Which is the Quietest?

fred sherbet · Post by **fred sherbet** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 11:50 pm

Basically, all i want to know is which is the quietest 200Gb HDD?

I heard the Seagate Barracudas were quiet, but people have speculated since the 200Gb was released with three platters. I've looked through the forum, but been unable to find an answer, so i'm sorry if this has been answered lots defore

Thanks, Fred

wim · Post by **wim** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:07 am

i thought seagates 200G was two platters...(?) the 400G is three platters.

200G is a huge drive so i don't know if any people here would have tried multiple brands of them. i'm having trouble filling a 160G.

fred sherbet · Post by **fred sherbet** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:25 am

At the moment i've filled almost 300Gb

looking at replacing one of my smaller drives, and using that in another computer

Pauli · Post by **Pauli** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 12:44 pm

I assure you, when dealing with digital video, 200GB is nowhere near "huge". Maybe something like "adequate for digital video hobbyists".

yermolovd · Post by **yermolovd** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:32 pm

As for seagate 200 ATA drive, i cant hear it in the closed case.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:09 pm

I have the 200 GB Seagate 7200.7, and the only noise you can hear is a very faint "ticking" kind of noise during high loads/activity. Otherwise, it's dead silent. I have a 160 GB 7200.7 as well, and benchmarked them using nVidia's built in Unified Driver IDE Channel Speed Test. The 200 GB actually was faster. The 160 GB 7200.7 was louder. The 200 GB utilizes a higher density platter than the previous models, perhaps that is why. Personally I think it's great.

I bought a Hitachi Deskstar (IBM) 200 GB, and a Maxtor Ultra 200 GB. The Maxtor's noise is horrible. The Deskstar makes this weird burring noise every once in a while, but other than that is silent. I guess it is parking the heads after some time of inactivity, not sure. I returned the Deskstar, and my Maxtor is from the early days of large size (when 200 GB was the "ultimate"), so I have my Maxtor still.

So I'd recommend the 7200.7 200 GB Seagate without a doubt.

fred sherbet · Post by **fred sherbet** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 11:59 pm

Thanks for the advice, think i shall go out and get me one of those

I've got two IBMs, and a Samsung, they're usually reasonably quiet, but had a couple defragging the other night and didn't got too much sleep

Cheers, Fred

bomba · Post by **bomba** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:18 am

FYI,
From personal experience w/ a 160G Seagate 7200.7, I can say it has loud seeks. Also, due to ongoing litigation against Seagate, accoustic management is locked in these drives, so there's not much you can do.

The Hitachi 7k250 series does have the idle mode cat meow sound, but there has been firmware released which fixes this. My understanding is that new Hitachi drives are built w/ this firmware. However, Hitachi has decided not to post it for general circulation, though it is reportably obtainable from Hitachi if you complain enough. Available on the Internet as well, of course. My wife has an external IOMEGA USB2.0 drive which I suspect uses an IBM drive. In any case it meows every now and then and let me tell you it's loud enough to be clearly heard in the next room. Read more here. The Hitachi feature tool allows fine adjustments of drive seek performance/noise.

Personally, I'd avoid the Seagate until they re-enable configurable accoustic management. Read about the Hitachi fw fix in this SPCR thread.

BTW, if you are in the Silicon Valley area, Fry's has an in store special going on now for a 250G 7k250 $99 after rebate.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:21 am

like i said, i have the 200 GB version fo the 7200.7, which uses higher density disks, and thus the seek noise is considerably less. I posted somewhere in here a comparison, just search for posts by me...

bomba · Post by **bomba** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:47 am

acaurora wrote:like i said, i have the 200 GB version fo the 7200.7, which uses higher density disks, and thus the seek noise is considerably less. I posted somewhere in here a comparison, just search for posts by me...

Ok, point taken, actually your comparison was posted earlier in this thread. Ignore my previous comments on 7200.7 seeks (but avoid the 160G model'

'). I still suspect the 7k250 drive w/ fw fix would be an excellent quiet drive especially for those who can grab a 250G model for $99! More info on fw as well as DL link here.

Which is the Quietest?

Which is the Quietest?

Re: Which is the Quietest?