Which hard drive enclosure is best?

Uberapan · Post by **Uberapan** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:17 am

I have been looking for a hard drive enclosure for a while, but I can't decide which to buy. There are at least three that I know of, and the price varies a lot. Price is not very important though - maximum silencing power is.

The ones I have found are:

Smart Drive, reviewed at silentpcreview: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article23-page1.html

SilentDrive, as seen on Quietpc: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/harddrive.php#silentdrive

SilentMaxx: http://silentmaxx.net/catalog/sm_hard_d ... losure.php

I can't decide which would reduce noise the most. The Silentdrive seems to have metal connections directly from HD->Case, so it wouldn't reduce vibrational noise very much. The SmartDrive is the most expensive, but the SilentMaxx one looks like it cools better. Is it as quiet though?

Any help would be appreciated.

Shuriken · Post by **Shuriken** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 2:16 am

The Silentdrive is a definate no-go. It has virtually no cooling capacity. So you're HD wil overheat. As pointed out for so many times on this forum.

The Smartdrive is very very hard to come by. I haven't seen much stores carry it. So it will get very expensive to get it shipped in.

As for the SilentMaxx i have heard some good stories on it. As you can see here:

It is almost as good as the smartdrive.

For some Silentmaxx pics i can point you to this topic (it is all in dutch but a picture speaks a thousand words

) http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/lis ... s/923996/1

Uberapan · Post by **Uberapan** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 4:44 am

From looking at your graph, it would seem that none of the enclosures reduce idle noise very much, or at all? Don't you think that graph shows total system noise, and not only HD noise? What I'm really after is a subjective opinion on how much the hard drive's idle noise is reduced.

Thanks for the warning about the silentdrive, though. I will make sure to avoid it.

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 8:55 am

Uberapan --

If the graphs show system noise, it certainly is telling sign about making sure the rest of your system is quiet enough to make this worth your while.

Secondly, dBA readings are often NOT reflective of subjective perception, which is always more important: It's you and your hearing you want to please, not a SLM. Point in fact: Reducing low freq. noise in a case by decoupling the HDD makes a huge subjective difference, but it often registers as only a 1-2 dBA improvement in noise level.

Anway, if you have not read all the various articles & reviews & stickies on HDD silencing here at SPCR, you should. MAybe start with the sticky right here on vibration / noise reduction methods:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=53986

Just try this: Uninstall your HDD from the drive bay and place it on a soft pad of foam at the bottom front of your case. Is there a significant noise reduction? Is this enough? The noise reduction you get from the enclosure boxes will NOT touch the low frequency noise -- or even the seek noise (much) -- the way this sit-on-foam method does.

Uberapan · Post by **Uberapan** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 9:40 am

MikeC,

Thanks for your reply.

Perhaps I should have made my situation clearer. In my old computer, I have four drives. All are Seagate Barracuda IV and V drives. They are so quiet and produce so little vibration there is no problem with having them installed directly in the case.

However, in my new computer I have Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 drives. The amount on noise they produce is unacceptable. I'm not kidding when I say that one of these drives produce 3-4x more noise on their own (without the system) than my entire old computer, which contains 4 hard drives and four low-rpm fans. I can hear a single barracuda 7200.7 from three rooms away (about 20 meters). The rest of my system (without hard drives connected) is inaudible at 1.5 meters. I have modded it heavily to make sure it is almost entirely silent.

The Barracuda 7200.7's are installed in NoVibes III rubber suspension bands, as reviewed here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article39-page1.html However, this made almost no difference, since the noise is not vibrational in nature. The 7200.7 Barracudas simply have horrible idle noise and no suspensions can fix it.

I bought a Samsung P80 after seeing recommendations on these forums, and even though it had the JVC motor it was much more quiet than the Barracudas. I am stuck with 3x160 gb Barracuda 7200.7 drives though, and I would very much like to avoid having to throw them away, since they cost quite a lot of money.

In short, I am very disappointed with these drives, and I wouldn't recommend anyone on these forums to buy them. This is why I am looking for enclosures, and this is why I need opinions on how much they reduce the idle noise.

I hope this made it clearer. Thanks for your help.

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 10:07 am

Hmmmm.... you could sell them on eBAy, cut your losses & get quieter drives?

davide_casarin · Post by **davide_casarin** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:28 pm

Indeed the barracudas after V are known to be noisier, but still Seagate is the quietest brand, am I wrong ? What you say about that drive is what I would't say about my 15k ! are u sure ?
anyway, 3 silentmaxx cost usd 210, no need to say more.
I opted for a row of ST360015A, some say in this forum that a pair of models from samsung are even better than any seagate... disk swapping seems the way to go.

greshoff · Post by **greshoff** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:08 am

Hi,

I recently installed two Silentmaxx Hard Drive enclosures and I am happy wqith the end result. They do not cut out noise completely but certainly reduce it. Temps rise about 1 - 2 degrees which isn't bad. Look at this thread:

http://forums.kustompcs.co.uk/showthread.php?t=19062

Hope this helps.

Martin