Smart Drive enclosures in my builds quite often, and they each definitely have their place!
I have to agree with SPCR's asessment of the SilentDrive. I bought one a couple of years back from quietpc.com (in an uncanny coincidence, the rant e-mail I sent to quietpc about it is marked "4 Jul 2001", so it's been two years exactly 
) and even back then when it was considered the best (only?) product of its kind, I thought the design was rather crude from a usability point of view. A few points were
1) the drive had to be placed in the unit upside-down, so if you had a second drive on the same ribbon (as I did) the different orientations of the connectors required some nasty twisting
2) the two metal plates inside the unit didn't allow for easy insertion or removal of the drive: they were difficult to separate sufficiently so the drive scraped against them during insertion
3) the rear snap-on cover was a joke: it barely had enough space for the power cable and required a lot of force to get it to snap on (I don't think mine ever snapped shut properly on one side, which was probably a good thing since it made it easier to remove)
4) getting the drive out of the thing was a nightmare: it was such a tight squeeze that the damn thing wouldn't come out (I probably spent about an hour trying before I finally held the thing over my bed and repeatedly jerked it in a downward direction until the drive finally slid out)
The drive I had used in it was a 7200RPM Fujitsu, which based on its power specs was just below the maximum recommended for the SilentDrive. After its liberation from the SilentDrive I moved it to a second system where it worked fine for a few months, had problems spinning up and being detected for the next few months, then finally died. I can't say whether it was caused by a) overheating in the SilentDrive, b) the kinetic force applied to it when removing it from the SilentDrive, or c) manufacturing problems causing high failure rates with Fujitsu's 3.5" drives. But the drive looked a bit crook after its sentence in the SilentDrive -- the label had darkened edges which indicated some sort of overheating. I had combined the SilentDrive with quietpc.com's other flagship product (the Q-Technology PSU) which had notoriously low airflow, so perhaps that was a factor.
I don't even remember what its acoustic performance was like. I think my quietpc radial fin CPU cooler was the main noisemaker, so it was a moot point. But however it performed I don't think it was worth the hassle (or the price).
Incidentally, I just checked http://www.quietpc.com/uk/silentdrive.php for the first time in a long while, and I note that it says it supports drives with 6.8W of dissipation and that "most drives with a spindle speed of 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute) or less are compatible", which is consistent with what I recall at the time I purchased it. However, at http://www.molex.com/product/silent/silentdrive.html which SPCR links to, it says the maximum is 5W and that "SilentDrive is specified to operate with hard drive spindle speeds of up to 5400 rpm". Is there more than one version of the SilentDrive? They look the same to me.
) and even back then when it was considered the best (only?) product of its kind, I thought the design was rather crude from a usability point of view. A few points were1) the drive had to be placed in the unit upside-down, so if you had a second drive on the same ribbon (as I did) the different orientations of the connectors required some nasty twisting
2) the two metal plates inside the unit didn't allow for easy insertion or removal of the drive: they were difficult to separate sufficiently so the drive scraped against them during insertion
3) the rear snap-on cover was a joke: it barely had enough space for the power cable and required a lot of force to get it to snap on (I don't think mine ever snapped shut properly on one side, which was probably a good thing since it made it easier to remove)
4) getting the drive out of the thing was a nightmare: it was such a tight squeeze that the damn thing wouldn't come out (I probably spent about an hour trying before I finally held the thing over my bed and repeatedly jerked it in a downward direction until the drive finally slid out)
The drive I had used in it was a 7200RPM Fujitsu, which based on its power specs was just below the maximum recommended for the SilentDrive. After its liberation from the SilentDrive I moved it to a second system where it worked fine for a few months, had problems spinning up and being detected for the next few months, then finally died. I can't say whether it was caused by a) overheating in the SilentDrive, b) the kinetic force applied to it when removing it from the SilentDrive, or c) manufacturing problems causing high failure rates with Fujitsu's 3.5" drives. But the drive looked a bit crook after its sentence in the SilentDrive -- the label had darkened edges which indicated some sort of overheating. I had combined the SilentDrive with quietpc.com's other flagship product (the Q-Technology PSU) which had notoriously low airflow, so perhaps that was a factor.
I don't even remember what its acoustic performance was like. I think my quietpc radial fin CPU cooler was the main noisemaker, so it was a moot point. But however it performed I don't think it was worth the hassle (or the price).
Incidentally, I just checked http://www.quietpc.com/uk/silentdrive.php for the first time in a long while, and I note that it says it supports drives with 6.8W of dissipation and that "most drives with a spindle speed of 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute) or less are compatible", which is consistent with what I recall at the time I purchased it. However, at http://www.molex.com/product/silent/silentdrive.html which SPCR links to, it says the maximum is 5W and that "SilentDrive is specified to operate with hard drive spindle speeds of up to 5400 rpm". Is there more than one version of the SilentDrive? They look the same to me.
Sneaker,
thanks for your comments. I agree with you some, and disagree with you some.
(Side note: I'm using a 120 mm fan blowing out, and can barely hear it; gives me airflow enough & might be the reason I fare so well).
1) Since I don't read the manual unless needed, I didn't mount the drive upside down. No problems mounting either way, at least as far as my experience goes.
2) The metal plates inside the box need to fit snugly against the drive, and being metal plates they have sharp edges. They scrape against the drive, but no vital parts on it.
3) Yes, the rear snap-on cover could be better. Try to use the very end contact of a 4-pin cable, as it has only four leads (a Y-contact has eight. I don't even use the piece of insulation material.
4) It is, as you say, a little difficult to get the drive out easily. I usually hold the unit in my right hand, rear side down. Then I sort of "yo-yo" the drive out into my left hand, or a soft piece of furniture. Works.
Keeping an eye on the temperature, and dealing with the above issues, is to me a very small price to pay for what the SilentDrive provides me with. Please keep commenting (I'm a fairly new forum member, so this is good for my ego).
thanks for your comments. I agree with you some, and disagree with you some.
(Side note: I'm using a 120 mm fan blowing out, and can barely hear it; gives me airflow enough & might be the reason I fare so well).
1) Since I don't read the manual unless needed, I didn't mount the drive upside down. No problems mounting either way, at least as far as my experience goes.
2) The metal plates inside the box need to fit snugly against the drive, and being metal plates they have sharp edges. They scrape against the drive, but no vital parts on it.
3) Yes, the rear snap-on cover could be better. Try to use the very end contact of a 4-pin cable, as it has only four leads (a Y-contact has eight. I don't even use the piece of insulation material.
4) It is, as you say, a little difficult to get the drive out easily. I usually hold the unit in my right hand, rear side down. Then I sort of "yo-yo" the drive out into my left hand, or a soft piece of furniture. Works.
Keeping an eye on the temperature, and dealing with the above issues, is to me a very small price to pay for what the SilentDrive provides me with. Please keep commenting (I'm a fairly new forum member, so this is good for my ego).
Hi Pjotor.
I agree with you a lot, nice post. I currently have a Samsung running in a SilentDrive and as you say the whining disappears but the seek rumble (low freq sound) will sound through the case. Personally I can easily bare with that muffled rumble at seeks compared a constant whine.
If you get 44 degrees max with your 7200rpm harddrive you must be either smart or lucky. I once had a Fujitsu 5400rpm in the SilentDrive, the temps were near the maximum allowed, 52-53 degrees (55 was maximum). On my current Samsung drive I don't have any temp reading, I've tried the utility DTemp but even if it shows probably correct values sometimes, the next time it will flip out.
There seem to be a little "hardware X is the best, no question!" thoughts here and there in this forum, which also can be said about fans. Although it's much less of this thinking compared to other forums
. Also all the rant about hardware X seem to be about stuff that can't be bought in Europe without hassle. 
I agree with you a lot, nice post. I currently have a Samsung running in a SilentDrive and as you say the whining disappears but the seek rumble (low freq sound) will sound through the case. Personally I can easily bare with that muffled rumble at seeks compared a constant whine.
If you get 44 degrees max with your 7200rpm harddrive you must be either smart or lucky.
I once had a Fujitsu 5400rpm in the SilentDrive, the temps were near the maximum allowed, 52-53 degrees (55 was maximum). On my current Samsung drive I don't have any temp reading, I've tried the utility DTemp but even if it shows probably correct values sometimes, the next time it will flip out.There seem to be a little "hardware X is the best, no question!" thoughts here and there in this forum, which also can be said about fans. Although it's much less of this thinking compared to other forums
. Also all the rant about hardware X seem to be about stuff that can't be bought in Europe without hassle. -
ez2remember
- Friend of SPCR
- Posts: 809
- Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2002 5:07 pm
- Location: London, UK
Where did you get this 44oC temperture?
I hope you did not get this from the temperture sticker they provide which is rubbish. This does not determine the real temperture of the drive, rather the ambient temp inside the enclosure.
Get the S.M.A.R.T temperture reading from programs such as Dtemp, Motherboard Monitor 5, SpeedFan etc..
Anyhow if you have found it works for you, then it's all good.
But the general consensus, it will risk overheating your drive.
I hope you did not get this from the temperture sticker they provide which is rubbish. This does not determine the real temperture of the drive, rather the ambient temp inside the enclosure.
Get the S.M.A.R.T temperture reading from programs such as Dtemp, Motherboard Monitor 5, SpeedFan etc..
Anyhow if you have found it works for you, then it's all good.
But the general consensus, it will risk overheating your drive.
Last edited by ez2remember on Fri Jul 04, 2003 3:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
The exact model is SV0602H, 60GB one-platter (60GB platters) with 5400 rpm.al bundy wrote:Clippet, what exact model of Samsung drive are you currently using with the SilentDrive please? And when DTEMP gives you a reading, what value does it report for the internal temp of the Samsung?
I started DTemp now and got 8 degrees celsius so you see something is not right
. If I remember correctly the last reading showed something around 50 degrees, but then again who knows if this is the right value?I just put my maxtor diamondmax 16 in one (a 5,400RPM single-platter drive). After three hours the drive temp (according to SMART) was 46 degrees, in a 25deg C bedroom.
I got a 5v fan blowing at it and packed a couple of strips of aluminum either side of the drive inside the enclosure (the metal plates conduct heat from the top and bottom of the drive but whats cooling the sides?)
Now I'm at 45 degrees after running WinMX for 3 hours in a 27 degree room. Is that still too hot?
I have a spare Pentium II heatsink and fan. I was thinking of cutting away a rectangular piece of the ABS plastic to expose one of the metal plates, then fragging the heatsink onto it.
Then again I've been modding this PC for three days now and my housemate wants to know when she can have it back so she can use it!
I got a 5v fan blowing at it and packed a couple of strips of aluminum either side of the drive inside the enclosure (the metal plates conduct heat from the top and bottom of the drive but whats cooling the sides?)
Now I'm at 45 degrees after running WinMX for 3 hours in a 27 degree room. Is that still too hot?
I have a spare Pentium II heatsink and fan. I was thinking of cutting away a rectangular piece of the ABS plastic to expose one of the metal plates, then fragging the heatsink onto it.
Then again I've been modding this PC for three days now and my housemate wants to know when she can have it back so she can use it!
That's a perfectly reasonable temp, no worries. You certainly don't need the extra aluminum, fan, or heatsink. Your 5400rpm drive will do just fine in the SilentDrive, without any additional modding whatsoever.p'jem wrote:I just put my maxtor diamondmax 16 in one (a 5,400RPM single-platter drive). After three hours the drive temp (according to SMART) was 46 degrees, in a 25deg C bedroom...
BTW, please comment on the most important part... is it now silent?
I'm most interested in the effect on any high-frequency whine...
Pjotor wrote:...With the side panel on, I have to look at the HDD LED to know if the disk is working.
Awesome!p'jem wrote:It was a VERY quiet drive anyway... Now it's inaudible. ...
This shows me that you guys are having the same great experience with these particular hardware items as I am.
I personally wouldn't risk a 7200rpm drive in the SilentDrive enclosure - but an optimized modern 5400rpm drive within a SilentDrive enclosure is absolutely a win-win combo for silent PC enthusiasts in my opinion!
Thanks for sharing that info so we could compare our notes.
I was wondering the same thing. The two products look very similar, except for color, and most of their rated specs are identical. I am wondering if some nameless third party makes the "SilentDrive" product, and Molex and QuietPC are just resellers. If so, are they two different units, or is QuietPC simply being dishonest about how their SilentDrive can be used (i.e. in 7,200-RPM drives)?sneaker wrote:Incidentally, I just checked http://www.quietpc.com/uk/silentdrive.php for the first time in a long while, and I note that it says it supports drives with 6.8W of dissipation and that "most drives with a spindle speed of 7,200 rpm (revolutions per minute) or less are compatible", which is consistent with what I recall at the time I purchased it.
However, at http://www.molex.com/product/silent/silentdrive.html which SPCR links to, it says the maximum is 5W and that "SilentDrive is specified to operate with hard drive spindle speeds of up to 5400 rpm". Is there more than one version of the SilentDrive? They look the same to me.
I have a lot at stake: Four 7,200-RPM Western Digital drives, the noise from which is driving me insane. I need to quiet these things down, and I'd rather not spend the ridiculous sum of $260 (plus shipping) for four of the Smart Drive 2002 units. But of course, I'd also rather not have one or more drives fail on me from overheating.
Does anyone have an answer to the Molex/QuietPC question?
Still the 'cuda IV. (can you find those still?) Then it seems to be close between the 'cuda V and the Samsung Spinpoints depending on the drive and the type of noise (seek vs. whine) that you can put up with. See Mike's HDD review on the main site for more details.frosty wrote:BTW what is the most silent 7200 hard drive I can buy in the US without using a drive enslosure, just decoupled?
Apparently the SilentDrive was originally patented and made by Silent Systems, a company founded in 1994.nameless wrote:...The two products look very similar, except for color, and most of their rated specs are identical. I am wondering if some nameless third party makes the "SilentDrive" product, and Molex and QuietPC are just resellers. If so, are they two different units, or is QuietPC simply being dishonest about how their SilentDrive can be used (i.e. in 7,200-RPM drives)?... Does anyone have an answer to the Molex/QuietPC question?
Molex purchased Silent Systems in September of 1998, and subsequently changed the business entity's formal name to Molex Thermal Acoustic Products. According to what I could find, Molex shifted the bulk of the existing manufacturing operations from MA to Nogales, Mexico, and located the corporate base in Lisle, IL.
That image you see of the SilentDrive on the Molex website is just a .gif and not a photograph, probably explaining the color difference (?)
QuietPC.com is a reseller of the product, and is also generally regarded as trustworthy and honest. I'm sure that they are not intending to mislead anybody, although it would likely be better if their info did not mention any 7200rpm drives as being compatible with the SilentDrive enclosure.
Some users have in fact reported success when using the SilentDrive with certain 7200rpm drives - for instance, those much older 7200rpm SCSI drives with a max temp of 67C. I personally wouldn't risk using it with any standard 7200rpm IDE drive having a max temp of 55C however. The Seagate BIV has a max operating temp spec of 60C, so who knows... but I personally wouldn't risk it with that particular drive either. The max 5W hard drive heat dissipation spec is obviously the safer and more realistic one, but either way, good luck finding heat dissipation wattage specs from any hard drive manufacturer!
Instead it makes much more sense to just go by drive spindle speed. To be absolutely certain of compatibility, only use the SilentDrive with 5400rpm (or slower) speed drives. The SilentDrive will always work very well within that category, much better than any other hard drive silencing solution in my experience. A Smart Drive enclosure is clearly the better choice to quiet a 7200rpm drive with safe temps, athough it certainly won't silence the drive as well as the SilentDrive enclosure does! As usual, it always comes down to the same-old tradeoff between performance and noise.
That's right, it results from the difference in materials. The SilentDrive does in fact cost much less than the Smart Drive, and the dense acoustically insulating foam/rubber/plastic/steel materials in the SilentDrive are better at cutting out the high-frequency hard drive whine.
Again though, the trade-off is that the metal casing of the Smart Drive obviously conducts heat much better - so if your drive is 7200rpm or higher, your only realistic enclosure option is the Smart Drive. The Smart Drive does work well too, and nicely fills the niche for those hotter 7200rpm speed drives - whereas the SilentDrive is the better enclosure choice for the cooler 5400rpm and slower drives (max drive height of 1").
With your four 7200rpm drives, if you go with an enclosure solution you'd definitely want to choose the Smart Drive for guaranteed temp safety.
Remember too, that loading your machine with Smart Drive enclosures can add significant weight to the rig. You don't want to let your machine get too top-heavy or it could get unstable and easy to tip-over, thus being dangerous to children, pets, feet, downstairs neighbors, etc...
Again though, the trade-off is that the metal casing of the Smart Drive obviously conducts heat much better - so if your drive is 7200rpm or higher, your only realistic enclosure option is the Smart Drive. The Smart Drive does work well too, and nicely fills the niche for those hotter 7200rpm speed drives - whereas the SilentDrive is the better enclosure choice for the cooler 5400rpm and slower drives (max drive height of 1").
With your four 7200rpm drives, if you go with an enclosure solution you'd definitely want to choose the Smart Drive for guaranteed temp safety.
Remember too, that loading your machine with Smart Drive enclosures can add significant weight to the rig. You don't want to let your machine get too top-heavy or it could get unstable and easy to tip-over, thus being dangerous to children, pets, feet, downstairs neighbors, etc...
Replace four expensive hard drives? The enclosures will cost about $260, but replacing the drives will cost much more than that, even if I can sell the old ones.
Not to mention the time and hassle of selling them and replacing them. I hate working with hard drives. They are a pain to physically swap (especially with the cable jungle I have), and I'd have to thoroughly wipe the data on each of them, then transfer the data somehow, and thoroughly test each new drive (I don't like just "hoping" I got a good unit). I'd also have to do a thorough wipe of each of the four old drives, for privacy and security purposes. My system would be down for days if I did this (hey, I'm lazy).
And I'm sure I'd still want the enclosures, because I doubt there is any hard drive available that is quiet enough for me.
Edit: It's really not such a bad idea, in and of itself, if I could sell the old drives at a decent price. But I don't do eBay.
Not to mention the time and hassle of selling them and replacing them. I hate working with hard drives. They are a pain to physically swap (especially with the cable jungle I have), and I'd have to thoroughly wipe the data on each of them, then transfer the data somehow, and thoroughly test each new drive (I don't like just "hoping" I got a good unit). I'd also have to do a thorough wipe of each of the four old drives, for privacy and security purposes. My system would be down for days if I did this (hey, I'm lazy).
And I'm sure I'd still want the enclosures, because I doubt there is any hard drive available that is quiet enough for me.
Edit: It's really not such a bad idea, in and of itself, if I could sell the old drives at a decent price. But I don't do eBay.