Hi all!
I'm interested in upgrading the drives in my machine, and would be interested in your thoughts on which are the quietest large drives.
I would define large as 300GB or upwards, preferably 400G. To my knowledge this currently limits me to the HGST 2K400 or the Seagate 7200.8s.
Does anyone have any knowledge of these drives? Does the Hitachi still meow? Are the Seagates as quiet as they're cracked up to be?
I am aware that massive storage requirements and a silent computer are fairly incongruous, but I'd like to make the best stab I can at it!
Many thanks in advance.
Welshie
Quietest Large Drive
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Hi, I believe the latest version of the Hitachi drives (more specifically the firmware) doesn't "mee-oww". If you get one that does a firmware upgrade should fix it.
I haven't seen any conclusive evidence on the 7200.8 yet, although if appears to continue the Seagate tradition of loud seeks on the SATA and quiet seeks on the PATA and their AAM is NOT adjustable. I believe this accounts for some of the conflicting reports.
I have no experience of either drive but I would guess the Seagate is quieter as 3 platters v 5.
There are several threads on the 300GB Maxtor, it's probably pretty quiet but, like the Seagate, until we get a definitive SPCR review it's uncertain.
Is it idle noise and/or seek noise that most bothers you?
You also need to consider different people's definitions of quiet / silent. Are you looking for "office" quiet, "house in city daytime quiet", "house in country night time quiet" or "anechoic chamber" quiet?
Seb
I haven't seen any conclusive evidence on the 7200.8 yet, although if appears to continue the Seagate tradition of loud seeks on the SATA and quiet seeks on the PATA and their AAM is NOT adjustable. I believe this accounts for some of the conflicting reports.
I have no experience of either drive but I would guess the Seagate is quieter as 3 platters v 5.
There are several threads on the 300GB Maxtor, it's probably pretty quiet but, like the Seagate, until we get a definitive SPCR review it's uncertain.
Is it idle noise and/or seek noise that most bothers you?
You also need to consider different people's definitions of quiet / silent. Are you looking for "office" quiet, "house in city daytime quiet", "house in country night time quiet" or "anechoic chamber" quiet?
Seb
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Welshie1701
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Thanks for the replies guys 
@SebRad: As they're more likely to be used as storage drives, it's more the idle noise that I'm concerned about. Am I correct in saying that most modern (ie. FDB) drives are pretty similar in this respect? Also will isolating the drives using elastic suspension (in a Lian Li PC-V2100) have a significant effect on the idle noise?
I do appreciate the different levels of quiet, but sometimes it's the nature of the noise rather than the amplitude of it that bothers. My rig currently produces less noise (<40dbA) from my seating position than I can measure, but I can still hear HD whine.
I'm probably after something closest to "house in country night time quiet" but do appreciate that I'll have to make a trade of noise against storage capacity.
@SebRad: As they're more likely to be used as storage drives, it's more the idle noise that I'm concerned about. Am I correct in saying that most modern (ie. FDB) drives are pretty similar in this respect? Also will isolating the drives using elastic suspension (in a Lian Li PC-V2100) have a significant effect on the idle noise?
I do appreciate the different levels of quiet, but sometimes it's the nature of the noise rather than the amplitude of it that bothers. My rig currently produces less noise (<40dbA) from my seating position than I can measure, but I can still hear HD whine.
I'm probably after something closest to "house in country night time quiet" but do appreciate that I'll have to make a trade of noise against storage capacity.
Idle whine is not effected by suspension at all I' afraid to say. The only methods for lowering idle whine is to use an enclosure.
FDB's do not mean that the drive will be idle whine free.
I'm struggling to recommend drives atm, as there have been a lot of new drives released, and changes to older drives that have not been reviewed properly on this site. The other big problem is that there can be quite a lot of variation between samples.
I have had 3 120Gb Western Digital drives. One was almost totally inaudible in terms of idle whine, but apart from that it was average. Another had awful idle whine, and the third suffered from terrible vibration.
There is a lot of luck when buying a HDD.
The currently favourites are Samsung HDDs. You need to try and make sure that you get one with a Nidec motor, as the other motors tend to have idle whine.
Seagates tend to have little idle whine, but loud seeks. They also have a buzzing noise as if the drive is constantly seeking if the HDD is not used for a while. So if you are planning on using more than one Seagate drive in a machine that is not in a RAID array you may notice an annoying buzz.
There have been some good reports on the new Diamond Maxtor 10 drive here. Its fast, cheap, and meant to be quiet. The problem is that not enough people have them yet to have a definitive answer as to how good they are.
Hitatchi have quiet seeks with acoustic management software, but can have idle whine. They also have an annoying reset noise that may have been fixed with the latest firmware
Western Digital drives can fair well, but most people here do not like them. So you are not likely to be able to read much about them.
The last choice is to go for a 2.5 inch drive. They cost more, are slower, and have lower capacity. But they are meant to be a lot quieter. I do not have one, so cannot comment.
If you are after a computer that will sound quiet, in a quiet room, at night in the country, then you need to be thinking about getting one of the quietest 3.5 drives possible, or a 2.5. Nothing else will do with a system like that. You will also have to suspend the drives in the case, and consider acoustic damping/ drive enclosures.
FDB's do not mean that the drive will be idle whine free.
I'm struggling to recommend drives atm, as there have been a lot of new drives released, and changes to older drives that have not been reviewed properly on this site. The other big problem is that there can be quite a lot of variation between samples.
I have had 3 120Gb Western Digital drives. One was almost totally inaudible in terms of idle whine, but apart from that it was average. Another had awful idle whine, and the third suffered from terrible vibration.
There is a lot of luck when buying a HDD.
The currently favourites are Samsung HDDs. You need to try and make sure that you get one with a Nidec motor, as the other motors tend to have idle whine.
Seagates tend to have little idle whine, but loud seeks. They also have a buzzing noise as if the drive is constantly seeking if the HDD is not used for a while. So if you are planning on using more than one Seagate drive in a machine that is not in a RAID array you may notice an annoying buzz.
There have been some good reports on the new Diamond Maxtor 10 drive here. Its fast, cheap, and meant to be quiet. The problem is that not enough people have them yet to have a definitive answer as to how good they are.
Hitatchi have quiet seeks with acoustic management software, but can have idle whine. They also have an annoying reset noise that may have been fixed with the latest firmware
Western Digital drives can fair well, but most people here do not like them. So you are not likely to be able to read much about them.
The last choice is to go for a 2.5 inch drive. They cost more, are slower, and have lower capacity. But they are meant to be a lot quieter. I do not have one, so cannot comment.
If you are after a computer that will sound quiet, in a quiet room, at night in the country, then you need to be thinking about getting one of the quietest 3.5 drives possible, or a 2.5. Nothing else will do with a system like that. You will also have to suspend the drives in the case, and consider acoustic damping/ drive enclosures.
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MikeC
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The amazing thing is that HDD high freq noise can actually come through even things like the SmartDrive 2002 enclosure -- which IMO, is very good. Not a whole lot, but some. So you really need to make sure that the drive is at least decently quiet even to have a chance at make it inaudible even with a good HDD enclosure.
And I have to say that while suspensions don't eliminate high freq noise, they do have an effect on perceived noise because it greatly reduces the amount of vibration conduction to the case -- which happens across all freq, even the highs. Yes, it is true, a whiny drive becomes whinier when bolted into a case the normal way.
The SD2002 is probably a good bet -- but only if it is also suspended or placed on a bed of soft foam in the airflow path within a good case. In such a setup, the big capacity Seagates and Hitachis are OK. I have a 400G Hitachi set up this way, and it's pretty good -- not completely inaudible but very close.
And I have to say that while suspensions don't eliminate high freq noise, they do have an effect on perceived noise because it greatly reduces the amount of vibration conduction to the case -- which happens across all freq, even the highs. Yes, it is true, a whiny drive becomes whinier when bolted into a case the normal way.
The SD2002 is probably a good bet -- but only if it is also suspended or placed on a bed of soft foam in the airflow path within a good case. In such a setup, the big capacity Seagates and Hitachis are OK. I have a 400G Hitachi set up this way, and it's pretty good -- not completely inaudible but very close.
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Welshie1701
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- Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:42 pm
- Location: UK
I think "not completely inaudible but very close" will be fine as far as I'm concerned.
One other problem that afflicts my system is that the HDs I use seem to vibrate at slightly different frequencies, and at one point in the cycle (in phase?) it is enough to set a buzz in something in the case. I've tried to isolate what buzzes so I can stick it down, but with no luck.
Would using one make/model of drive be a possible solution to this, or is suspension once again the way to go?
EDIT: As a small OT, does anyone know if it's possible to monitor the temperature of a drive using SMART in Windows with the drive attached to a Highpoint RAID controller?
Thanks,
Welshie
One other problem that afflicts my system is that the HDs I use seem to vibrate at slightly different frequencies, and at one point in the cycle (in phase?) it is enough to set a buzz in something in the case. I've tried to isolate what buzzes so I can stick it down, but with no luck.
Would using one make/model of drive be a possible solution to this, or is suspension once again the way to go?
EDIT: As a small OT, does anyone know if it's possible to monitor the temperature of a drive using SMART in Windows with the drive attached to a Highpoint RAID controller?
Thanks,
Welshie