I have two 7200.11 1TB drives in Scythe QuietDrive enclosures.
Although they are quieter in the QuietDrives, they are still the nosiest component in my pc. It is the spin noise I mean not the head noise.
Are they noisy drives? Or will any 1TB mechanical drive be as noisy as this?
Are Segate 7200.11 drives noisy?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
7200.11:
4x 250GB platter @ 7200rpm spin rate
I have no personal experience of 7200.11 but that simply cannot be quiet. And no - not every 1TB drive is as noisy as that one.
1st generation WD Greenpower 1TB (WD10EACS-00ZJB0/32ZJB0/63E0B0) with
4x 250GB platter @ 5400rpm
would be much quieter. And that's a drive model that has been out for about as long as 7200.11 has. After that came 3x 333GB (WD10EACS-00D6B0/00D6B1/14ZJB0/22D6B0/65D6B0 and WD10EADS-00L5B1/65L5B1). Also Samsung F1 Ecogreen with 3x 333GB.
Now were at 500GB platters, WD10EADS-00M2B0/65M2B0 for Greenpower line-up, and Samsung F2 Ecogreen (HD102SI (16MB cache) and HD103SI (32MB cache)) and Samsung F3 Ecogreen (HD105SI (32MB cache)). All these have 2x 500GB.
And don't ask what's the difference between F2 Ecogreen and F3 Ecogreen as they both have same density platters and spin rate. It may be that F3 EG has different mechanics because F3 line is designed for up to 4 platters (even though 1TB variant only uses 2) and F2 line is designed for up to 3 platters (even though 1TB variant only uses 2). F3 EG is also so new that there's probably less user experiences regarding them. F2 EG is especially quiet when idle (but it's seek noise is rather rough).
So, is there a quieter drive than 7200.11 1TB? DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY and WITHOUT DOUBT.
- switching to non-Seagate might give small improvement already
- switching to 5400rpm HDD of any manufacturer and any number of platters (you can't get worse than 4 platters(*) and you already have 4 of them in your 7200rpm drive!)
- switching to newest generation (500GB/platter) drive will cut down the number of platters to half.
(*) Only Hitachi makes 5-platter drives and they are 7200rpm.
Combine all three, and you'll get a drive that is almost inaudible in everything but the completely passively cooled computer case.
Solutions:
- 3rd generation WD Greenpower (WD10EADS with variant code being either 00M2B0 or 65M2B0 (to ensure it's 3rd generation and not 2nd generation))
- Samsung F2 Ecogreen or F3 Ecogreen. But make sure you get Ecogreen and not F3 Spinpoint (7200rpm)!
Greenpower for nearly inaudible seek noise and very quiet idle noise.
Ecogreen for even quieter idle noise - seek noise is rather loud. But some people prefer seek noise to be audible to know whether HDD is accessed or not. Also, making Greenpower's seeks inaudible requires enabling AAM (slowing the seeks down) which might make the computer slow if operating system is installed to such a HDD.
So, the preference between the two is basically a choice between seek and idle noise... or price, or availability. Both are very good and a HUGE improvement over your current drive. (They may spin slower than your current drives but doubled areal density can compensate quite a bit for lost performance.)
4x 250GB platter @ 7200rpm spin rate
I have no personal experience of 7200.11 but that simply cannot be quiet. And no - not every 1TB drive is as noisy as that one.
1st generation WD Greenpower 1TB (WD10EACS-00ZJB0/32ZJB0/63E0B0) with
4x 250GB platter @ 5400rpm
would be much quieter. And that's a drive model that has been out for about as long as 7200.11 has. After that came 3x 333GB (WD10EACS-00D6B0/00D6B1/14ZJB0/22D6B0/65D6B0 and WD10EADS-00L5B1/65L5B1). Also Samsung F1 Ecogreen with 3x 333GB.
Now were at 500GB platters, WD10EADS-00M2B0/65M2B0 for Greenpower line-up, and Samsung F2 Ecogreen (HD102SI (16MB cache) and HD103SI (32MB cache)) and Samsung F3 Ecogreen (HD105SI (32MB cache)). All these have 2x 500GB.
And don't ask what's the difference between F2 Ecogreen and F3 Ecogreen as they both have same density platters and spin rate. It may be that F3 EG has different mechanics because F3 line is designed for up to 4 platters (even though 1TB variant only uses 2) and F2 line is designed for up to 3 platters (even though 1TB variant only uses 2). F3 EG is also so new that there's probably less user experiences regarding them. F2 EG is especially quiet when idle (but it's seek noise is rather rough).
So, is there a quieter drive than 7200.11 1TB? DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY and WITHOUT DOUBT.
- switching to non-Seagate might give small improvement already
- switching to 5400rpm HDD of any manufacturer and any number of platters (you can't get worse than 4 platters(*) and you already have 4 of them in your 7200rpm drive!)
- switching to newest generation (500GB/platter) drive will cut down the number of platters to half.
(*) Only Hitachi makes 5-platter drives and they are 7200rpm.
Combine all three, and you'll get a drive that is almost inaudible in everything but the completely passively cooled computer case.
Solutions:
- 3rd generation WD Greenpower (WD10EADS with variant code being either 00M2B0 or 65M2B0 (to ensure it's 3rd generation and not 2nd generation))
- Samsung F2 Ecogreen or F3 Ecogreen. But make sure you get Ecogreen and not F3 Spinpoint (7200rpm)!
Greenpower for nearly inaudible seek noise and very quiet idle noise.
Ecogreen for even quieter idle noise - seek noise is rather loud. But some people prefer seek noise to be audible to know whether HDD is accessed or not. Also, making Greenpower's seeks inaudible requires enabling AAM (slowing the seeks down) which might make the computer slow if operating system is installed to such a HDD.
So, the preference between the two is basically a choice between seek and idle noise... or price, or availability. Both are very good and a HUGE improvement over your current drive. (They may spin slower than your current drives but doubled areal density can compensate quite a bit for lost performance.)
Here's some reviews:
7200.11
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13440
Samsung F2 (500GB, not 1000GB)
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silent_Sa ... en_HD502HI
This is probably the quietest 3.5" drive ever made. 2-platter variant of this drive ain't bad either. Did you order the 1.0TB (2-platter) or 1.5TB (3-platter) variants? I guess it's the 1.0TB since the total cost was 123 pounds for two = 69 euros per drive. And that'd be closer to price of 1.0TB F2EG than 1.5TB variant. Amirite?
WD Greenpower 3rd gen (2000GB, not 1000GB)
http://techreport.com/articles.x/16393/1
This would be among the noisiest of modern 5400rpm drives (since you just can't pack 2000GB on a single platter). Noisiest = still damn quiet.
There's one thing I didn't mention about yet since your original post didn't mention anything about using RAID. Do you intend to use such?
Samsungs are all RAID compatible, except there's been reports of 1.5TB F2 Ecogreen having incompatibility issues. Other capacity variants are OK in RAID. And 1.5TB is OK outside RAID.
On the other hand all WD (except Raid Edition (RE)) are incompatible: WD Blue, WD Black, WD Green... none work properly with RAID. WD charges extra for RAID compatibility. With Samsung, you get it for no additional cost.
If you got 84 pounds trade-in for old HDDs, that's pretty good. Usually no-one wants to pay any decent sum for used hardware.
___
Seeing what your system has in it, I'm pretty sure HDDs won't be the biggest source of noise after the upgrage. That Zalman CNPS10x Flex cooler doesn't look optimal for low-rpm fans (too tight-finned for extreme silencing, better for overclocking). Also, quite many fans and such. Not the quietest build around... which is just like mine: having undervolted all case fans and using 5400rpm HDD it's still pretty noisy because it has 7 fans and 9TB worth of storage space. (I haven't updated my sig yet. I've bought another 2000GB WD GP since then.) The computer case being high airflow type (fully grilled front panel, 200mm fan opening on top, etc.) also allows any noise created to escape freely.
My previous builds, neither of which exist any longer.
viewtopic.php?t=43624
viewtopic.php?t=44787
The quad core system was transfered to Antec 1200 for it's superior HDD bays.
Prescott system was transferred to a "box" type Aerocool M40 case because the desk that was used as computer "case" got damaged during transit to another house. Particle board is brittle material for repetitive assembly and reassembly.
I should take pictures of the current ones as they're much less ghetto-modded than the previous ones. (That Centurion 530 case mounts a Pentium 3 system nowadays. Total overkill for some system that consumes less than 100 watts on load.)
7200.11
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13440
Samsung F2 (500GB, not 1000GB)
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silent_Sa ... en_HD502HI
This is probably the quietest 3.5" drive ever made. 2-platter variant of this drive ain't bad either. Did you order the 1.0TB (2-platter) or 1.5TB (3-platter) variants? I guess it's the 1.0TB since the total cost was 123 pounds for two = 69 euros per drive. And that'd be closer to price of 1.0TB F2EG than 1.5TB variant. Amirite?
WD Greenpower 3rd gen (2000GB, not 1000GB)
http://techreport.com/articles.x/16393/1
This would be among the noisiest of modern 5400rpm drives (since you just can't pack 2000GB on a single platter). Noisiest = still damn quiet.
There's one thing I didn't mention about yet since your original post didn't mention anything about using RAID. Do you intend to use such?
Samsungs are all RAID compatible, except there's been reports of 1.5TB F2 Ecogreen having incompatibility issues. Other capacity variants are OK in RAID. And 1.5TB is OK outside RAID.
On the other hand all WD (except Raid Edition (RE)) are incompatible: WD Blue, WD Black, WD Green... none work properly with RAID. WD charges extra for RAID compatibility. With Samsung, you get it for no additional cost.
If you got 84 pounds trade-in for old HDDs, that's pretty good. Usually no-one wants to pay any decent sum for used hardware.
___
Seeing what your system has in it, I'm pretty sure HDDs won't be the biggest source of noise after the upgrage. That Zalman CNPS10x Flex cooler doesn't look optimal for low-rpm fans (too tight-finned for extreme silencing, better for overclocking). Also, quite many fans and such. Not the quietest build around... which is just like mine: having undervolted all case fans and using 5400rpm HDD it's still pretty noisy because it has 7 fans and 9TB worth of storage space. (I haven't updated my sig yet. I've bought another 2000GB WD GP since then.) The computer case being high airflow type (fully grilled front panel, 200mm fan opening on top, etc.) also allows any noise created to escape freely.
My previous builds, neither of which exist any longer.
viewtopic.php?t=43624
viewtopic.php?t=44787
The quad core system was transfered to Antec 1200 for it's superior HDD bays.
Prescott system was transferred to a "box" type Aerocool M40 case because the desk that was used as computer "case" got damaged during transit to another house. Particle board is brittle material for repetitive assembly and reassembly.
I should take pictures of the current ones as they're much less ghetto-modded than the previous ones. (That Centurion 530 case mounts a Pentium 3 system nowadays. Total overkill for some system that consumes less than 100 watts on load.)
No plans for RAID - so thats cool.
As for noise, I did a test today turning all of the fans off except the PSU (HX620) which is pretty much silent anyway. The noise was coming from the 2 Scythe Quiet Drives.
I have added some Akasa Paxmate (not great, but was readily available) and added it to the side panel and also to the sides and front of the QuietDrives, but didn't make much difference.
The CNPS10x Flex is suprisingly quiet with the S-Flex E and Kaze Slim fans (both running about 600rpm usually).
I also have plans to swap the Gentle Typhoons for S-Flexs as not keen on the whining noise they make when changing speed.
As for noise, I did a test today turning all of the fans off except the PSU (HX620) which is pretty much silent anyway. The noise was coming from the 2 Scythe Quiet Drives.
I have added some Akasa Paxmate (not great, but was readily available) and added it to the side panel and also to the sides and front of the QuietDrives, but didn't make much difference.
The CNPS10x Flex is suprisingly quiet with the S-Flex E and Kaze Slim fans (both running about 600rpm usually).
I also have plans to swap the Gentle Typhoons for S-Flexs as not keen on the whining noise they make when changing speed.