Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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Flanno
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Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by Flanno » Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:51 pm

Recently added a 3tb seagate and when I boot up, you can hear the drive powering up (not surprising over the side mesh on the haf-x m), but then there is a constant motor noise. Same on the 1tb seagate I tried but not as loud. So now I have to make the drive sleep after a couple of minutes to quieten the machine down. Although occasionally windows will wake it up, which is annoying.

It's not case vibration as I have done the bungee mod and even had the drive outside the case. The motor is just very noticeable. The drive is not even reading or writing, just idling there. When windows puts the drive to sleep it powers down and of course is silent.

I wonder were drives always this noisy, and is it just me being used to SSD's the last year or so. Also, my megaflow fans idle under 300rpm and my Phanteks cooler's 2 fan's and additional corsair fans I have, idle around 500rpm so my case is extremely quiet, and any noise will leak out through the mesh. I guess I have answered my own question. Still a little worried my 3tb could be a dud. Passed all the seagate tools tests though. Should the drive motor be noticeable if everything else is dead silent ?

Also, is there any good 5.25" internal caddy which has good sound dampening properties but can also run the likes of a seagate 3tb drive with no active cooling ?

mkk
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Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by mkk » Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:59 pm

This perticular high pitched noise is normal and has been much worse in the past, but chances are older systems weren't quiet enough for you to pick it up over other noises. Seagate's 4TB 5900RPM model (ST4000DM000) has a much nicer motor noise profile, subjectively lower and most important to me not as high pitched. If you have any chance to change drive then I'd heartily recommend it.

fuzzymath10
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Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by fuzzymath10 » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:44 am

Everything is relative I suppose. Not a single of the seven hard drives in my storage PC feels loud enough to disturb me (i.e. I can sleep with the computer on if the LEDs weren't so bright), and fans are far more challenging to get right because the level of noise might be lower, but the noise profile (low buzzing or ticking) can be hard to ignore, even on decent fans.

All of my pre-2005 drives (mostly in the 40-120GB range) became quite buzzy, even if they all still functioned.

Flanno
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Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by Flanno » Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:57 am

Thinking of getting something like this
http://quietpc.co.uk/smartdrive-classic


Its not seek noise that annoys me, its the motor noise. My pc sounds so quiet to me when I'm just browsing the web, that the noise of the HD motor ruins it for me. Hoping an internal enclosure will muffle this noise somewhat.

flemeister
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Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by flemeister » Sun Jul 07, 2013 3:53 am

Flanno wrote:Thinking of getting something like this
http://quietpc.co.uk/smartdrive-classic


Its not seek noise that annoys me, its the motor noise. My pc sounds so quiet to me when I'm just browsing the web, that the noise of the HD motor ruins it for me. Hoping an internal enclosure will muffle this noise somewhat.
I'm using one of them in my rig, it's very effective on my WD Green 2TB (EARX). Motor noise is reduced to a ridiculously faint level unless you put your ear right up to the enclosure. It works best when decoupled from the rest of the chassis, so that you muffle both motor and seek noise. 8) I use some thin strips of closed cell foam to do this (taken from motherboard packaging). It's not perfect, but I think there's a noticeable improvement.

Examples of my rigs, in both cases wedged into place with foam:

1) P182
2) P182
3) SG07
4) SG07
5) SG07

nutball
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Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by nutball » Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:48 am

Flanno wrote:Thinking of getting something like this
http://quietpc.co.uk/smartdrive-classic
Holy ****!! £90??! I've used Smartdrives in the past, but really they are not worth £90. They were about £25 then and that made me cross my legs when I paid that.

If you're going to spend that much you'd be better off replacing your hard-drive with a quieter model.

Flanno
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Location: Ireland

Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by Flanno » Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:05 pm

Thanks for the info flemeister.

On 2nd thought, yes, that GUP Classic is way too expensive. Could get another 3TB drive for that, in an external enclosure.

What about the Scythe Himuro. Probably not as quiet but looks like the rubber things to mount it will decouple it from the chassis.
Definitely cheaper.
http://www.quietpc.com/himuro

Tested my old 2TB Samsung F3's along with a Seagate 1TB (2 platter) and definitely much quieter motor noise compared to the Seagat 3TB (3 platter).
Perhaps I should have gone for the quieter 4TB 5900rpm seagate. After all the drive is used for downloads, media, and doc storage.

flemeister
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Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by flemeister » Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:17 pm

Flanno wrote:What about the Scythe Himuro. Probably not as quiet but looks like the rubber things to mount it will decouple it from the chassis.
Definitely cheaper.
http://www.quietpc.com/himuro
I've tried it, it actually amplifies the hard drive noise... both vibrations and airborne noise. Kind of funny, in a sad way. :lol:

Flanno
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Location: Ireland

Re: Are HD motors noisy or am I just used to SSD's ?

Post by Flanno » Wed Jul 24, 2013 4:23 pm

Thanks for that. Saved me buying it, and having to redo my cable management.

I have decided I will just buy the 4tb seagate and sell the 3tb.

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