Biggest, quietest single platter 2.5" drive

[JazzJackRabbit]

Here's my situation. I recently got EEEPC 1000h. I like the machine, but the hard drive is definitely rather noisy. I opened it up and it uses Seagate 5400.4 160GB two platter drive. It also is a little too warm on the underside which is where the hard drive is located. I'd like to upgrade it to a single platter drive which should hopefully lower noise and heat a little.

The problem is it HAS to be a single platter drive. I know max capacity is now 250 GB per platter right now. Although those might be a little hard to find right now and they also might be a little too expensive for what they offer as well as overkill for a netbook. So if I could find 250GB single platter drive, that would be awesome. However, 160GB single platter drive would also do just fine. However, I just don't know how to make sure I get newer single platter version against older two platter ones.

Does anyone know which 2.5" hdds have guaranteed 160GB or 250GB platters? And which ones would be quieter?

EDIT

Just to clarify what I'm looking for:
1. Single platter 2.5" SATA hard drive
2. at least 160GB big
3. Quietest idle noise and vibrations if possible
4. If possible one that doesn't make weird clicks and clonks during operation

[SleepyBum]

I've recently got a new laptop and I've been looking for a new HD. The only HDs that can be sure of being 1 platter are the 160GB Travelstar 5K320.

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib. ... 320_DS.pdf

Toshiba MK1652GSX 160GB

http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=S ... 52GSXSpecs


Hitachi and Toshiba seems to be the only manufacturers who lists platters/heads in their specifications.

The only other manufacturer who I think makes a 1 platter 160GB is the Fujitsu MHZ2160BH. I think the MHZ series is using 160GB platters. My computer came with the 80GB version. It's pretty quiet, but it makes wierd clicking/popping/scratching sounds some times.

The Seagate Momentus 5400.5 ST9160310AS 160GB should be a 1 platter, judging from the model name, but you said you have a Seagate already.

For Western Digital and Samsung, it's really hard to tell the platters because they don't use a family naming scheme, and they never list the platters in their specs either.

[JazzJackRabbit]

Thanks for the on-topic reply. The seagate HDD I got in my 1000h is 5400.4 series which uses 120GB platters, so the 160GB in my netbook is 2 platter design.

I'm weary of using hitachi HDDs and Toshiba laptop drives have always been deemed as slow. Never used Fujitsu drives.

Ideally I would have liked to use WD, but from what I understand they don't label their drives clearly so you will not know how many platters a drive will have.

From what I researched, correct me if I'm wrong, Samsung SpinPoint M5 laptop drives should have 160GB platters, but I haven't found any concrete evidence so far. And M5 series only goes up to 250GB meaning they actually might be using 125GB platters (otherwise why wouldn't they come out with 320GB version).

Here's one of the threads I found about HM160HC (IDE) and HM160HI (SATA)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthr ... ht=HM160HC

[Barlow_]

I have the HM160HI. Various sites led me to believe it has only 1 platter. That all capacities up to 160GB have the same weight seem to confirm this.
For what it's worth this post on Storagereview also states it.

The noise level of my drive is good by the way. However the major drawback (of at least my drive) is the huge amount of vibration. This could be bad sample, so your milage may vary.
The vibrations are not really bad by itself but they pass on to the desk i'm often working at (it's a notebook) which can be heard.

[JazzJackRabbit]

That's a little disheartening considering that's a single platter hard drive so it should have less vibrations compared to two platter drives. I don't think my table would vibrate, but I don't like feeling hard drive vibrations in my wrists, it makes my hands fall asleep.

[scaryduck]

I have a Fujitsu MHZ2160BH. Although it has minimal/no vibrations, seeks are VERY audible and the drive makes a very noticeable pop sound when parking the heads reminiscent of the Momentus 5400.3 drives. A terrible choice for a laptop drive. Might be OK if you could put it in a sound-proofed enclosure.

The Hitachi 5K320 160GB I had before seemed to be a lot less intrusive. Although slightly worse that the Fujistu in terms of vibration, seek and head parking noises were a lot less noticeable (audible at a couple of cm away but otherwise inaudible in use, even in a quiet room).

[dhanson865]

WD doesn't detail the number of disks in all their drives but they do detail them in some:

http://www.wdc.com/en/library/portable/2879-701275.pdf

WD1600BEKT
WD1600BJKT

are both 160GB single platter with 5 year warranties, 7200RPM, and 16MB cache. They are part of the Black series. The BJKT has a freefall sensor that is suppose to protect the drive if you drop it while it is powered up.

WD’s free-fall sensor detects that the drive is falling and, in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head to help prevent damage and data loss

the Blue equivalent runs 5400 RPM and 8MB cache with a 3 year warranty but should be using the same platters.

They should be at http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2879-701278.pdf but the PDF is not available right now (that may be a bad link or it may be that the document hasn't been posted yet). I don't know why the PDF is a dead link.

WD1600BEVT is the model number.


I don't work for WDC or any retailer. I just know how to read and am willing to do the research.

[line]

Hitachi and Fujitsu have announced new mobile series that use 250GB platters across the board with planned availability by the end of the year.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15874