4 Drive RAID with 2.5" WD3200BEKT 7200 Drives in Sonata

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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mfhall
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Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 4:18 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

4 Drive RAID with 2.5" WD3200BEKT 7200 Drives in Sonata

Post by mfhall » Wed May 27, 2009 5:51 pm

Hi,

This is my first post but I've lurked for years to get advice on silencing a few PCs.

I'm posting this to warn of a pitfall I've hit ... not so silent 2.5" drives! :(

This is very long - the short version is:
- These 7200rpm 2.5" drives are noisy at idle.
- Good suspension is great at reducing seek noise - but not idle noise in this case.
- Tests of current 2.5" high performance drives would be great.

The long version:

I have an Antec Sonata III case with silent components, running 24hrs. I'm happy with all the noise sources except the drives (4 x 320GB in RAID 5). CPU heat sink is Noctua NH-U12P with Noctua NF-P12 fan, single case exhaust fan is Nexus Real Silent 120mm, PSU is Corsair HX620W. Graphics card is a fanless ASUS and northbridge is heatsink/heat pipe. Fan noise is VERY low. Temperatures are fine. The computer runs 24hrs.

I had 4 x WD3200AAKS 3.5" 7200rpm drives mounted in the Antec drive trays with the supplied silicone mounts. They weren't too bad but their idle noise was the loudest noise source left (barring optical drives, of course). Their seek noise was audible but not too annoying.

One drive failed so I decided to blow some cash and replace all four with 2.5"drives as they should be quieter ... Not so!

I couldn't find any SilentPCReview guidance on 2.5"drives that was new enough to help me on particular models ... but I should have noted the implied advice to stay with 5400rpm drives.

To keep current performance I chose 7200rpm 16MB cache drives. As I wanted instant gratification I went with the only ones my preferred (ie cheapest) supplier had in a stock of 4. They are Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT (actually one is BJKT which is the same drive with a drop sensor - only 3 BEKTs were in stock).

My first try suspended each drive in a removeable drive tray with brackets and shock cord. Not enough space between the brackets, and thick shock cord (4mm), so the suspension wasn't good.

This was MUCH louder, in both idle and seek, than the 3.5" array!

Now I have 2mm shock cord without the drive trays suspending the drives in the drive cage. No photos available as this is my first post. The cord (nearly 3m) is looped around the existing drive cage to create loops with only very slight stretching of the cord. The drives are mounted by twisting each loop and sliding the drive in, which stretches the cord. It's quite secure.

I think this suspension is as good as I can get.

Now I have very low seek noise but the idle noise is still annoying - a continuous mid (to low)-frequency hum.

This is significantly louder than the idle noise with the previous 3.5" drives - but I have less seek noise.

If I had replaced the failed 3.5"drive (for MUCH less money) and suspended the 3.5" array as well as this I would have a quieter (probably finally quiet enough) PC. Probably 5400rpm 2.5" drives would have worked.

Such is life ...

I'm now investigating how to get the Intel RAID manager to lower drive noise, and considering sound deadening/sound absorbtion.

Any advice from someone who has solved a similar problem would be greatly appreciated ...

PartEleven
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Post by PartEleven » Wed May 27, 2009 9:16 pm

Don't let this bad experience turn you away from 2.5" drives! I still think they are accoustically superior to 3.5" drives. From my experience with a 7200 rpm Hitachi Travelstar 7k320, I'll have to agree that idle noise is a problem. I don't have any experience with the WD scorpio black drives, but mine has a clearly audible high pitched whine due to the fast rotation speed.

However, since the pitch is quite high the thick walls of my P180 block it completely. Once I close up my system I can't hear my drive at all. Suspension removes any vibration noise. If your idle noise problem is a high pitched whine, I'd consider trying some sound absorption material.

SebRad
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Post by SebRad » Thu May 28, 2009 1:49 am

Hi, as you had room in the case for four full sized HDDs then you'd have room to put the 2.5" drives in Scythe Quiet Drives. Looks like the silicone grommets (that work pretty well) are bottom fixing in the Sonata you have but I suspect the SQD will only have side holes, you may be able to strap them to the grommets or something, or have to suspend them. Enclosed and suspended should be good...
I find the 3.5" version works well on my Samsung F1 drive, reduces idle noise considerably. I'd guess the 2.5" version is good too.
Gets expensive for four though...
Good luck, Seb

mfhall
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Location: Melbourne Australia

Post by mfhall » Thu May 28, 2009 3:02 pm

Thanks for the advice, SebRad and PartEleven.

Yes, I would be able to install the Scythe 2.5"quiet drives (The antec drive trays are bottom mounting only, but I could suspend the drives without the trays); but you're right - they are too expensive ... and I can't see a supplier in Australia, so more expense there to get them from overseas. It also delays my instant gratification :wink:

My next step could be sound absorbtion as suggested, but another option may be the thick aluminium plate sandwich in one of the site's silent storage articles - I could do that far more cheaply than the Scythe silent drives.

I'm not so sure about the acoustic superiority of 2.5"drives. Could it be that the early comparisons were made between higher speed 3.5"drives and lower speed 2.5"drives? The Scythe website states that the advantage of the 2.5"drives is their lower speed. My experience of swapping between identical capability (rpm and capacity) 2.5" and 3.5" drives from the same manufacturer is that subjectively (I haven't a sound meter) the 2.5" drives were louder - in idle and in seek. Granted the Scorpio Black could simply be a loud model, but idle noise is also a problem on PartEleven's Hitachi.

I'm speculating that there's a fundamental problem here in the nature of notebook drives: they are built to be small and light.

The small platters mean smaller head movements and lighter head mechanisms - so seek noise should be lower - and rotational noise should be less from smaller platters. The much thinner and lighter chassis, though, means less mass to absorb acoustic frequency vibrations. It's highly likely that less total noise is generated inside the drive, but a bigger portion of it seems to be transmitted through the body.

I might try the aluminium sandwich - if my theory is right, the extra mass rigidly attached to a suspended drive should help. Building good sound absorbtion into the Sonata III case would be difficult, as only one side opens and major disassembly (possibly including drilling out rivets) would be required to get good coverage.

This would be a good subject for some lab testing ...

mfhall
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 4:18 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

Next try ...

Post by mfhall » Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:50 pm

I have now installed 6mm aluminium plate sandwiches around all four drives and mounted them in the original Antec Drive trays. I used the Antec silicon grommets with bolts and metal spacers to replicate the Antec drive screws.

This isn't as good as I hoped. I have virtually no audible seek noise but still have the idle noise - it sounds like a loud CPU cooling fan.

I believe (subjective memory of sound ...) that the previous suspension was quieter for idle noise but louder for seek than this.

I'm now going to try suspending the sandwiched drives ... will the suspension quieten the idle noise while the sandwiches quieten the seek noise?

Photos of both drive installations are here.

fyleow
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Post by fyleow » Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:43 pm

In my experience the only solution to idle noise is enclosing the drives. A lot of hard drives and silence just doesn't work unfortunately unless you're willing to shell out a bunch of cash and get enclosures for all of them. It's better to go with a single drive or SSD and use a networked storage in another room for extra space, but that advice might be too late now :(

Edit: By enclosing the drives I mean using the Scythe Quiet Drive (SQD) or some other similar product or homebrew case. The SQD has a lining of sound deadening foam inside that helps lower the idle noise.

I can't recommend the product though. At this point I'd just get an SSD. The SQD is expensive and the gel pads stick very tightly to the case making the hard drive difficult to remove later on. It also does not completely get rid of the noiise as an SSD would.

SebRad
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Post by SebRad » Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:05 am

Hi, I just had another thought re Scythe Quiet Drives. If you've room in the case in 5.25" drive bays or around the "normal" drive area you could get 2 3.5" SQDs and put two 2.5" drives in each, would halve the cost. Should provide similar noise suppression and shouldn't over heat as I think power 2x2.5" drives < 1x3.5" drive and 2.5" drive often take higher temps.
Would be interesting experiment - in fact I happen to have a WD3200BEKT and can find some other laptop drive, I might try for you...
Regards, Seb

neumein
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 5:06 am
Location: Launceston, Australia

Post by neumein » Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:01 am

Another Aussie let down by our country's lack of quiet hardware. I myself own a Scythe Himuro, the Quiet Drive's cheaper cousin. Just having a look at it, you could fit two 2.5" drives in there no prob. Getting power/data cables in the back might be a little squishy but definitely doable.

pccasegear.com.au has them currently for 48 bucks.

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