Q: Very most quiet way of getting 1 TB (or 2x500GB) storage?

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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MortyEU
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Q: Very most quiet way of getting 1 TB (or 2x500GB) storage?

Post by MortyEU » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:57 pm

Honored Forum,

I'm new here, but I have been Googling and reading SPCRs reviews extensively...

I'm looking for 1 TB of storage; it must be QUIET; performance is not important; 1 TB of SSD's is not an option due to the price. It could be a single drive, or it could be 2 smaller drives, whatever is more silent.

It's for a HTPC that has 2 roles, it's a music playback system, and it's a home server. Generally, it is only performing 1 of its roles at any given time. Both roles require ~400 GB storage each.

I have a 1 TB WD Green EADS drive which is WAY too noisy for this application (I guess it's a bad sample). And I have a 1.5 TB Seagate LP 2 drive that also is too noisy, though it's not nearly as bad as the WD.

I was thinking about Scythe Quiet Drive. Unfortunately they are relatively expensive where I live. But that could be an option...

What is the very most quiet way of getting 1 TB of storage, without the price becoming unreasonably high?

I was thinking of:

a) 2 * Samsung EcoGreen F3's of each 500 GB, suspended with rubber rings. 2 drives would be more quiet than 1, because Windows could shut down the drive that isn't in use (given the computer's roles above)? Comments? Would a single 1 TB EcoGreen be expected to be more quiet?

b) 2 * Hitachi 500K.5B 's, their new laptop drive with 250 GB per platter. As above, the unused drive could spin down, and besides 500 GB is the max capacity anyways. Downsides, it may be a 2½" unit, but it's still 4 platters in total...

c) A single 1 TB drive (maybe EcoGreen F3) in a noise dampening box. Downsides, I'm not happy about the drive temperature inside a box, and maybe my next HTPC will not have room for a 5 1/4" unit (I'm thinking about an Antec NSK1480, maybe).

Suggestions?

Kaleid
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Post by Kaleid » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:24 pm

"I'm looking for 1 TB of storage; it must be QUIET; performance is not important"

I doubt F3 is as quiet as F2. So..

Samsung F2 1tB. Place it in a softmounted Scythe quiet drive or Scythe Himuru. I prefer the latter in this case since it makes drive read and writes quieter than the quiet drive.

xan_user
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Post by xan_user » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:47 pm


dhanson865
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Post by dhanson865 » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:00 pm

nope, the correct answer is Seagate 1TB LP. ST31000520AS. Suspend it if you like.
dhanson865 wrote:I'm afraid some casual skimming type readers will assume the LP series as a whole will behave the same as the 4 platter 2TB Barracuda LP.

It's worth noting that the 1.5 TB Barracuda LP still uses 4 platters and has the same noise profile as the 2TB Barracuda LP. http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/supp ... 64361c.pdf

The 1 TB Barracuda LP is a much better compromise on power and noise as it uses 2 less platters.

Code: Select all

Table 3:   DC power requirements
Power dissipation (2TB and 1.5TB models)   Avg (watts 25° C)
Idle*                                      4.3
Operating (average)                        6.8
Standby                                    0.5
Sleep                                      0.5

Power dissipation (1TB models)             Avg (watts 25° C)
Idle*                                      3.0
Operating (average)                        5.7
Standby                                    0.321
Sleep                                      0.321

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Table 4: Drive A-weighted Sound Power Levels (SWL, BA)
                      Idle[1]         Seek profile
2TB and 1.5TB model   2.5 bels (typ)  2.6 bels (typ)
                      2.6 bels (max)  2.8 bels (max)

1TB model             1.9 bels (typ)  2.0 bels (typ)
                      2.1 bels (max)  2.2 bels (max)
I'd steer clear of that 1.5 TB model as it is the worst of both worlds.
WD isn't that good of an option due to the head parking issue. The new 64MB cache drive fixes it by never going idle at the cost of a few extra watts vs a true idle. You'll also notice none of the drives in that PDF are as quiet as the 1TB Seagate LP. All around worth skipping the WD green drives for the foreseeable future.

Samsung is a solid choice as well if the Seagate LP isn't available from your favorite retailer but you very well better decode the part numbers and make sure you get a 2 platter 1TB drive with 5400 RPM.

No matter what a proper 2 platter 1TB drive will be quieter than 2 500 GB drives (when both are on).

Do your homework and decode the part numbers before you buy another drive.

SebRad
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Post by SebRad » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:29 am

I was thinking about Scythe Quiet Drive. Unfortunately they are relatively expensive where I live.
it must be QUIET;
As you are looking for quiet I think you should definitely get a Scythe Quiet Drive. I have one and it makes a very appreciable difference, even over a suspended drive. SPCRs test suggest 3-4dB(A) reduction in HDD noise, well worth having. Better still suspend / soft mount the Quiet Drive, as I’ve done.
Yes it adds to the cost but it you want quiet it will cost.
A pair of 500GB laptop drives in 2.5 Quiet Drives would also be a good, but rather more expensive solution.
Best of all in 2.5â€

MortyEU
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Post by MortyEU » Fri Dec 11, 2009 4:34 am

Kaleid wrote: I doubt F3 is as quiet as F2. So..
Sorry, my mistake, I meant the "Samsung F2 EcoGreen HD502HI". Thanks for the tip, as said, a 5 1/4" drive box is not ideal for me, but I may consider it...

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Post by NeilBlanchard » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:08 am

Hi,

Two noise sources is never quieter than one. The quietest way to get 1TB would be to have an SSD to boot from, and a 1TB drive for data storage.

MortyEU
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Post by MortyEU » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:31 am

Thanks for all the good tips and info that I have received. :-)

Now I'm thinking:
* One 3.5" Seagate 2-platter 1TB drive, Barracuda LP ST31000520AS. (I would have liked 1TB Samsung F2 EcoGreen, but they are not available where I live.)
* One Scythe HDD dampening box, either Quiet Drive SQD-1000 or Himuro SCH-1000, see question at the end.
* and soft mounting the Scythe box in rubber rings.

My main question right now is Scythe Quiet Drive 3.5" or Scythe Himuro ? I have found a comparison review at hardwareluxx dot de/index.php/artikel/hardware/storage/11971.html?start=8 (I can't post URLs yet). It seems to show the SQD being a good deal more effective. However, their test methodology seems a bit questionable, as I read the test they did not isolate the HDD noise but measured full system noise in a normal room. Does anyone have hands-on experience, which of the 2 enclosures works best when the enclosure itself is suspended?

Kaleid
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Post by Kaleid » Fri Dec 11, 2009 6:35 am

My subjective impression on the Himuru and quietdrive is that the latter is better at damping the idle noise but at least with the F2 1tB is not as great in damping the read, write and seek noise. The himuru doesn't tend to vibrate as much (it's stiffer) so it doesn't amplify reads and writes. It is also cheaper and takes up less space.

For the Seagate LP 1tB the quietdrive was preferable due its different non-idle sound characteristics.

Alexandrus
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Post by Alexandrus » Sat Dec 12, 2009 10:17 pm

I will have to disagree about the Seagate LP 1TB, it has extremely noisy seeks and a buggy firmware, I tested and retested the one I have and it still locks the PC for a few seconds on first writes(no bad sectors or anything, it's been tested).
So I'd go with the WD Green, 1TB, 500GB platters, either EARS or the EADS.

Kaleid
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Post by Kaleid » Sun Dec 13, 2009 3:02 am

Haven't noticed that. What is your firmware? Mine has: CC32

Alexandrus
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Post by Alexandrus » Sun Dec 13, 2009 2:27 pm

CC32 as well here, maybe it's a bad sample, I have no idea, Seagate told me to exchange it, but if I get another one and it behaves just like that, then .... it's no good. That's why I'd go with the WD from the start, it might be bugged with the head parking issues but it has less noisy seeks.

Kaleid
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Post by Kaleid » Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:30 am

What does your hdtune look like?

Here's mine:

Image

The only thing that looks odd is the low burst speed.

As for that locking, are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with windows power-saving functions? Default in Win7 is for instance to shut it down after 20 minutes of inactivity. I've turned this function off.

Alexandrus
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Post by Alexandrus » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:49 am

First of all, I am using XP Pro, and no, has nothing to do with any power saving fuctions, it simply locks the PC when I start writting on the disk, only for 1 to 3 seconds, then it's all normal. For instance, when downloading a new torrent, or when copying from another drive, it happens.
Image

Alexandrus
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Post by Alexandrus » Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:00 pm

Now confirmed, the WD10EADS-00M2B0 is MUCH quieter than the Seagate Barracuda LP 1000GB. Idle noise on the WD is almost non-existent, and seek noise is just a tad louder than the fan in the Antec MX-1, but the same smoothness to it, nothing sharp and annoying.

PS. However, it is slower and hotter, it seems, but maybe because it seems to do some read/write/seek cycles when it's idle, strange.

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