Poll: Best fast but silent/quiet hardrive

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:26 pm

Ok this poll will hopefully sort out which of the new "silent" drives is the best buy. I hope that anyone that actually has experience with the drives will answer, as well as comment on the drives seek noise, idle noise, and if you had to rma the drive, as well as the bang for your buck factor. Also please assume that the drives in question are the single platter versions of each.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:34 pm

I have 2 'cuda V 60GBs-single platters, decoupled with elastic shock cord.

I have the partitions and data set up so that I access programs and the swap file from the leading edge of each drive respectively....data is a little further back from the edge.

They seem quick enough for my purposes and I don't even [hand-to-ear]hear them seeking in my padded case, [/hand-to-ear] let alone at idle. Not sure if they are the "best value for quietness and speed" so I won't vote in the poll, but I like them.

Bought them both from Dell with 10% off and free shipping. Of course they went to 20% off the next week, but the gain in discount would have been lost on RMA shipping cost, so I kept them.

Td_nw · Post by **Td_nw** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:43 pm

I want to vote for the new Samsungs that are being rumored / talked about, but...

a) I do not have one, and nobody else does. (Will these things ever come out?)

and

b) You did not mention value as a criteria. (Guessing on the possible price)

and

c) My laptop has none of the above drives

(I have had to be mobile in the past, but that is soon changing)

Justin_R · Post by **Justin_R** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:51 pm

Honestly, GG, I think you know as well as any of us that each of the drives you presented has its plusses and minuses, and that whatever one is "best" will depend on the uses that the person wanting it has in mind. For example, if you are building a serious-use "workstation"-type PC, you'll probably want the 180GXP as it gives top notch performance while being pretty darn quiet (except for the cricket chirp), and has a three year warranty. If you're building a PC for your mom to do Internet / word processing kind of stuff, you'll want the BarracudaIV as it's exceptionally quiet, and you won't need large capacities or stellar performance. It's easy to imagine other scenarios that might favor one of the other drives as well.

Edit: If you're only going 1 platter, ignore what I said about the GXP above. But the principle remains.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:54 pm

Man, Justin_R, true, true.

It looks like you made GG shut down the poll already

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:58 pm

Yea but I have yet to find a review of the 180gxp against the diamondmax 9+. There are several threads about this topic, but there is never really a clear favorite. Clearly they are both fast drives, but ive heard people both praising and putting down both of them. I just wish I could get a clear recommendation on which is better if you need the speed but still want to have near silence.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Wed May 07, 2003 12:10 am

GamingGod, I have heard both (180GXP and 9+), although not in the same computer. I would't consider neither of them particularly silent.

I'd check out the new Samsung p80-series as it seems to be nearer to 180GXP/9+ in performance and nearer to Barracuda IV in acoustics.

Mike should come out with a review any day now (fingers crossed).

regars,
Halcyon

goose_wh · Post by **goose_wh** » Wed May 07, 2003 2:27 pm

is this the samsung HD everyone is talking about? http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDis ... 04HCOM.htm
Looking forward to a review, thought i had my mind set on a Cuda IV before they became completely unavailable, but ill hold on & see!

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Wed May 07, 2003 2:41 pm

as long as the drive doesnt have an idle whine than I can deal with it. I dont care if it chirps.

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Wed May 07, 2003 2:45 pm

Where are the candidates? I want to vote for my 7200.7!

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Wed May 07, 2003 3:02 pm

I dont know what happened to the poll? Maybe I screwed it up when I edited my statement at the top.

rpc180 · Post by **rpc180** » Wed May 07, 2003 3:16 pm

So I have some questions regarding whine.

1) Do companies that calculate for idle noise account for whine or just the low frequency noise?

2)7200rpm drives suffer from whine, that's characteristic of these devices correct? Would a 5400rpm drive suffer from whine at all?

3)I know that older generations of 5400 drives are LOUD (have a few 1.2GB and 2GB drives lying around). Is due to the same reasons that 7200 drives whine? Or something else, like motor, actuator arm, etc (I asume that 7200 whine is due to platter spin speed through air?).