Database of suitable 2.5" HDs inc. older models

marcmercer · Post by **marcmercer** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:23 am

Hi all

I was hoping to draw on your experiences with 2.5" hard drives, especially the slightly older models, to produce a list of suitable quiet drives (or at least to eliminate the totally unsuitable ones).

Please post a reply if you have any useful info or opinions.

Background:

I have just built up a bedroom pc for watching films, music and general internet browsing. It's based on an old p3 550 rig with a passive heatsink and a single ys-tech 80mm fan in the psu running at 5v (probably 600rpm or less)

Neither my suspended Barracuda IV nor Samsung 3.5" drives, cut it in this machine, especially as the girlfriend "claims" to hear it at night..

Solution - a quiet 2.5" drive (I hope). All the music, films etc are stored across the network so speed and storage space aren't very important.

The problem is I just couldn't justify spending £45+ on a new drive. Mike has some nice reviews on new 2.5" drives, but it has been really difficult to get any kind of opinions on slightly older ones.

I'm sure some of you are in a similar position so I was hoping anyone with a slightly older drive would share your opinions so we can create a list of suitable drives.

With such limited info out there I've been forced to improvise a little to try and make an informed choice. I have assumed that each individual manufacturer uses the same testing procedure for all it's own drives (dangerous perhaps). Using this assumption I was able to look up the manufacturers sound ratings for mikes recommended drives and selected others from the same manufacturer with the same or lower ratings.

As a result I picked up a 2018GAS Toshiba on ebay for £17.

The theory is that mike reviewed the 4025GAS model and rated it at 16dba idle. On the toshiba website this model is rated as 24dba idle and 31 seek (there is no mention of the distance measured etc).
The 2018GAS is rated exactly the same (24/31) so I am hoping the drive should be comparable....

I will report once it arrives!

Of course I don't hold much hope for the reliability of my little theory so hopefully drawing from the experience on the forum we can do a lot better.

Marc

marcmercer · Post by **marcmercer** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:33 am

Hi All

If anyone has any experience of drives listed below (or any other 2.5" drive) it would be great if you could post them here. I'm just as interested in listing drives that are unsuitable for quiet pcs as ones that are.

The Toshiba MK2018GAS I was meant to receive never arrived - instead I was sent a Hitachi DK23-DA. The seller has agreed to swap it for the toshiba i was supposed to receive, but I will have a listen to the hitachi before I send it back.

Toshiba:
MK4021GAS
MK2023GAS
MK2018GAS
MK6006GAH

Hitachi
DK23BA
DK23DA
DK23FB
40GN (IC25N020ATCS04)
40GN (IC25N040ATCS04)
80GN (IC25N020ATMR04)
80GN (IC25N040ATMR04)
4K40 (HTS424030M9AT00)
4K40 (HTS424020M9AT00)

Fujitsu
MHT2020AT
MHR2020AT
MHS2020AT

Thanks

Marc

hyperq · Post by **hyperq** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:47 am

Look for drives with fluid bearing.

The drive that came with my Thinkpad T21 became so noisy after 2 years of constant use. So I replaced it with a Hitachi 5K80 40GB (5400 rpm) drive, which uses fluid bearing. After using it for 1.5 years, I like it a lot.

The good thing about this 5K80 drive is that I can use Hitachi's FTool to adjust the mode of operation from quiet to performance. In quiet mode, it is silent. In performance mode, it is very fast but generates some faint audible seek noise.

Hitachi also makes 4200 rpm drives which they advertise as to be even quieter.

Other things you can do to reduce harddrive activity:

1) Add more RAM. Windows XP needs 512MB of RAM to cut down the swap file activity significantly.

2) Format the drive and fresh install Windows XP. (I try to do it once a year)

3) Do not install any app you hardly use.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:17 am

I have a number of systems running on just one 5v 80mm fan--including a similar PIII 550. My experience is that even the quietest of modern 2.5" drives doesn't cut it, noisewise--until I enclose the drive.

Fortunately, fashioning a cheap enclosure for a 2.5" drive isn't hard. Here's an example of how to do it:

PSP case 2.5" drive silencer How-To

I've used this enclosure to quiet down some really noisy 2.5" drives.

marcmercer · Post by **marcmercer** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:40 am

Nice enclosure Isaac.

I fully intend to enclose/damp the drive. I figure that the quieter the drive is to start with the better. Of course the beauty of the 2.5" drives is that did wonder what i could use to enclose it ... the PSP case looks like a good solution!

Hyper - thanks also for your tips. It was particularly good to have your opinion of your Hitachi 5k80. A quick look at the hitachi tech specs shows it should be significantly quieter than the dk23 I have here (21 / 26dba idle/seek) vs 24/31dba.)

With any luck I've made the right choice sending the dk23 back for the toshiba! Unfortunately until the 2.5"->3.4" adapter arrives i will find it hard to try them out!

Marc

mb2 · Post by **mb2** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:07 pm

i have a Fujitsu MHN2200AT .. its pretty quiet at idle but the seeks are quite noisy.

i should find out what the HDDs i have still working in laptops are and comment on them sometime too..

marcmercer · Post by **marcmercer** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:04 am

The Toshiba 2018GAS 2.5" HD arrived yesterday. Sadly I'm not hugely impressed.

The drive has a high pitched annoying 'whine' which is clearly audible above my 160gig samsung spinpoint.

I haven't tried enclosing / foam padding the drive. I'll give this a go and report back - I suspect the whine can be eliminated this way.

Marc