Samsung HD400LD - low frequency hum

[Cams]

I bought two Samsung HD400LDs as they were on promotion at my local supermarket. I bought one for myself and one for a friend who runs a DAW in his attic studio. His is a custom-built PC DAW with 3 HDDs (two SATA drives in RAID configuration (not sure what they are) and one Barracuda IDE drive, all in Silent Drive enclosures.) The IDE drive was full and I was round installing some extra RAM for him when the subject of drive space came up. So I got the Samsungs, knowing from past experience that the Samsung Spinpoint range is a good quiet drive (I have two P120s in my silent PC). It was a pig of a job to get the drive into the case but we got there and all was good with the world. That is until I got a call the next day to tell me all about the oscillating low frequency hum. I know about that from my own computer - my Raptor did that when I first installed it but my elastic suspension needed some fixing. It was so bad actually that the whole desk vibrated with the hum. I fixed the elastic suspension and it was fine after that.

The trouble is that there really is no way of suspending the drives in my friend's computer. I don't have that much time to look into a new case and doing all the suspension and what have you so the only option is that I look into ordering a different drive or we try moving the computer away so that it's not right in front of him; it really couldn't be any closer to him, which is rather undesirable in a monitoring situation such as he is more or less in whenever he is working).

So, the notion of moving it aside, is there a drive would fit the bill? It seems from what I have read that pretty much any large-capacity drive with 3 platters will have this problem if not isolated from the case. Is that the way it is?

If I had more time, I'd be looking at rebuilding with a new case and suspension and all that exciting stuff that I quite enjoy doing (I've built two systems based on SPCR research and help - one silent and one quiet enough - the HD400LD is going in my quiet enough box which is way out of earshot so it's not a problem for me).

I guess what I'm basically asking is this: is there another large capacity IDE drive that I could order that would be quiet enough for a DAW when enclosed in a Silent Drive which is coupled to the case?

Thanks
Cams

[Butters2006]

Not that I can help, but I have the same samsung and it has an oscillating low frequency hum. The hum itself isn't bad but the fact that it oscillates is annoying. I've relegated it to a server down in the basement. Out of hearing out of mind.

I bought two Samsung HD400LDs as they were on promotion at my local supermarket. I bought one for myself and one for a friend who runs a DAW in his attic studio. His is a custom-built PC DAW with 3 HDDs (two SATA drives in RAID configuration (not sure what they are) and one Barracuda IDE drive, all in Silent Drive enclosures.) The IDE drive was full and I was round installing some extra RAM for him when the subject of drive space came up. So I got the Samsungs, knowing from past experience that the Samsung Spinpoint range is a good quiet drive (I have two P120s in my silent PC). It was a pig of a job to get the drive into the case but we got there and all was good with the world. That is until I got a call the next day to tell me all about the oscillating low frequency hum. I know about that from my own computer - my Raptor did that when I first installed it but my elastic suspension needed some fixing. It was so bad actually that the whole desk vibrated with the hum. I fixed the elastic suspension and it was fine after that.

The trouble is that there really is no way of suspending the drives in my friend's computer. I don't have that much time to look into a new case and doing all the suspension and what have you so the only option is that I look into ordering a different drive or we try moving the computer away so that it's not right in front of him; it really couldn't be any closer to him, which is rather undesirable in a monitoring situation such as he is more or less in whenever he is working).

So, the notion of moving it aside, is there a drive would fit the bill? It seems from what I have read that pretty much any large-capacity drive with 3 platters will have this problem if not isolated from the case. Is that the way it is?

If I had more time, I'd be looking at rebuilding with a new case and suspension and all that exciting stuff that I quite enjoy doing (I've built two systems based on SPCR research and help - one silent and one quiet enough - the HD400LD is going in my quiet enough box which is way out of earshot so it's not a problem for me).

I guess what I'm basically asking is this: is there another large capacity IDE drive that I could order that would be quiet enough for a DAW when enclosed in a Silent Drive which is coupled to the case?

Thanks
Cams

[Pauli]

Is there enough room in the drive bays to place the drive on Sorbothane strips? That should reduce much of the vibration from the drive. That's the only problem with Samsung drives -- they tend to vibrate a bit stronger than other drives.

[Felger Carbon]

Not that I can help, but I have the same samsung and it has an oscillating low frequency hum. The hum itself isn't bad but the fact that it oscillates is annoying.

An oscillating hum is the product of two HDDs (not one) rotating at slightly different RPMs. It is not the fault of one or the other of the two HDDs; it is the fault of the two of them together.

Almost always the result of mounting two HDDs in the same metal (cage) structure. If it's possible to mount the two HDDs so that they share no metal, the problem will go away.