SpinPoint P80 high-freq whine

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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EasyRaider
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SpinPoint P80 high-freq whine

Post by EasyRaider » Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:55 pm

I recently got a new P80 120 GB w/8 MB buffer. It's idle whine is annoying, although somewhat better than my old IBM 75GXP. It's almost inaudible 1/2 meter away with the case closed, but any audible high frequency noise is unwanted.

I tried putting the drive on a thick piece of foam with a fan blowing over it. That pretty much silenced the seeks, but the whine is still there. Are there any simple measures I can take to silence it? I can only think of noise dampening the case.

lightforce
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Post by lightforce » Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:19 pm

doesnt sound very good, i was thinking of buying this exact model myself, according to ralf here "the samsung p80 is way, way quieter than the segata 7.200) so if this model gives a way an idle whine, i wonder if seagate would be a better choice after all? hmm. this is very confusing indeed.
sorry that i cant help you with your problem. thanks for reporting though.

Gxcad
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Post by Gxcad » Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:29 pm

As I recall, the Samsung P80 series has a whine that MAY BE LESS THAN THE LEGENDARY CUDA IV (haha, how dramatic). Point being, could be a defective one. According to MikeC's review IIRC, the samsung has if anything, a LACK of high frequency whine, and most of the forum members here give the samsung rave reviews (which I believe to be more credible than one or two non silence focused website's reviews on the P80. Either way, the best ways to reduce hdd noise is to suspend it, which you've done, and put it in some kind of enclosure, like a box made out of carving rubber seems to work well. After you put it in the box, suspend the whole box by using elastic string to suspend it, or put it on foam like you've done. High frequency noise is easier to combat than low frequency because it requires only a thin wall to block the noise.

I'd consider an RMA for noise reasons, doesn't seem to be acting the way it normally does. Keep in mind I've never tested the P80 series though. I suggest waiting for more experienced forums members to comment.

-Ken

lightforce
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Post by lightforce » Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:37 pm

here's a comment from storagereview.com's forum (btw they tested 3 samsung p80s recently, 10 days ago)

"BTW, one thing that seems to be a bit annoying about Samsungs is that 'YMMV' applies - they apparently have a nice spread in terms of noise and vibration. Apparently every 4th or 5th P80 produces more vibration that others, and some V80s seem to exhibit a bit of whining (while others are dead silent). Cheap drives, long warranty, good QC - pick two. *sigh* "

lightforce
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Post by lightforce » Thu Jan 22, 2004 5:39 pm

and a quote from another member from that board:

"Well I just got my replacement 120gig P80 back from Newegg and it's definitely different than the first. The most disturbing difference is that when it spins up it makes a high-pitched noise. It only lasts a second or two but it still worries me. Also, the previous drive had a pretty noticeable hum whereas this one doesn't. On the other hand, this one seems to have a quiet whine. I have to shut my cpu fan off to hear it but it's there. It's possible the other one had the whine too but I couldn't hear it over the hum. I don't know if I got a lemon or not(advise welcome). "

so apparantely there's some quality control issues with samsung. makes it hard to recommend. is it the same thing with seagate's 'cudas ?

lightforce
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Post by lightforce » Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:44 pm

Is it possible that the quality control would be different for say the 120gb p80's and the 160gb p80's? just a thought.

JonW
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Post by JonW » Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:51 pm

I've recently bought a 160GB P80 (SP1614N) and it doesn't have the whine, so maybe yours is defective. Even with the case open in front of me, I can only hear the disk when it's seeking (and that's only because it's in a lightweight aluminium case, and I have taken any steps to dampen vibration yet.)

Jan Kivar
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Post by Jan Kivar » Fri Jan 23, 2004 2:27 am

I'd also like to drag the vendor shipping policies to the matter. There are many posts at SR mentioning some of the vendors shipping the drives in one layer of bubblewrap, or without any packing material. Seems that the delivery companies have some differences also, like the shipping boxes delivered battered.

Cheers,

Jan

kie
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Post by kie » Fri Jan 23, 2004 2:36 am

I have the 120GB one as well and mine has no high pitched wine either.

EasyRaider
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Post by EasyRaider » Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:20 am

Wow, I've never had so many responses in so short time. Thanks everyone!

I'm a bit hesitant to RMA it, since I doubt the average person with the average computer would hear the noise at all. Besides, it is quieter than my old drive, especially the seeks. And I only intended this drive as a stop-gap solution until I get a completely new system anyway.

On another note, my new motherboard, an Asus A7N8X-X, causes a high-pitched whine as well! It must be defective. This noise is much louder than any drive I've owned, but is not constant, it rather changes with CPU usage. Put the board in another case with other components, and the whine is still there. Replace nothing but MB and RAM, and the whine is gone. Strange...

Well, my XP1700+ is getting old. Maybe I should send back the A7N8X-X and the disk and do a full system upgrade to Athlon 64 and an 160 GB SATA SpinPoint. The only problem is I don't have a decent case to put it in, and I can't find one for sale in Norway. I considered the Lian Li PC6070, but it's very expensive and I've read it doesn't breathe well.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Fri Jan 23, 2004 6:50 am

I'd RMA it. That's not typical of any SP80 that I've heard.

I've had 3 SP80 160GB drives and all have been super quite, with basically no whine at all and seeks as quiet or quieter than Barracuda IV's. The bit of moter noise (or whatever it is) that's present is a little lower pitched than the typical HDD so it's much less noticeable/annoying.

al bundy
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Post by al bundy » Fri Jan 23, 2004 10:22 am

Hey EasyRaider, also remember that you will find in any group of users a very wide array of hearing sensitivities. My own hearing is very sensitive, I can hear drive whine when another person right next to me doesn't hear it. I also can hear different frequencies of drive whine in one ear than in the other ear. :)

This is further complicated by just how silent the computer is, that will be receiving the drive. If you have a very silent system, you will probably hear the whine from any audible drive. If however you have even a single fan that is audible, it will often drown out the sound of a very quiet (but otherwise audible) harddrive whine.

Of course, individual differences between drives of the same make/model can also contribute to the mess as well.

So, bottom line, you might not have a defective drive at all - you might for instance just have very sensitive hearing, etc. Comparing your drive to another of exact same make/model would be most helpful for you to clear up the 'defective or not' question, but it can sometimes be very inconvenient to wait for an RMA...

8)

daatkins
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Post by daatkins » Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:58 pm

I have two Spinpoint 80GB SATAs and neither have any idle while at all, thank goodness.

The point earlier about variability is valid though: one drive has audible seeks (though still quiet) while the other is a totally silent seeker. The audibile drive can only be heard when worked hard - defragging, for example.

Nice one,
David.

kie
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Post by kie » Fri Jan 23, 2004 3:14 pm

while I agree with al bundy in that people are different, I believe that our beloved ralf knows a silent drive from a drive with a high pitched whine.

I would RMA it and hopefully you'll get one that is quieter, and do it now before you get more relient on the new drive.

luminous
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Post by luminous » Sat Jan 24, 2004 10:07 am

EasyRaider wrote: On another note, my new motherboard, an Asus A7N8X-X, causes a high-pitched whine as well! It must be defective. This noise is much louder than any drive I've owned, but is not constant, it rather changes with CPU usage. Put the board in another case with other components, and the whine is still there. Replace nothing but MB and RAM, and the whine is gone. Strange...
I have an ASUS A7N8X- rev 2. I bought it from www.overclockers.co.uk. After a month it started to have very loud intermittant high pitched squealing. Sometimes it didn't do it for a couple of days, other times it did it all day.

Overclockers were sympathetic to my situation and agreed to swap the motherboard for me. They did not manage to reproduce my problems (to date), although the replacement mobo solved all the problems.

I know this is a little off topic, but it just goes to show that its worth buying from somewhere good (not www.scan.co.uk who gave is no end of hassle even when things arrived DOA)

gbohn
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Post by gbohn » Sat Jan 24, 2004 12:06 pm

JonW wrote:I've recently bought a 160GB P80 (SP1614N) and it doesn't have the whine, so maybe yours is defective. Even with the case open in front of me, I can only hear the disk when it's seeking (and that's only because it's in a lightweight aluminium case, and I have taken any steps to dampen vibration yet.)
For what it's worth, a 160 GB P80 (SP1614C) I got from Newegg last month has a bit of high pitch whine. It's louder at idle than my 160 GB Hitachi 7K250 (which is almost silent by comparison, at least when it's not making its 'every 10 minute' noise...).

-Greg Bohn

lightforce
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Post by lightforce » Sat Jan 24, 2004 12:21 pm

i think there's too many stories about samsung p80's with high pitch whine etc for me to be completely calm about it.
looks to me like they DO HAVE some quality control issues.
i mean there's like 3 people in this thread alone reporting on this.
guess i will find out if i buy one. like playing the lottery.

JohnMK
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Post by JohnMK » Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:26 am

So Samsung is the only hard drive manufacturer that has variable noise levels of drives in the same family? I don't think so . . .

Lethal Injection
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Post by Lethal Injection » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:00 pm

lightforce wrote:doesnt sound very good, i was thinking of buying this exact model myself, according to ralf here "the samsung p80 is way, way quieter than the segata 7.200) so if this model gives a way an idle whine, i wonder if seagate would be a better choice after all? hmm. this is very confusing indeed.
sorry that i cant help you with your problem. thanks for reporting though.
i get a high pitched whine with the seagate 7.200 (or whatever it's called) so high pitched in fact that only dogs are supposed to hear it :twisted: , so don't go running to it either, not sure how it compares to the samsungs.

JVM
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Post by JVM » Wed Feb 04, 2004 5:46 pm

My Samsung SATA SP0812C does not have a whine. After living with the Maxtor D740X for over a year, I'm in heaven! :D

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Post by MikeK » Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:29 pm

My 7200.7 makes a kind of high air noise it seems like that can only be heard with my ear 6 inches or so away. The very high whine is even quieter. The seek is plainly audible (very much quieter than my old drives still) but the reason I came here in the first place was whine. Now when I hook one of my old drives for long term storage... it's just incredible. I would recommend that MikeC add an H column to his recommended section on hard drives. This would be the "Hangover test" the true test of whiny noise.

Goober
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Post by Goober » Thu Feb 05, 2004 10:03 pm

My SP1213N whines. I'm still trying to figure out if I should send it back or not and I'm almost out of time. Also, considering this is my second one the odds of me getting one better don't seem so good. Just for the record the first one didn't whine AFAIK but did hum loudly until it warmed up but that wasn't why I sent it back.

Anyways, how much whine is normal for these drives? I took mine out of my case, set it on top of a hardcover book and hooked it up to an old AT power supply so I could see how much noise the drive made by itself. The whine was audible with me standing over it and a little back so it was audible at least to 6ft. Inside my case with the cover on the drive is very audible if I shutdown my cpu fan, the case is about 1 ft from my head though. With the cpu fan going, and it's a noisy stock Coolermaster fan, the whine is almost subliminal, like right on the edge of hearing. I find that very annoying because it'll drift in and out according to how I turn my head and I've found myself actually listening for the noise.

Anyway, what I'd like to know is if this is a normal amount of whine for this drive and what are my chances of getting something better if I send it back.

Trip
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Post by Trip » Thu Feb 05, 2004 10:34 pm

My Cuda V whines slightly and is audible with the case open.

It's temporarily not suspended so seeks are also audible even with the case closed.

Perhaps a Samsung or Seagate would be quieter but I doubt anything by Maxtor, WD, Hitachi, IBM, etc. could compare.

Trip
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Post by Trip » Fri Feb 06, 2004 1:48 am

I just suspended it and notice a slight reduction in seek noise and no reduction in whine. It's difficult for me to measure noise because of outside ambience though. It may have made a significant difference. One thing is for sure: before suspending, the HDD cage vibrated a little; after suspending, the HDD cage did not vibrate ... at all! This is more isolation than my No Vibes III ever achieved.

The suspension was done by wrapping two rubber bands from an old No Vibes III and hanging them on 2 zip ties, 1 twist tie, and one fan connector tied in a knot. The four ties were run through the ungrommeted holes and around the side of the cartridge with the band forming a chain similar to two 8. The top loop is a tie, the top side of the loop is the drive cartridge, the bottom loop is the rubber band with the drive in the middle.

By running 2 ties from the bottom of each 8 and connecting to the middle of each 8 around each end of the drive, I should be able to prevent the drive from sliding out. Since the drive does move when bumped, some Sorbothane could ideally be placed on either side with space between. It doesn't matter really, in the end this drive is going back into the case in my sig below.

The drive appears to be horizontal - i'll check in the morning by reading a bubble on a leveling device.

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