yikes, what do you think all this is about? Please go back and read the first post.

I BELIEVE (in suspension)!

What I managed to get done today (large)(with help) The rubber bands will go bye-bye, and I'll find something more suitable (they let the drive go to odd angles, because the front and back have the same slack, but different weight to deal with), but they did good for testing. That WD will numb your hand in a minute or two, but I couldn't feel it even as far as the suspension's frame, and only a mid-range whine eminated from it when idling.
The PSU fan transfered more vibration through the case (yes, it is a case...in the making) than that HD, and all I have to deal with in the end is a Spinpoint w/ a Nidec motor.
Thanks to all at SPCR who figured this stuff out before me, so that all I had to do was design was the physical frame.

edit: elastic cord from Wal-mart.

this part of the forum as been real quiet
now seriously, my HD is driving my nuts...(sata mastor 120)
i'm thinking of using Noiseblocker Swing Isolators...(the ones not yet reviewed...hint )
has anyone tryed this?
how would it stand in the rank?

Congratulations MikeC, this post is great. (Reviewing noiseblocker would make it perfect )
thanks

I used to have a loud HD that as i had the mule downloading. it was humming most of the time.
i just had it hunging from the cables, the ide cable was attached already to the CD so... with the foam that came with the VGA wrapped arround it to quiet it a little more.
it got hot... ... maybe. it never gave me any problem.

what about Sonata's rubber HD mounter??

They are already in the list.

In reading the previous messages, it might be helpful if you use what I use. To solve the problem of screwing & un-screwing, deliberately or not, I make frequent use of hot-melt glue, and / or masking tape.

Older cases use screws. I use masking tape, for frequent & quick removal of the panels.

Masking tape is also the tidy, quick way of preventing unwanted air leaks in & out of the cases. It is easy to hand-rip, to size.

The critical dimensions/ colors/ warnings/ reminders, inside or outside the case - just handwrite this directly onto the masking take.

The above is not just for computer cases. I use the above on EVERY GADGET I own: tools, cameras, printers, meters, etc.

The hot melt glue has other advantages besides the easy removal, non-sloppiness & adhesiveness, of the masking tape. To avoid sharp edges, or protect objects, I make "protective-bumpers" with it.

Does sorbothane stick to hard drives if they are left sitting on it? I have some sorbothane I left sitting, with a small piece of it on top of a larger sheet. After a couple years of not being moved at all, I found that they were stuck together pretty good--I could pull them apart and neither was damaged, but it did make me wonder. I am planning an enclosed HD box, and was wondering about using sorbothane for cusioning the HD's... or maybe I should just put a single layer of aluminum foil between the HD's and the sorbothane? I certainly don't want the HD's stuck inside the box. -I know the stuff is a bit tacky and that it sticks to itself, but does it stick to anything else? Maybe someone who has been using it a long time now can say?.....
~

Yes, they are quite sticky. I put them under my speaker stands. I only took one side of the plastic off when I did. They're just about permanently stuck to them. They came with me when I visited HammerSandwich and brought them along for the ride.

This is rather surprising--because in my instance, there wasn't even anything heavy sitting on top of the sorbothane except.... -the other piece of sorbothane. The only other materials in contact with them were between the original plastic packing sheets top & bottom, and the whole thing was left lying on the floor in the free space underneath a cabinet.
~

Sorbothane sticks to stuff even without pressure being applied.

Something must be done about the annoying pair of WD raptor drives I got with my system. Suspending them sideways in front of the intake fans should work for me, but WD site says for proper grounding all 4 screws should be used. Is grounding a real concern I should have?

This site is awesome by the way, I wish I knew about it before my purchase. XP-90 is on the way, nexus fans, ati silencer. Thanks for all the great info. I hope someone can answer this for me.

hi davem, it is strange that the site says you need to ground the drive externally (and with all 4 screws!), grounding is not a real concern you should have - all drives i've used these days ground themselves through the cable anyway. i've [and you can] actually measured this with a multimeter (ohmeter), although [disclaimer:] i've never had a WD.
i think you won't have any problem and the site is just being silly..

Thanks for the reply. The noise is intolerable, It's gonna have to be done, but it'll be nice to do it with a clear conscience.

I have a raptor drive. The idle spin noise is damn loud.. holding it in my hand it is still WAY too loud, so I don't think suspending alone is the solution.

Well, I finally stopped at the fabric store and bought some elastic cord this weekend. Took me all of 10 minutes to install the drive with it.

All I can say is WOW! No comparison to other methods.

Gosh dangit, Mike. Why didn't you hit me over the head sooner?

Ron in SoCal

He has been hitting people over their heads for several years now, but it's ultimately up to them to follow through

I don't agree with rubber grommets being in the 'good' list: I tried mounting my spinpoint using the stuff that came with my SLK3000B and the seek rumbling was loud - no idle noise.

Did the elastic suspension and I'm impressed: no more HDD noise!

Peter

Did you managed to cut the whine? I have A couple of old Fijitsu drives, one a 10000 rpm screamer. I'm actually going to build a cupboard to put the PC in which should help but if you have managed a low cost solution that dosen't raise temps too much it would be helpfull.

During the time I have lurked the spcr forums I have lots to thank this excellent community for and now I think it's time to give something back, albeit a minor contribution

I've used a method for a while now and found it to be very effective. It's basically Curtis' aluminium plate method combined with the original soft elastic suspension method by MikeC. Unfortunately I don't own a digital camera nor do I have the ascii skills of Curtis but I hope my paint skills will suffice

(Obviously the drawing isn't to scale as mentioned by BrianE)

1) screw 2 alu plates to the side of the harddrive
2) wrap elastic bands around the length of the plates (use at least 3 bands)
3) place the harddrive+alu plates on top of a piece of foam, only touching the foam with the elastic bands

The elastic bands have double purpose;
Primarily to give anti-vibration additional to just the foam
Secondarily to keep the alu plates held tight to the harddrive improving contact/cooling.

It's pretty simple to do and the parts required are quite cheap.

Interesting idea, thanks.

Obviously the drawing isn't to scale, but the idea becomes even more interesting when you just take the principle behind this and modify the size and thickness of the aluminum plates to whatever size (or material) you need...

I've always wondered if doing something like this would give the hard drive a bigger "sounding board" to produce noise. I realize it is soft mounted with respect to the case, but all that aluminum could vibrate along with the drive. Maybe this is such a secondary effect it is not worth worrying about?

Ilh: Never really thought about whether the increased alu mass would create more resonanse, but as long as the plates are fairly thick so they cant vibrate, and kept really tight to the hdd (by screws and elastic bands) I don't think it's a problem.
My 7200.7 pata is pretty quiet in this setup. A little bit quieter than it was when it was just put on a piece of foam. The added aluplates and elastic bands made the hd temp 4-5 degrees cooler though.

I agree totally. I've just put two P120Ss in my SLK3700AMB and the seek noise is huge.

Thera-band?

just thought I'd add my 2p

comparing hard mounting : rubber grommets (Antec SLK1650B) : elastic suspension for a Seagate 7200.7 PATA 120gb

hard mounting (Dell) - low hum and sharpish seek noises (like tapping a thin sheet of tin, eg when defragging), though a lot of that was drowned out by horrible noisy Dell case

rubber grommets (SLK1650B) - hum had all but disappeared, I certainly couldn't hear it over the CPU fan (AC Copper Silent) for eg. Seek noise was still present but alot duller/ rounder/ lower pitched in sound, much like tapping on a thick steel sheet. Damping the side panels of the case with foam helped a bit (and lowered the pitch a little further) but seeks were still noticeable with the case under the desk. HDD temp at 42C idle/45C after a defrag (according to DTemp), no direct airflow.

elastic suspension (SLK1650B) - effectively silent No hum, no seek noise (unless I press my ear next to the front inlet - not something I do very often) - very very happy! Had to suspend the drive on it's side in the 3.5in bay as there wasn't much space in the 3rd 5in drive under the CD and DVD drives. Temp went up to 45/ 49C, so I screwed on a twin fan HDD cooler undervolted to 5V (I can't hear it even with my ear close enough to get stuck in the fan), temps now 37/ 40C. Stuck a bit of foam on the end of the drive closest to the case so it wouldn't hit it if the case was moved, used 2 lots of elastic like >=< and another at the connector end like \_/ to support the drive. Elastic is a rather garish red and orange, but that's all I could pinch off the wife at short notice

Very very pleased with the result for not a lot of effort, just means my PSU is more noticeable now - will this ever end?!!

Thanks for this forum, I've started looking seriously at my HD setup. With my 3.5 cage being riveted in place, I expect I'll have to try mounting the disk sideways too. Is there a risk of damage to the drive?

I'm trying to source a Samsung SP1213N (difficult in ZA), or else a less-appealing a 120Gb Seagate ST3120026A. I plan to suspend the disk and have also been hunting for a suitable alternative to shock-cord.

So far I've found the el cheapo mounting cables used for cars or camping (essentially a bundle of rubber bands wrapped in a colourful braided material with hooks on either end).

there's a possible slight increase in wear and tear on the motor bearing from the HD being on it's side, though in terms of the life span of the HD most people regard it as being negligable.

the 120Gb Seagate ST3120026A is what I have and I think it's ace (speedy and quiet) though I don't have a lot to compare it to.

you could use bungy cords (what they're called in the UK) but they're pretty thick and the hooks on the end would be pretty awkward to fit into a case. I'd go to a haberdashery/ sowing shop and see what elastic/ shock cord they have - it'll be pretty cheap and a lot easier to work with.

Here's what I managed to concoct with stuff I found around the house.


That's two white elastic cords and a black shoelace.


I used some motherboard mounters and long screws to hang the drive.

I couldn't come up with a nice way to attach both ends of the cord vertically, so the weight wasn't distributed properly; the hard drive leaned against the front intake fan. Which is where the shoelace comes in:


It's attached to the exhaust fan grill.

So, um, the lamest part of this is that the cords and the shoelace aren't actually tied up or glued on or anything. I just strung them through a bunch of holes until the friction made it seem stable. It's lame, but I'm positive it will hold up. I can barely get the strings out if I'm trying.

Noise-wise, it worked fine. The old Barracuda I suspended was making an extremely annoying pulsation, which resonated with my light aluminum case. Now I can't hear nor feel it.

The drive is cooled by convection and is at 32 C about three degrees C warmer than the quiet non-suspended Barracuda.

lots of people on spcr have really nice suspension setups. i wonder how notebook drives hardmounted compare to 3.5" suspended