Anyone using elastic to mount their hard drives in the P180?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar

Post Reply
clarkkent333
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:05 pm

Anyone using elastic to mount their hard drives in the P180?

Post by clarkkent333 » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:45 pm

Just curious if everyone is using the rubber grommets or if anyone has tried mounting them with elastic.

Ralf Hutter
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 8636
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2002 6:33 am
Location: Sunny SoCal

Post by Ralf Hutter » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:09 am

I initially tried the included silicone rubber grommets on my P180, but no matter how loose>tight I tightened the mounting screws, I was left with an audible hum from my Samsung SP1614N HDD.

My solution was to mount it on two 3/8" Sorbothane strips, sitting on top of a drive sled in the upper 3.5" drive cage. This worked a treat.

Suspension would be another fine option, and might possibly work a tiny bit better than Sorbothane, although at the cost of more fiddling.

ashtray_head
Posts: 70
Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2003 3:55 am

Post by ashtray_head » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:34 am

nope...grommets here

all quiet.... well to me anyway!

clarkkent333
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:05 pm

Post by clarkkent333 » Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:41 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:I initially tried the included silicone rubber grommets on my P180, but no matter how loose>tight I tightened the mounting screws, I was left with an audible hum from my Samsung SP1614N HDD.

My solution was to mount it on two 3/8" Sorbothane strips, sitting on top of a drive sled in the upper 3.5" drive cage. This worked a treat.

Suspension would be another fine option, and might possibly work a tiny bit better than Sorbothane, although at the cost of more fiddling.
See I'm noticing the same thing. Do the dynamics of suspension when the drives are mounted vertically?

MikeC
Site Admin
Posts: 12285
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Post by MikeC » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:00 am

Don't you think how much your specific HDD vibrates is critical?

Samsung HDDs tend to vibrate a bit more than, say Seagate or the smaller Hitachis, but they're not that bad, usually, and they vary a bit from sample to sample. I have a couple of pretty high vibration Maxtor D10s in a P180, and the single Tricool back panel fan is actually the biggest noisemaker in the system. If I damped the fan and slowed it down a bit more, the HDD vibe-sourced noise might become more of a factor, but at this point, it's really below the ambient of other noise. Admittedly, the case is sitting on carpet with underlay, so that probably helps.

Still, I think suspension is better if you have a high vibe drive, but otherwise, the difference is pretty subtle. (I'm referring specifically to the bottom HDD cage, btw)

clarkkent333
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:05 pm

Post by clarkkent333 » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:13 pm

I just don't think the grommets are providing an adequate level of dampening. Seeks are still loud and so are idle's. I figured it was worth a try to see if there was any improvement. I'm just worried about weight load and balance since they won't be sitting horizontally.

clarkkent333
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:05 pm

Post by clarkkent333 » Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:21 pm

clarkkent333 wrote:I just don't think the grommets are providing an adequate level of dampening. Seeks are still loud and so are idle's. I figured it was worth a try to see if there was any improvement. I'm just worried about weight load and balance since they won't be sitting horizontally.
Anyone having an issue with these problems?

Ackelind
Posts: 467
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:18 pm
Location: Umea, Sweden.

Post by Ackelind » Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:36 am

For me, my Samsung Spinpoint hard drives can be heard as a slight "woosh" of air, nothing more. Seeks are audible but not heard two meters away.

clarkkent333
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:05 pm

Post by clarkkent333 » Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:43 am

Ackelind wrote:For me, my Samsung Spinpoint hard drives can be heard as a slight "woosh" of air, nothing more. Seeks are audible but not heard two meters away.
Did you have any issues with the vertical mounting? Did you have to string up the elastic any differently?

Thomas
Posts: 664
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:21 pm
Location: Denmark

Post by Thomas » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:41 am

I have a Hitachi 7K250 160 GB.

With a NoVibe-replica (Sharkoon VibeFixer), it's very silent, but still with a slight vibration going into my generic case.

Is the P180 able to keep the Hitachi 7K250 160 GB quiet in the lower chamber?

theyangster
Posts: 424
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:08 pm
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow....

Post by theyangster » Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:57 pm

well the people at HardOCp got it going
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=976460

seems like an unlikely place to get an idea from eh?

Thomas
Posts: 664
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:21 pm
Location: Denmark

Post by Thomas » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:30 am

Okay, I prefer to not mod the case, if I can avoid it - but at least I now got a plan B. Thanks. 8)

I would still like to hear, if someone have tried the P180 and Hitachi 7K250 (160 GB) combo, and what their experiences is.

Post Reply