How to keep a hard drive quiet?

[Raczyk]

I'm trying to limit the noise emission in my PC. I know you can buy quiet fans and bigger heatsinks to lower the dB noise level. But what do i do to decrease the noise level of my Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM ulrtaATA/133 HD, which is one of the nosiest components...

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Well you have two types of noise to deal with:
Idle drive spin noise and head seek noise.
You can get rubber padding and accoustically insulated drive enclosures to reduce the noise from vibrations, but the effect on pure accoustic noise is limited at best. (drives need cooling so you just cant stuff one in an enclosed foam padded box).

The maxtor D740X line also had quite loud and scratchy seek noises... You can try running maxtors accoustic management software to slow the seeks down and make it less noisy.

Bottom line though if you want a really silent drive you have to START with one. And the quietest drives around are the Seagate barracuda's with fluid bearings.

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[elzt]

I think the new Maxtor DM+9's with fluid bearings are also quite silent.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

but still not as good as the dedicated low noise seagates (read the diamondmax+9 review on <A HREF="http://www.storagereview.com" target="_new">http://www.storagereview.com</A>

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[Crashman]

I see noone has yet given you a satisfactory answer, so I will! You can get a SilentDrive enclosure for your drive. These are made from high density plastic. They contain two aluminum plates (low resonent frequency) that are pressed firmly against the top and bottom of the drive by internal foam accoustical padding. Both ends are capped, and there is a small slot in the removable rear cap for the IDE cable to pass through (top and bottom) as well as a small notch for the power cable, and two very thin side slots for the aluminum plates to stick out. One of the aluminum plates mounts to your drive case to transimit heat to the drive cage of your case (using a 5.25" half-height drive slot, same as a CD-Rom), and the other plate hangs free out the side to aid cooling further.

I mounted an old 7200RPM Seagate Baracuda SCSI drive in one of these and reduced noise levels by well over 50%. If you've ever heard the early 7200RPM SCSI drives, you'd know that this is an incredible improvement.

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[Raczyk]

Silent drive is a good idea. My only concern is heat, i have an 80GB Maxtor 7200RPM max temp rating of 55 deg. cel. The enclosure will definetly increase the temperature and therefore shorten the life of the component.

Another interesing idea I read somewhere is to suspend the drive in the 5.25" bay. By hanging the HD by strings which is looped around the screw holes in the case. Doing this will eliminate the vabrations transfered to the case... enybody tried this, how effective do you think this would be?

 

[Crashman]

Believe it or not, the SilentDrive enclosure doesn't build up much heat because the top plate bolts directly to the drive cage and thereby transfers the heat directly to the case. And the bottom plate works like a passive heat sink.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Oh, about using isolators, you could simply get some gromets and sleeves, drill holes in the 5.25" bay for the gromets, insert the sleeves until they hit the drive, and use long screws with washers to hold it. This is the most common method in the transportation industry.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>