Some tested harddrives (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter laeb66
- Start date
I'll put another vote in for Samsung - have a 160GB SATA drive that is oh so quiet.
I also installed a Maxtor 250GB IDE drive, which was oh so noisy! Until I found an option buried in ATITool for Hard Disk Acoustic management. Turned it to "minimum noise" and the drive is now very nearly as quiet as the sammy. Probably affects the performance, but i use the samsung for recording too so it doesn't matter.
I also installed a Maxtor 250GB IDE drive, which was oh so noisy! Until I found an option buried in ATITool for Hard Disk Acoustic management. Turned it to "minimum noise" and the drive is now very nearly as quiet as the sammy. Probably affects the performance, but i use the samsung for recording too so it doesn't matter.
Italy
I got a Samsung SpinPoint 250GB SATA for my brother's HTPC (wedding present... ASUS K8N4E Deluxe, AMD Sempron64 2800+, 1GB RAM, nVidia 6200 TC PCIx, Silverstone LC17, MCE Remote and more stuff... I will be jealous when I finish it... ouf!)
Coming back to what concerns us in this post...
SAMSUNG SPINPOINT RULES!!!
You cannot hear them. They do not make any sound when reading or writing, they are amazing! Get one!
Coming back to what concerns us in this post...
SAMSUNG SPINPOINT RULES!!!
You cannot hear them. They do not make any sound when reading or writing, they are amazing! Get one!
I have a 250GB Samsung SATA 300 (AKA SATA II) in my HTPC, a Maxtor 200GB SATA and a Maxtor 160GB in my main desktop, a Seagate 160GB in my FTP server, 160GB Western Digital "Special Edition" in the machine I built for my parents and 2 external Western Digital drives.
The noisiest, though still pretty quiet, is the 160GB Special Edition. It has a faint whine sound. I don't think it uses hydrodynamic bearings.
The Externals however are barely audible and you wouldn't know they are running if it weren't for the LED on the front.
The Seagate 160 is in a lightweight case that transmitts/amlifies sound horribly but it's still pretty quiet.
The Maxtors are barely audible but they are in an Antec Sonata case with rubber mounts.
The Samsung was a real surprise and I think it's the fastest and *possibly* the quietest in spite of having one of the lowest $/GB ratios. Hard to tell withought them all being tested in the same case.
The external WD's are in the running for quietest but they are in plastic and have noise deadening material on the top and bottom.
The Samsung warranty is only 3 years compared to 5 or 6 from some competitors but I bought it for about the price of the 200GB Maxtor.
Only the "Special Edition" wouldn't make it into my HTPC at the noise level they provide.
I think the Samsung gets the nod from me for an internal because it's one of the fastest, possibly the quietest and reasonably priced.
I haven't tried any of their other drives though.
The external western digitals are really nice looking, quiet and have the handy backup buttons on the front if you choose to use them. One starts a backup right away and the other schedules one at a preset time you choose durring setup. Nice if you need it.
The noisiest, though still pretty quiet, is the 160GB Special Edition. It has a faint whine sound. I don't think it uses hydrodynamic bearings.
The Externals however are barely audible and you wouldn't know they are running if it weren't for the LED on the front.
The Seagate 160 is in a lightweight case that transmitts/amlifies sound horribly but it's still pretty quiet.
The Maxtors are barely audible but they are in an Antec Sonata case with rubber mounts.
The Samsung was a real surprise and I think it's the fastest and *possibly* the quietest in spite of having one of the lowest $/GB ratios. Hard to tell withought them all being tested in the same case.
The external WD's are in the running for quietest but they are in plastic and have noise deadening material on the top and bottom.
The Samsung warranty is only 3 years compared to 5 or 6 from some competitors but I bought it for about the price of the 200GB Maxtor.
Only the "Special Edition" wouldn't make it into my HTPC at the noise level they provide.
I think the Samsung gets the nod from me for an internal because it's one of the fastest, possibly the quietest and reasonably priced.
I haven't tried any of their other drives though.
The external western digitals are really nice looking, quiet and have the handy backup buttons on the front if you choose to use them. One starts a backup right away and the other schedules one at a preset time you choose durring setup. Nice if you need it.
Samsung vote from me too.
I have the Spinpoint P120, SATA, 200 GB.
At first I thought it was too noisy when doing writing/reading, it gave kind of clicking sounds or as wifey put it "PC sounds".
But after exchanging the screws for mounting with velcro, I can't hear it at all. This disk is just great.
I have the Spinpoint P120, SATA, 200 GB.
At first I thought it was too noisy when doing writing/reading, it gave kind of clicking sounds or as wifey put it "PC sounds".
But after exchanging the screws for mounting with velcro, I can't hear it at all. This disk is just great.
ElvisMcDuck said:
Have anyone tested the "HTPC" disks from Samsung, i.e. the V120CE series. The rpm is 5400 and memory 2Mb, does this have a big influence on performance?
I will use a new disk with my 1GHz, will I notice any difference? How about with a 3200+?
How do you mean "velcro", do you have a picture or a link so I can see how to do that myself?
/Niclas
Velcro in Norwegian (and Swedish I think?) would be "borrelås"
It is nylon bands with some hairy stuff on that sticks together.
You know the stuff they use on clothes and shoes.
I have no pictures right now but I just glued the stuff onto the side wall of the harddisk bay and on to the sides of the harddisk itself.
It works.
If you are interested in silencing you really should have a look on
http://www.silentpcreview.com/
They got tons of info on this subject.
It is nylon bands with some hairy stuff on that sticks together.
You know the stuff they use on clothes and shoes.
I have no pictures right now but I just glued the stuff onto the side wall of the harddisk bay and on to the sides of the harddisk itself.
It works.
If you are interested in silencing you really should have a look on
http://www.silentpcreview.com/
They got tons of info on this subject.