Quiet HDD

welchap · **16th February 2005, 10:29 AM**

Hi,

Recently built my machine and after reading reviews I opted for a Samsung 160Gb HDD (spinpoint) as I had read that they are the quietest. Previously I had stuck with Seagate Barracuda's.

Now, I have to say I am disappointed. There is a definite audible 'chugging' noise from the drive as the heads move back and forth. So noticable that is was annoying me as I was watching TV last night across the room from it.

What are others using ? Should I stick with the Samsung and maybe put it in a 'quiet enclosure', or go back to a seagate ?

Specs :-
Case : Accent HT-400S

Mobo : Asus P4P800S
CPU : Pentium 4 2.8 Prescott
Mem : 512Mb
HDD : Samsung 120GB

Optical : LG DVD Combo
TV Tuner : Dvico Fusion HDTV Plus
Video Card : Gecube 9200
OS : MCE2005

Cheers

Andy

PS - great to have a local MCE forum

Matt · **16th February 2005, 10:34 AM**

I've always found the seagates to lead the way for quietness. Plus now they come with a 5 year warranty, it's a bit of a no-brainer for me

arkay · **16th February 2005, 11:20 AM**

I went for the Seagate as well. I haven't heard anyone really say they find any other brand better.

Cheers,
Arkay.

Sambooka · **16th February 2005, 11:23 AM**

Yep, the Seagate Barracuda's are the quiet ones.

That doesn't help you now though does it?

I have an Antec Sonata case that came with grommet mounts for the HDD so I don't hear a thing. Maybe you could check out the Antec site (has pics of them from memory) and maybe make something similar yourself. You may only require rubber washers so the mount of the HDD never come in contact with the case...sort of like a shock absorber.

Cheers

monster · **16th February 2005, 11:47 AM**

maxtor 200g for me very very quite

welchap · **16th February 2005, 12:12 PM**

Oh well, back to the shop.

I plumped for the Samsung after reading this review :-
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article152-page1.html

I think I will try to see if the Acoustic management is enabled on the drive before spending more cash.

Andy

pistnbroke · **16th February 2005, 12:24 PM**

Hmm ,thats a bummer ,was going to get a Samsung 160 GIG soon...

IDE or SATA ?..

I use a Seagate SATA in my normal comp and have found it to be the slowest loudest HDD I have ever had, never had a problem with my Seagate IDE drives ....

Needless to say I'm not getting a SATA drive again.....

welchap · **17th February 2005, 11:07 AM**

It's an IDE.

The spinning of the Samsung is very quiet (ie. inaudible) but the 'grinding' of the heads moving backward and forward is terrible.

Matt · **17th February 2005, 12:40 PM**

I was reading a review on Anandtech last night and the reviewer also metioned that Seagate SATA drives are noticeablly louder than there IDE cousins.

Cheers

Matt.

welchap · **21st February 2005, 11:33 AM**

ok, I ran the Hitachi Disk Features tool and it reported the Acoustic Management wasn't switched on. So I switched it on and adjusted the seek time to tune it for quiet operation.

Seems to be quieter, although haven't had chance to really try it out yet as it was pouring with rain at the time and couldn't hear much over the noise of the rain on the tin roof :-)