electrodacus: "This device is a video player not more different than a DVD player" Well, it's smaller. It's user-friendly. While pretty much all DVD players can play video from data-DVDs (in addition to video-DVDs) and also display jpeg images and play mp3s, not all DVD players have USB-ports for m...

I have two and while I don't have a reference, I believe they are both what would be the noisy variant. At least I consider them very noisy for 5400rpm drives with FDB bearings so if these were the quiet variant, I couldn't imagine what the bad variant would be. My 320GB Scorpios (one inside a lapto...

electrodacus: "If you want sustainably then reuse the million of old computer case that are already existing. Almost any computer case from the last 25 maybe 30 years can be reused and are much better they can last for hundred of years." Indeed. Metal is perfectly recyclable. It takes some energy t...

I've been using WDTV for half a year now. Forgot to return to the thread to give my review of it. Surprisingly WDTV actually delivers what it promises... and more. It does play pretty much anything so what is said about converting files to supported format, that's pretty much theoretical. The only e...

"I think it is quite obvious and simple enough just to say that the relationship between ambient and case temperature is not linear" Believe me, with case fans not being thermally controlled, the relationship is VERY linear. Sure, if you increase ambient temperature, you warm up the fan coils incre...

Quietstick: "already have two of the quietest 1TB HDD around (WD E10ADS, Samsung HD 103UJ)" I doubt whether they are the quietest around. They are quiet, but I think HD103SI (5400rpm, 2-platter) is quieter than HD103UJ (7200rpm, 3-platter) and WD10EADS (5400rpm, 3-platter). Also, if you're using mu...

jhhoffma : "However, that logic would say that putting more people in an electric vehicle wouldn't put more strain on the motor? No change in air resistance, just mass." Power consumption of an automobile is a factor of many thing. Driving a car at constant speed, energy is lost to heat by means of...

"but in this case the increased vibration is most likely due to the extra weight associated with the 4th platter in the 2TB version" But 4-platter 1TB (1st gen GP) don't typically vibrate that much either. Why would 4-platter 2TB (3rd gen GP) be doomed to vibrate due to same number of platters? "Ex...

It's good to know the idle noise (or the lack of it) haven't changed. Vibration is hit or miss attribute, so it's highly unlikely that your drive would be a typical WD20EADS. It could be badly handled individual, or there may be different models of spindle used in that model, or just manufacturing v...

Seriously, retire that drive. Get a new single platter 5400rpm drive. It will cost around 50 bucks/euro but that's pretty darn cheap in computer world. With that 50 bucks you'd get a drive that most likely doesn't buzz (or at least buzzes less than your current drive). You'd also get better performa...

"Will the esata connection make use of a 7200 rpm hdd or would 5400 still be enough?" eSATA has 150MB/s bandwidth so F1 7200rpm and F2 5400rpm which both have up to 105MB/s on outer tracks, won't be bottlenecked by interface. But since their STR are identical, you won't benefit from F1. I you neede...

Why do you want a 7200rpm drive for external USB enclosure? USB 2.0 limit practical bandwidth to 20...30 MB/s (highly dependent on chipsets used on both the enclosure and your motherboard) so even a 3 year old 5400rpm HDD can bottleneck it even on the slow inner tracks. Take modern 5400rpm HDD, and ...

How about decoupling two of them vertically in 3.5" bay with rubber bands, and decoupling the third by setting a soft foam bed for it on the floor of the computer case?

The anti-vib pack http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/sku=antivibration does look decent on reducing fan noise. First I was afraid that it'd be one of those typical kits that merely provide thin rubber stripes than can be placed between PSU/case or fan/case. Anyway, fan mounts look decent. The H...

lemmy, I'm still wonder how it is possible for a noise-obsessed person to say 7200rpm desktop drive (any of them, including Hitachi) to be completely inaudible. You say you're overly sensitive to PC noise. But does that mean that your computer is quiet? Because I really have a problem believing comp...

Now that I think about it, when we disregard 4200rpm because it's used mostly just in laptop HDDs we have: 3600rpm 4500rpm 5400rpm - 7200rpm Note: exact 900rpm intervals with the exception that 6300rpm is missing. _____ "Modern" range of rpms is like this: 4200rpm 5400rpm 7200rpm 10000rpm 15000rpm A...

"It was also the first drive that had the clear "do not remove" view port over the platter. Never quite figured out why though." To keep the dust out, obviously. You meant the hole? It's needed for low-level formating the drive at factory. Old MFM and RLL HDDs needed to be low-level formated in the...

Bigfoots <3 I'd like to see one with fluid-dynamic bearings, proper areal density and 3 to 4 platters (half-height) and 3600rpm. They'd be awesome and record-breaking big capacities. However, Bigfoot didn't exist in it's day to offer huge capacities. They basically existed to cut costs. Instead of 4...

If you don't have very high needs for performance, 5400rpm notebook drive would be the best. SSDs may be quieter but it's the loudest component of the system that matters, and even notebook can be easily drowned by PSU fan, PSU coil buzz or whine, motherboard coil whine, fan woosh or ticking. Regard...

"if this a 4200rpm 3.5" 2tb drive were coupled with say a fast SSD 32GB, all else equal, would the overall experience be acceptable?" If you used that 4200rpm drive only for storing mp3s, movies, etc. then yes. If you did video-editing, then it depends on what resolutions you're working with and wh...

Typical HDD rpms are: 3600, 4200, 5400, 7200, 10000, 15000 Of course there's some odd rpms like Seagate 545XE at 3811rpm and "7200rpm" WDs a few years back were actually around 7000rpm. Seagate Low-Power is 5900rpm. And Hitachi HDD spin at 4500rpm when in non-operational low-rpm mode. There was some...

"so can you put the cages in any position along the big cage?" From that picture, it looks like the bay used in Antec 1200 (except for the number of slots). Based on Antec 1200, I'll answer: yes . I currently have: CD HDD CAGE 1 HDD CAGE 1 HDD CAGE 1 floppy HDD CAGE 2 HDD CAGE 2 HDD CAGE 2 empty HD...

MikeC : "You could call it arbitrary or unfounded, but we have our reasons. Lots of PR folks believe there's no such thing as bad PR." 1) Whether "all PR = good PR" applies to everything is something that can be disagreed on. Sure, if you want to get to the tabloids and be a center of attention for...

That statement about not going to review Orochi because just the act of reviewing (regardless of results) might be misinterpreted as recommending, is just ridiculous. For god's sake, you've reviewed many very noisy fans only because they've been CLAIMED to be quiet by the manufacturer, and proven th...

JamieG : "I wonder how this case would fare in terms of quietness and performance if you fed 7V instead of 12V to the top 200mm exhaust fan and swapped the rear Tri-Cool for a quieter Scythe or Nexus fan" I'll shrink the contents of the message as it doesn't give input to review itself, rather answ...

"The Nine Hundred Two looks very much like the original Nine Hundred." I'd say, it looks very much like a scaled down Antec 1200 instead of Antec 900. It's the size on Antec 900 and probably shares most of it's cooling capabilities with it. But when it comes to appearance and details, it's definite...

MikeC (about Shamgar's problems) : "If the suspension was really loose -- like the ride in an old 60s Caddilac -- then I could see some problems" I don't think that'd be a problem. From HDDs perspective, laying the HDD on foam or rubber suspension is all the same, no matter how soft the suspension ...

Pillow Enclosure EVO: Put the HDD inside a cardboard box, not just taping half-pipes on the PCB side. Put the HDD "upside-down" lying on it's cover. Tha cardboard box can be cut full of holes, leaving the corners and bends intact as they contribute the most to rigidity of the box. Make two big holes...

Not being able to make non-volatile changes to AAM probably isn't grounds for RMA either. I would try DIY damping first. The noise cannot be eliminated with decoupling but needs "enclosing" in one way or another. Padding the case itself is one way to "enclose" it. Sandwiching is another. I have a wi...

HD Tune Pro sounds awfully payware. HDDScan should be able to do it, free of charge. It does often have problems reading current AAM value, but it's success ratio at changing is far better than reading. And that's what matters. Install AIDA32 and use it's included HDD benchmark plug-in to verify ran...