Confused - Looking for the quietest drive available

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donoester
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:30 am

Confused - Looking for the quietest drive available

Post by donoester » Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:54 am

Hello,

Basically i am on the lookout for a new 3.5" HDD for external use with USB. I haven't bought any HDDs since my still performing Seagate Baracuda IV 80 GB, so looking at the market again now, making a choice is hard and i'm not sure where to start.

What i want is
- either a 500 GB or 750 GB HDD
- as quiet as possible, as little vibration as possible.
- performance is not a huge priority, but still better than notebook drives.
- SATA

By quiet - i mean quieter than a 7200 RPM laptop harddrive, like the current 100 GB Seagate Momentus 7200.2 drives. It's going to be 50 cm away from me, so it would be ideal if it is inaudible at idle at that distance with no high pitch noises etc.

What is puzzling me now is that 5400 RPM drives are not discussed here much - what's wrong with them, aren't they made any longer?
- If they still are, wouldn't they generally not be even quiter than 7200 RPM 3.5" drives?

The drive i want is going to be installed in a USB enclosure with external PSU, and it is going to be connected to a laptop.
I read a lot of good things about the SE16 5000AAKS drive by WD here on the forums, but i understand that it uses some sort of combined interface with no molex connectors.
- As i don't know much about the external USB enclosures - is this special interface going to be a problem?
- The WD 5000AAKS doesn't use perpendicular recording - is this an issue which should be given any consideration?

Thanks.

scandium
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:33 am
Location: Canada

Re: Confused - Looking for the quietest drive available

Post by scandium » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:07 am

donoester wrote:What is puzzling me now is that 5400 RPM drives are not discussed here much - what's wrong with them, aren't they made any longer?
Not made any longer.
I read a lot of good things about the SE16 5000AAKS drive by WD here on the forums, but i understand that it uses some sort of combined interface with no molex connectors.
If my memory is correct, it has both a SATA power connector and a 4 pin molex. You can use either.
- As i don't know much about the external USB enclosures - is this special interface going to be a problem?
No.
- The WD 5000AAKS doesn't use perpendicular recording - is this an issue which should be given any consideration?
I wouldn't give it any consideration, since this drive performs very well.

Luminair
Posts: 223
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:45 am

Post by Luminair » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:28 pm

5400rpm drives went out of style because 7200rpm were way faster and nobody cared about the sound.

The WD GP drives (WD10EACS for example) have brought low rpms back into the fold. One of those would probably be the drive you want... the alternative being a T166.

skeeder
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:56 pm

Post by skeeder » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:31 pm

I have 2x 500GB WD 5000AAKS drives.

I highly recommend them.

Nick Geraedts
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 8:22 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC

Post by Nick Geraedts » Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:13 pm

A external USB enclosure that supports SATA drives should have a SATA power connector and not rely on molex connectors for power.

I'd also recommend the WD5000AAKS drives. I've got four of them in my file server, and they're nice and quiet. :)

Incidentally, the WD5000AAKS drives have no molex connectors. The lower 4 drives are WD5000AAKS drives, and the top one is a WD2500KS drive.

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