WD 120 GB Special Edition issues: Am I screwed?

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MGP
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WD 120 GB Special Edition issues: Am I screwed?

Post by MGP » Mon Feb 17, 2003 1:38 pm

As a result from excellent advise from SPCR forums, I have finally **ALMOST** silenced my system (added Chieftec dragon case, ZM80A-HP, br123, some undervolted fans). Thanks everyone for your help!

However, now, there still is one little noise maker: my WD drive. I bought it before I even knew that it was a death wish for a silent pc, but, hey, it performs excellent and there is no way I can return it anyways. I noticed at SiliconAcoustics that the establishment sells a 120 GB Seagate Cuda V with 8mb cache (sounds similar to my drive). Does anyone know if the Cuda V performs as good or better than the Western Digital 120 Special Edition? Plus, it is really quieter (just to answer my curiosity)? Btw, does anyone have any input on how I can quiet my WD 120GB SE drive? I’ve heard somewhere in the forum that the SmartDrive is “useless” in quieting the drive’s whiny acoustical output, but would like to hear more input. Thanks in advance.

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Post by MikeC » Mon Feb 17, 2003 2:15 pm

The Seagate is much quieter. Hardly any whine. The WD is about tops for IDE drives these days. Seagate is much lower down the ranks, check www.StorageReview.com

The SmartDrive is effective at reducing high freq noise; it does not do as well with seeks and low freq noise. The best you can probably do if you want to keep the WD is put it in the SmartDrive, and place the SmartDrive on a thin bed of soft foam at the bottom of your case. The foam will reduce the low freq / seek noise a lot.

MGP
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Post by MGP » Tue Feb 18, 2003 8:59 am

so would the segate barracuda V with 8mb cache be much quieter than my western digital se drive? thanks.

MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Tue Feb 18, 2003 9:53 am

MGP wrote:so would the segate barracuda V with 8mb cache be much quieter than my western digital se drive? thanks.
You betcha! Night and day to some folks.

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Post by TheMuffinMan » Tue Feb 18, 2003 9:54 am

MGP wrote:so would the segate barracuda V with 8mb cache be much quieter than my western digital se drive? thanks.
I think Mike was saying yes.

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Post by Beyonder » Wed Feb 19, 2003 8:51 pm

I have both a WD1200JB and also the Seagate Cuda IV, and the seagate is MUCH more quiet. No doubt about it, really.

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Post by Tigr » Sat Feb 22, 2003 5:52 am

Indeed, barracuda is much, much quieter. However, you should try to suspend your WD first. I had a good experience with that. I simply hanged my WD by a couple of strings in the 5 inch bay. It is not as quiet as barracuda but really gets rid of almost all the whine.

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Post by powergyoza » Sat Feb 22, 2003 12:44 pm

I made the mistake of not getting Barracudas and I've had to compensate by making some rubber boxes for my hdds. It's fairly simple -- it took me 1 - 2 hrs to make one on my 1st try. http://www.silentpcreview.com/goto.php?t=s&id=67&a=1

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Post by Bigg » Sun Mar 02, 2003 11:07 am

ibm 180 gxps are as quiet as a cuda and as fast as a wd2000jb

powergyoza
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Post by powergyoza » Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:09 pm

Wish they were available in my neck of the woods. Well, there's always online ordering.

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Post by GamingGod » Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:36 pm

im a little worried with ibms recent track record of crap drives though. i think that their 180gxp series is doing ok, but im still a little worried.

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Post by MikeC » Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:40 pm

IBM's bad drives were mostly the 75GXPs. The 180 is 3 generations beyond that -- 60GXP, 120GXP, and now 180GXP. Give em a break. All the various makers of everything -- HDD, PSU, whathaveyou -- go through bad patches. I remember a few years back Seagate went through a bad phases & were considered nonos for a year or two.

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Post by ez2remember » Sun Mar 02, 2003 5:16 pm

I would have to agree with Mike's points, I have used tons of IBM hard disk in the past without any problems. The only one I heard that had problems was the 75GXP as mentioned. Its really strange before the 75GXP came out everyone was praising IBM for it's realiability and now many people have been burnt and scared for life. :cry:

Oh well time for IBM to redeem its reliability issues..

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Post by Ralf Hutter » Mon Mar 03, 2003 6:06 am

ez2remember wrote:I would have to agree with Mike's points, I have used tons of IBM hard disk in the past without any problems. The only one I heard that had problems was the 75GXP as mentioned. Its really strange before the 75GXP came out everyone was praising IBM for it's realiability and now many people have been burnt and scared for life. :cry:

Oh well time for IBM to redeem its reliability issues..
Too late. They sold their entire Storage Division to Hitachi last year. Look here, does anything look familiar?

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