Smart Drive

Ausone · Post by **Ausone** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Congratulations to North American Silent PC seekers for the introduction of Smart Drive by Silicon Acoustic! Also let me applaud SilentPC Review for the first review of this product in English.
 
 I happened to learn of Smart Drive while browsing Japanese sites for Silent PCs and came to know that it has been found to be quite effective among Japanese Silent PC enthusiasts. I managed to get two of them from the LA branch of a certain Japanese PC shop (I live in Indiana) and have been using one of them for months.
 
 Your review says seek noise of Barracuda IV is not fully suppressed by using Smart Drive, which is true. One way to minimize seek noise is to place a Smart Drive on a sponge or foam placed at the bottom of the case instead of putting it into a 51/2 drive rack. If you put it into a drive rack, due to Smart Drive's contact with the metal part of the case, you can not get rid of seek noise. Actually, I put my Barracuda IV 40GB in Smart Drive on a foam at the bottom of my case and the seek noise is inaudible at 2ft from the case, although it was not completely inaudible with Barracuda IV 60GB, which has slightly louder seek noise due to its two platters.
 
 
 
 
[addsig]

justinm · Post by **justinm** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I'm curious, I went to the Silicon Acoustics web site and it said that the enclosure is rated only up to 7200 RPM, but that was with minimal temperature gain. Has anyone had experience using these enclosures with faster HDs? I would be very interested to hear about your experiences. Thanks!
 
 BTW I have an older Seagate X15 that was given to me, performs great, but drives me crazy w/noise!!
[addsig]

atsang · Post by **atsang** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I'm using it with a wd 120gb special edition, and it works just fine. Smartdrive does a good job of transfering heat to the outside of the casing.
[addsig]

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Fri Aug 30, 2002 3:27 am

Is that a Los Angeles Japanese shop?
Which on eis it? I live in LA. I would like to check that store out!

-Ed

Ausone · Post by **Ausone** » Tue Sep 03, 2002 11:29 pm

Yes, it's "User's Side" Los Angeles store and not one in Lousiana. Their address is as follows.

Rolling Hills Plaza
2521 Pacific Coast Highway
Torrance, CA, 90505 U.S.A

BTW, they now have Smart Drive at their U.S. online shop but raised the price by $10, compared to the time I bought it from them, to $59.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 11:46 am

Kewl!
I live only 5 miles from there!
I can't believe I missed it. I shop around there all the time.

-Ed

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 12:00 pm

Yikes!
Is there an English version of their site?
Ridiculous to try to read their site thru the Babelizer.

I guess I'll have to just drive over there.
Are they affiliated with Akiba.com in any way?

-Ed

Ausone · Post by **Ausone** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 8:35 pm

Unfortunately, their site is entirely in Japanese.

They have a page for their LA store with business hours, map, pics, etc., which you might have overlooked. (They are open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Mon through Sat, noon to 6:00 p.m. on Sun.)

http://www.users-side.com/info/store/la/default.asp

AFAIK, they aren't affiliated with Akiba.com.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 12:03 am

I just checked out the store. It's really small. Pretty cool stuff.
they didn't have any Smart Drives in stock, though.

As far as Akiba, I think it's just a word. Akiba.com seems like the Yahoo.com of Japan.

-Ed

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 2:54 am

atsang wrote:I'm using it with a wd 120gb special edition, and it works just fine. Smartdrive does a good job of transfering heat to the outside of the casing.
[addsig]

How long have you had it in there?
keep us posted if anything happens.

-Ed

Gxcad · Post by **Gxcad** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 12:23 am

I have a friend that is using the smartdrive for dual X15 36lp's and it seems to be working, thing is he is not really an enthusiast and I can't seem to get the details I want such as dtemp results and such. I think he is using his new rig with success though, which suggests the smartdrive can handle those hot drives, but how close to the limit they are I am not aware. FYI his case is lian li PC 72 SCA with dual 120mm fans and such, usually ACed room from my understanding. I'll post if I get more info but for now that looks like it could take a while so no promises!

-Ken

Serberus · Post by **Serberus** » Tue Sep 10, 2002 7:35 am

Has anyone got a copper smart drive?

The copper version is considerably more expensive & heavier, though this is supposed to aid noise suppression and dissipate heat faster (I always thought Aluminium lost heat faster than copper, hence high quality heatsinks are both copper & alu).

On top of costing a fair bit anyway, coupled with delivery to the UK of 9lbs of smart drive - this will result in 1 pricey purchase!

I have 2 WD 1200JBs - these drives don't seem to run particularly hot. The high pitch noise even when they're idle really does my head in though...

Post by **Admin** » Wed Sep 11, 2002 6:21 am

Serberus wrote:I always thought Aluminium lost heat faster than copper, hence high quality heatsinks are both copper & alu

Copper is a much better conductor of heat than aluminum. Depending on who you ask, copper may be as much as 40% better.

--kurt

powdersurge · Post by **powdersurge** » Sat Sep 14, 2002 6:55 am

Someone noticed that the price has gone up by 10 USD for an alloy SmartDrive? I thought they used be 65$.

rally · Post by **rally** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 3:03 pm

Could the smartdrive be used with something like the new seagate cheatah 15k.3?

powdersurge · Post by **powdersurge** » Thu Sep 26, 2002 1:16 am

rally wrote:Could the smartdrive be used with something like the new seagate cheatah 15k.3?

AFAK, Smartdrive does a better job in conducting heat away from the drive than for instance SilentDrive or NoVibes w/o fan, so temperature won't be that much of an issue. The safest would be to contact SiliconAcoustics and ask their advice about your particular SCSI drive. Don't forget to mention the number of platters in your model (18=1, 36=2, 73=4).

From the Cheetah 15K.3 SCSI Product Manual, Rev. B 29 (http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/man ... 48123b.pdf)

6.4 Environmental limits

Temperature and humidity values experienced by the drive must be such that condensation does not occur on any drive part. Altitude and atmospheric pressure specifications are referenced to a standard day at 58.7°F (14.8°C). Maximum wet bulb temperature is 82°F (28°C).

6.4.1 Temperature a. Operating With cooling designed to maintain the case temperatures, the drive meets all specifications over a 41°F to 131°F (5°C to 55°C) drive ambient temperature range with a maximum temperature gradient of 36°F (20°C) per hour. The enclosure for the drive should be designed such that the temperatures are not exceeded. Air flow may be needed to achieve these temperature values (see Section 8.3). Operation at case tempera-tures above these values may adversely affect the drives ability to meet specifications. The MTBF specification for the drive is based on operating in an environment that ensures that the case temperatures are not exceeded. Occasional excursions to drive ambient temperatures of 122°F (50°C) or 41°F (5°C) may occur without impact to specified MTBF. Air flow may be needed to achieve these tempera-tures. Continual or sustained operation at case temperatures above these values may degrade MTBF. The maximum allowable continuous or sustained HDA case temperature for the rated MTBF is 122°F (50°C). To confirm that the required cooling for the electronics and HDA is provided, place the drive in its final mechanical configuration, perform random write/read operations. After the temperatures stabilize, measure the HDA case temperature of the drive. The maximum allowable HDA case temperature is 60°C. Operation of the drive at the maximum case tem-perature is intended for short time periods only. Continuous operation at the elevated temperatures will reduce product reliability.

So, according to this spec, if the drive itself stays below 50C, you're safe.
As this drive supports S.M.A.R.T, I advise you to check the drive's temp w/o enclosure (with HDDTemp). Take the extra couple of degrees into account that SmartDrive will bring with it, and see where you end up.

Good luck!

rally · Post by **rally** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 4:53 am

On the SiliconAcoustics site it mentions about 7200 drives, or maybe another alternative would be if someone made a waterblock for the smartdrive?

rally · Post by **rally** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 9:45 am

Talking of water cooling, I just found this, this might just work with the smartdrive:

http://koolance.com/products/hdc1-a01/

quokked · Post by **quokked** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 1:43 am

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.store ... View/H2206 Have a look at the die cast aluminium box up there ^^ it's basically a big chunk of aluminum that is sealed airtight if u were to line the free space that u had left in that box with like closed cell foam and used a lil bit of thermal paste on the top of the drive to aid some transfer to the die cast case I think u'd have a pretty silent drive setup and it'd run COOL as well if the smart drives don't run cool enuff for u just frag tape a heatsink to it

that's my ideas anyway

rally · Post by **rally** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 3:18 am

BTW, anyone in the UK selling smartdrives?

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 5:22 am

[quote="quokked"]http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.store ... View/H2206
Link seems to just take you to the front page...quokked??

quokked · Post by **quokked** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 6:17 am

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.store ... t/H2206%0A Sowwie about that MikeC

this one should work

Red Dawn · Post by **Red Dawn** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:00 pm

Hello all, I like this little oasis in the internet jungle - been browsing around for a few weeks or so, and so far I've been very inspirated by what I've found here.

As I'm trying to quiet down my little machine, I face the trouble of making my hd's less audible.
The hd sandwich looks rather nifty, but since I lack a lot of technical "know-how", I'd feel more comfortable buying a "complete product", namely the copper smartdrive.

So far I've only seen the smartdrive alu here and there, but not the copper model... is there somewhere I can buy that from (except Japan)?

Oh, a shop/retailer in europe would be nice too.

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 12:24 pm

I have not seen the Smart Drive at any UK/EU web retailers, but the NoVibes HD decoupled-suspension mount is very effective with reasonably quiet drives (esp. the Barracuda) and seems widely available there, being a German product.

Red Dawn · Post by **Red Dawn** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 1:12 pm

Yes, I can get one of those, but idle noise is something that concerns me, as my drives consists not only of seagate barrcuda 4's, but ibm as well *shivers*.

I'm using:

1. A IBM 75GXP 30 GB, affixed in a earlier model (the drive isn't enclosed - "top plate" is not fitted on this model) of the widely avaliable cooler master cool drive.

2. A IBM 120GXP 80 GB (Located at the top portion of my case), the 3.5" drive cage, as well as the hd screws, are fitted with rubber washers.

3. An old IBM 5400 rpm drive (no idea what model that might be...), it basically sits unplugged for now, until I find a good use for it.

4. A Seagate Barracuda 4, 60 GB, also unplugged (is to be fitted into my server that will be running 24/7(as soon as I get it working)).

So my current need is to basically find some way of quieting my two IBM drives, maybe it's easier (and cheaper?) to just go with a hd sandwich after all?

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 1:17 pm

start by trying IBM's acoustic software to set the drives for lower noise, you can find that under Links / software on the main SPCR site. Also, suspension does reduce idle noise -- at least somewhat.

Red Dawn · Post by **Red Dawn** » Fri Oct 04, 2002 2:27 pm

Alright, I'll give that a shot, thank you for helping me out.

Red Dawn · Post by **Red Dawn** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 4:13 pm

The new smartdrive aluminium model seems to be black...

User's side

Scroll down a bit and look at the entry below the copper smartdrive. Seems to be an added premium for that one as well.

Smart Drive

Price increase?

Cheetah

Copper you say?