SPCR

So... I messed up and bought a Seagate SATA Barracuda 7200.7 120GB hard drive (hey, anyone want to buy one? ). The grinding seek noise is the problem, and as I've learned it's because Seagate can't use "their" acousitc management anymore. Wish I had known a few weeks ago. Of course, as long as I don't use the computer, the drive would spin nice and quietly (which must be what the manual is talking about).

Which leads to my question. What hard drive should I buy to replace this one? I'm concerned that I will choose another hard drive based on it noise ratings on this site or others, only to find out later (again) that the company no longer uses acoustic management. So please... anyone, throw out some options I can trust.

Thanks.
And by the way, never buy a TT Silent Boost. They're loud, and I gotta get the word out.

Im in the same boat as you. Tho I dont have the 7200.7, it is on order, and I already gave a deposit.

I will turn a round and sell the drive, but I don't know which drive to get as a replacment.

I know that the Baracuda IV, and V are both very quiet, but I want something with a more performance.
Does anyone have the new Hitachi 7K250?

Trust me, you don't even want to open it.

I believe I heard that the ST3120023AS is ok, but not the ST3120026AS, the first being the Barracuda V, the second the Barrracuda 7200.7. Is all of that correct? And does the 'cuda V above work silently out of the box, or do you have to use the hitachi feature to make it work with AMA?

I might be a little confused on some of the above, please correct me if wrong.

I installed a 7200.7 160 SATA and after I decoupled the drive from the cage I can BARELY hear the seeks. Try that first. Before that I thought there was a herd of buffalo in the case. BIG difference.

Really? I'm surprised. No enclosure, just decoupling?? I didn't think the seek noise was the type that could be significantly reduced by decoupling.

Hmmm... I wish you could describe "barely". Are you sure that perhaps your case wasn't really rickety or something and now a herd of buffalo is isn't more like a herd of buffalo wearing sneakers?

high pitched whine wont die
EVER
and i have mine suspened and have no noise issues
suspend it

I need a drive that I can mount in the 3.5" HD spots of the Sonata or P160 case.
I don't have the space to mount it elsewhere.

I was thinking of getting a 7200.7 so I'm glad I read this thread.

Why can't Seagate use "their" acousitc management anymore?

Someone recommend 'decoupling' it. What does that mean?

So I should just buy a Barracuda V instead, right?

BTW, for good info about drives, including acoustics, I use http://www.storagereview.com. They say good things about the new Hitachi, but it is not as quiet as the Baracuda's.

Thanks,
Tom

Here's an article about decoupling.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... 109&page=1

I have a 7200.7 and I know what you mean about the seeks. I cannot decouple it, because I have a mini-itx case - but putting that box in a cupboard pretty well kills any sound. I've just got a new setup, including a Samsung P80 drive, which has been mentioned a lot in these forums as being one of the quietest drives available at the moment. Once I plug it all together, I hope to confirm this.

Graham

TomMM wrote:
Why can't Seagate use "their" acousitc management anymore?

Because of this lawsuit filed by the scumbag, bottom feeding lawyers that work for Convolve.

More info is found in this thread.

I have a 7200.7 - 160 GB PATA & a 7200.7 - 160 GB SATA. Both are quite quiet but not silent in my Sonata cases. These drives are the loudest item in their respective cases. The thing is, I have to lean in to hear their gentle whir.

One thing... I have substantial quantities of RAM and, therefore, disk cache. These drives rarely seek but I can hear it when they do. I wouldn't call them loud, though. The Sonatas have rubber isolation drive mounts and it's barely noticeable.

The reason I haven't replaced these drives with Samsung units is that I have weathered a lot of HD failures. Between Quantum (yes, that was a while ago), Western Digital, and Maxtor failures, I have landed at Seagate and have had good reliability. I'm going to wait until these Spinright drives have been around for a while before I trust my data to them.


My $0.02,

Tom