Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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gcwebbyuk
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Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by gcwebbyuk » Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:39 am

Please recommend me the best silent (or very quiet) drives to use in a RAID0 configuration along with my SSDs.

To put my idea of silence in perspective, I used to be able to hear my EcoGreen 1TBs both in Scythe QuietDrive enclosures over the rest of my system. I now have a spare Samsung 2.5" 160GB which I have in there for a spare dumping drive (quick backups etc). I have a server (1GBps network) for my main data, but I sometimes like to keep a chunk of data on the workstation too - Acronis Online Backup will not work with network drives for instance.

I don't want to spend a fortune, so am thinking 2 x 320GB drives = 640GB, but there are so many, and so many variations of the same model, I would like a definitive answer before I buy.

Thanks in advance...

Fëanor
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Post by Fëanor » Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:10 am

All I can say is that I recommend 2 TB 3.5" HDD's. Large cheap storage capacity is the only advantage left for HDD's. I know that's not a great way to achieve silence, though.

gcwebbyuk
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Post by gcwebbyuk » Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:43 am

afraid not - they are way too noisy for my needs. As I stated I have had silent 3.5" drives before, even in Scythe Quiet Drives - still too noisy.

Eunos
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Post by Eunos » Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:40 am

I am a fan of the WD Scorpio personally. A 320 GB model should be single platter to boot.

gcwebbyuk
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Post by gcwebbyuk » Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:54 am

Which WD Scorpio - blue or black?
Am guessing blue as they spin slower, so should be quieter.

Here is a price list:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-Har ... ATA-SATAII

Which would you pick?

Eunos
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Post by Eunos » Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:06 am

Definitely the Blue, as it spins at 5400 rather than 7200 rpm. Performance difference probably isn't that much, yet the black is more expensive, noisier and less energy efficient.

I'd go for the WD3200BPVT as I've had an awesome run with Scorpios over the years, but I hasten to add that its Samsung/Seagate/etc competitors are probably just as good. 8)

gcwebbyuk
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Post by gcwebbyuk » Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:11 am

Just a bit concerned how the PVT will work with RAID0 as it has the Advanced Format Technology.

Any ideas? :?:

Eunos
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Post by Eunos » Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:39 pm

Advanced Format requires 4k alignment but otherwise should not be a bother. The problems seem to centre around the 3.5" Green series, including loss of Time-Limited Error Recovery (TLER) and internal power-saving features causing drives to drop out of the array.

Hang on a sec, why are you looking at Raid 0 again? Unless high performance (at the expense of reliability) is critical, there may be better options. I use 1 x 640 GB myself.

gcwebbyuk
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Post by gcwebbyuk » Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:09 pm

Main reasons are that I have two spare 2.5" bays (bay adaptor) and thinking of performance. The data will be backed up on the drive anyway.

I was considering getting another WD 250GB BEVT which I have in my laptop and trying that out in RAID first to see if there is any performance gain, but the extra cost of going to 320 x 2 (other than having to buy two disks) is so small.

Are there any 3.5" drives that would be as quiet? I had no luck with 7200.11, 7200.12 or EcoGreen F3. Although the 500GB 7200.12 in my server seem quieter than the Ecos in the QuietDrives! That might be a placebo effect though as my server is louder generally (kept in living room, so no need for silence, just quietness). But adding 2 x 7200.12 500GBs added no noticeable noise to the server, and they are just mounted in 3.5" bays, the Ecos are still in their QuietDrives in the 5.25" bays.

I must admit, RAID0 on the PCI (old I know) controller in my server made no speed difference. (Don't worry - that data is backed up too, it was just for video storage as my server doubles as an XBMC machine connected via HDMI to my TV).

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:36 am

I have ordered two
Samsung SpinPoint MP4 disk's.
They are 2.5".
They will replace my F1 Spinpont disk
Gonna put them in raid0

And then I hope my PC will be just about completely silent 8)

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... &ppmi=1087

What you think?
Perhaps this is what you are looking for also, gcwebbyuk ?

extremen
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by extremen » Sun Oct 31, 2010 2:56 am

Woody: Any experience with using Samsung MP4 640 gb?
Temperature idle, load, loudness, any knowledge ?
Can you add some test pictures? Hdd tune, hdd tach, atc?
Thanks a lot. :wink:

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:00 am

Will do when I get it :wink:
I hope it will be VERY fast. 7200RPM x 2 = 14400 RPM in RAID0 - Striping.

I can then compete with SSD 8)

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:00 am

.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:56 am

Just my 0.2c.

If you go to squeeze maximum performance from a 2.5" drive: Seagate ST92505610AS
If you go to achieve maximum quietness: Hitachi HTE545025B9A300
If you go to achieve maximum storage space: Hitachi HTS727575A9E364

But (with or without the suitable Scythe enclosure, or similar system) you will still hear them (packed in a bay adaptor, you will hear much more).

wouterr5
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by wouterr5 » Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:35 am

I hope it will be VERY fast. 7200RPM x 2 = 14400 RPM in RAID0 - Striping.

I can then compete with SSD
This is more like it:
Image
Image

The acces time can sometimes even go up in RAID 0, the only thing that will improve are the transfer rates, which are probably already more than adequate.

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:09 pm

hmm...
So, what you are saying, is that this will be noisy?
what is this from the samsung website and about the disk:

Acoustics
Acoustics Idle 2.6 Bel
Performance Seek 2.8 Bel

What's "bel", compared to decibel? Like 26dB?

cheers!
PS: The disk's are being shipped tomorrow :)

Dirge
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Dirge » Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:19 pm

Woody wrote:What's "bel", compared to decibel?
According to Wikipedia a decibel (dB) is one tenth of a bel (B), i.e. 1B = 10dB.

So 2.6 bel (B) is equivalent to 26 decibel (dB)

Fire-Flare
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Re:

Post by Fire-Flare » Fri Nov 26, 2010 5:12 pm

gcwebbyuk wrote:Which WD Scorpio - blue or black?
Am guessing blue as they spin slower, so should be quieter.

Here is a price list:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-Har ... ATA-SATAII

Which would you pick?
I'm using 2 2.5" Western Digital 'AV' drives. (£26.28 - £30.88 on that site)

Designed for media production and playback systems, they feature 5400 RPM and 32mb cache as well as a lower power requirement than the standard scorpios they're based on. They're not noisy either when encased in foam.

gcwebbyuk
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by gcwebbyuk » Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:45 am

Woody wrote:I can then compete with SSD 8)
Close...

Two SSDs in my system -
1 x 128GB Crucial C300 on a 6GBs connection - boot disk hence the performance drop in places:
Image
1 x 80GB Intel X-25-M:
Image

Oh and my slow 800GB non SSD WD800AARS:
Image

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:36 pm

The two Samsung MP4 2.5 640GB disk's are now online in my Antec Fusion max case, connected in RAID0. Fully supported by windows7, and my Gigabyte mainboard. I put them in SATA position 0 and 1, and im writing from win7 now.
The disks are inaudible when working, and when idling.
I used some tips from the "HD Elastic suspension" thread and they are not screwed to the chassis.
The machine now installs programs lightning fast, and the boot time is around 10 seconds (login prompt)

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:36 pm

I'd like to withdraw comment on that the disk's are lightning fast. They are not. There seem to be some kind of bootleneck here..
They should be WAY faster than my Samsung Spinpoint F1 disk.

I'll try to find out if it's windows7's RAID driver's that is causing them to work slow by installing AMD's chipset drivers instead.

But they are truly silent 8)

gcwebbyuk
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by gcwebbyuk » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:20 am

Silence is the key :)

My SSDs are super silent, and I have found the WD800GB AARS drive to be nice and quiet until it is in use - which is handy, as I only use it for games or videos, which are noisy anyway.

Good luck with the driver.

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:51 am

gcwebbyuk wrote:Silence is the key :)

My SSDs are super silent, and I have found the WD800GB AARS drive to be nice and quiet until it is in use - which is handy, as I only use it for games or videos, which are noisy anyway.

Good luck with the driver.
Yeah, silence is of upmost importance. No doubt!

But I have a real monster inside the antec fusion case, and it would be sad not to get to use it...
It can run Crysis, bluray, or other demanding games or programs on pretty high settings without sweating, and still be very quiet.
So then I need a very fast disk also.

Am I missing something here guys? Is there a bottleneck between 3.5 disk's and 2.5 disks? The 2.5 samsung MP4 disk's are running @ 7200 RPM, and in raid0, so this should be doubled to 14000 RPM?
Still, the old Samsung F1, is way faster..
What am I missing here?

If I cannot make the disk's work faster this was a bad buy, and I'd have to buy a SSD disk instead. But when I get home I'll try AMD's drivers instead...

about SSD: Guess the Crucial C300 SSD would be nice?

gcwebbyuk
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by gcwebbyuk » Thu Dec 02, 2010 3:09 am

With raid0 I doubt you get double the spin speed, just double the cache on the disks. What is the cache on the 2.5s compared to the 3.5?

My pc is rocking that c300 at SATA 3 speed off a crosshair iv motherboard, so nice and quick. Although you do get used to the speed quite quick, its only when you go back to a non ssd machine that you notice it.

My guess though is driver or small cache on the 2.5s

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Thu Dec 02, 2010 3:40 am

gcwebbyuk: the cache is 16MB per disk. The Samsung F1 had 32mb cache..
But I'm beginning to think if I could have done something different in the RAID Bios ( pressing ctrl+f after p.o.s.t)

You have something called "Fast Init" it was set to OFF
Also you have:
Cache Mode: WriteThru, (writethru was ON)
and also something called:
Gigabyt Boundary: ON

Could this be something to look at or change?

OR.... the SATA cable..
ONE of them ( SATA cable) is from an old Shuttle XPC. And as far as I remember.. this was called "SATA 150", and my cable's coming with the mainboard is called "SATA 300"
Could this be it?

gcwebbyuk
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by gcwebbyuk » Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:17 am

Fast Init will build the array as you work, slow init builds it before you start.

I have used RAID0 before (mainly used to RAID1 for my servers) but never really noticed a massive speed increase, SSD was a massive jump for me.

This is the 3.5" drive I settled with:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/800gb-we ... 64mb-cache

64MB cache makes a big difference, plus as I said, it is silent until needed.

HDTune:
Image

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:10 am

after reading up on raid, and how it actually works, I see that it must mount up and "allign" the disks, and load more drivers during bootup of windows. So I cannot expect a fast boot time. As I have used windows for some time now, I think things actually is in order.. hehe.. gonna try to copy some files here, and instal some insane games and see what happens ;-)

Woody
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Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Post by Woody » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:18 am

Don't know if anyone here is interested, but the samsung MP4 disk's are very quiet.
You cannot hear them working.

But I didn't successfully merge them into raid0, because this was too slow for me. I think this is because the builtin chipset on the motherboard isn't the best? I don't know.. any comments? Chipset: AMD 780G

So I just connected them to SATA and and formatted the disk's. It works just fine now.
The HTPC is probably as quiet as it can get with my hardware. Also, I have disconnected the LCD display on the fusion max case,( just removed the cable to the LCD display) but I can still use the remote :wink:

Tried GRID, Dawn of War 2, and Starcraft II.
Working flawless on high settings, and the games load fast with the disk's.

Cheers!

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