2 640WD or 1.5TB Seagate? Please Help!

[mmm_unit]

Hi,

I am new to the SPCR forums. I am in the process of creating a new desktop and noise is a major concern for me. I am purchasing silent PC parts (Antec Sonata Elite case , PC Power & Cooling Silencer PSU, Zalman 9700 CPU fan) along with other parts for a core i7 system.

But I am stuck at what hard drive configurations to get.

I am choosing between 2 Western Digital Caviar 640GB or 1 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda.

I've heard that the WD 640GB hard drive performs the best on being silent, but I was wondering if two of the WD would be "louder" than one 1.5TB Seagate hard drive.

Any other suggestions/tips would also be greatly appreciated.

(i'm also not set on the sonata elite or the p182 case.)

[psiu]

I would be more worried about the firmware issues with the Seagates right now. I know they tried issuing one firmware fix (actually got on SPCR front page) but following up on that it didn't seem to fix things and quickly got pulled. Did they ever get that resolved?

Not sure about the 2 drives with the whole compounding noise thing. Looking at the noise results, maybe 2 Blues with AAM enabled would be quieter.

Also depending on how you use those drives, you may make yourself more vulnerable to a drive failure (like if using raid 0).

[Cryoburner]

From what I've heard of the recent Seagates, they tend to be notably louder than WD's offerings. WD's current lineup tends to receive more favorable user reviews as well, and I've heard less instances of them randomly failing. You didn't really specify which 640GB WD Caviar though, so the amount of noise they produce could vary depending on whether you are looking to go with the blue or black performance drives, or the quieter but slower green series. I've had a WD6400AAKS "blue" series drive for around 8 months now, and it's been performing well. It's relatively quiet, and I can't hear it over my other system components at idle, though my system isn't completely silent either, and it might be more noticeable if yours is significantly quieter.

As for getting two drives, they could make it a little more audible, though I'm speculating that they still might be quieter than the lone Seagate 1.5GB. Another advantage you'd have with two 640GB drives is that you could back up important files on both drives. That way, if one does happen to fail early, or you accidentally delete or overwrite something, you could more easily avoid the loss of important data.

Another option would be to just buy one 640GB drive now, and add a second drive whenever the first nears its capacity. The advantage of this would be that you'd have the option to buy a drive that's faster, quieter and larger in a couple years, and not pay ahead of time for space you won't be using right away. You'll be getting a fresh warranty with the new drive as well.

As for the case, I've had a first generation Sonata for several years now, and it's a pretty nice case. If I were building a system now though, I'd probably go with the P182. It doesn't include a power supply like the Sonata, but it looks as though you intend to replace that anyway.

[mmm_unit]

psiu:
I'll believe in Seagate that they fixed their firmware after their first mistake, double failures would be pretty bad for the company and I've heard many good things after the new firmware that seems to patch things up. I'm still looking into it since it's probably the quietest biggest hard drive out there.

To Cryoburner:
Actually, the Sonata Elite does not come with a PSU (thie elite actually just came out in Jan. 09 and I have already purchased a silent PSU for it since I know the Elite/P182 usually don't come with one.

I also like our idea on getting the WD 640GB drive now, and upgrading later, that makes a lot of sense to me.


But I still want to know if anyone else has real experience or more knowledge with the double drives. I would definitely like to have double drives for all of the reasons mentioned above, but in the quiet system I am building, I want to make sure it is not the component that is making noise.

[seemingly.random]

I am new to the SPCR forums. I am in the process of creating a new desktop and noise is a major concern for me. I am purchasing silent PC parts (Antec Sonata Elite case , PC Power & Cooling Silencer PSU, Zalman 9700 CPU fan) along with other parts for a core i7 system.

I would rethink that psu and hsf. The front page of SilentPCReview is the place to start. There's a lot of experience (and opinions) in the forums also. I had a pcpc 610w and it sounded like a small turbine. zalman has fallen behind. Both are quality products but not quiet.

But I am stuck at what hard drive configurations to get.

I am choosing between 2 Western Digital Caviar 640GB or 1 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda.

I've heard that the WD 640GB hard drive performs the best on being silent, but I was wondering if two of the WD would be "louder" than one 1.5TB Seagate hard drive.

Any other suggestions/tips would also be greatly appreciated.

The well known problems with Seagate make this an unnecessary risk. wd 1.5 and 2tb drives will be available soon - and reasonably priced in ~six months.

You didn't say what the intended use is. wd makes three different 640gb drives: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/productc ... e=en#jump2
I recently purchased a 640 black - very nice, almost as fast as a raptor. But I would use a new (330 - 500gb/platter) 5400rpm drive for storing movies and music.

Multiple drives are good for two main reasons: spreading risk and possible redundancy (not necessarily raid), and transfering files from one drive to another is much quicker than to a second volume on the same drive. The downside is power usage and more heat and noise. If you're itching to build now, a smaller drive might suffice for a few months until much bigger ones become stable. And, there's no limit on two - most motherboards support six now.

(i'm also not set on the sonata elite or the p182 case.)

Good. It sounds like it's early in the process to make this decision now. The solo is well loved here; among others. Check out the fan reviews and don't expect to get everything right the first time.

[LodeHacker]

Just a small notice: the Seagate firmware problems were mostly affected by HDDs produced in Thailand. According to my research mostly it's OEM offerings through which a user can get a potentially faulty HDD.