SPCR

Is the best way to silence a hard drive to put it in an enclosure and either place that enclosure on foam or suspend it from elastic bands to decouple the vibrations from the case?

Also what is the best enclosure for a 3.5 inch drive? The Smart Drive? Scythe Quiet Drive? Thanks!

Scythe Quiet Drive is the best one I've come across.

I've had a good experience with the Nexus Drive-A-Way. It almost completely eliminates the electric motor noise of a Spinpoint F1 750GB. By comparison, my Caviar Green 1TB is plainly audible compared to the enclosed F1.

It doesn't do much for vibration though.

Thanks for the replys

Does anyone have any experience with this enclosure? Its the Logisys Aluminum Hard Drive Silencer and its pretty cheap.

http://www.svc.com/hs102bl.html

Looks like a Scythe Himuru...which I own as well as the Quiet Drive.
Himuru isn't as effective but works a bit better with some higher vibrating hdds because the top surface vibrates less than the surface of QD.

Still QD is better at silencing hdds so that is the one I'd recommend first.

Both should be soft-mounted...I use foam.

If you want the best, then you should look at the SmartDrive Neo ($80 / £80).