suggestion for a quiet 200-250gb drive

[merk]

I'm starting to use my system as a tivo basically, using snapstream.com

I'd like to put a 200 or 250gb drive in there to use for the digital videos. I'd probably just make one huge partition.

My current system setup is:

1st IDE: 120gb WD 12000JB
2nd IDE: dvd burner and dvd rom

pata raid controller: (2) 60gb IBm drives master and slave on 1st channel (2nd channel is empty).

Right now i dont have the 2 drives on the raid controller in a raid configuration. I'm debating on mirroring them or just using the 2 drives seperately.

I also have a SATA raid controller on the system that has nothing on it.

My boot drive is the master drive on the raid controller.

Any suggestions as to a QUIET 200-250gb drive? I'm open to either pata or sata. If i get a pata drive i'll probably get a 250gb ... 200gb if i get a sata.

 

[merk]

so maxtor is the quiter of them all? I dont think i'd go for the 360gb though ... little too pricey. 250gb is about what i want to pay. I've seen the WD 250gb for $160 and the maxtor 250gb for $200. How much of a noise difference is there?

 

[lunitic]

Maxtor drives
5A250J0 5400 250GB ATA/133 10ms 2.5 bels 2MB
5A300J0 5400 300GB ATA/133 10ms 2.5 bels 2MB
7Y250P0 7200 250GB ATA/133 9.0ms 2.7 bels 8MB
7Y250M0 7200 250GB SATA/150 9.0ms 2.7 bels 8MB

Western Digital
WD2500JB 7200 250GB ATA/100 8.9ms 36dbA 8MB
WD2500BB 7200 250GB ATA/100 8.9ms 36dbA 2MB

All according WD and Maxtor web sites.
WD doesn't offer 5400 250GB drives. 1 Bell = 10 dB. Every 1 Bell/10dB increase means the noise is doubled (Bell is a logarithmic scale). The noise level doesn't say anything about how irritating the noise is...

I have a system with 3x80GB maxtor and I barely hear them.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Yes a 300Gb 5400rpm drive would be quieter, at an expense of seek times and sustained transfer rates.
All the other 200-250Gb dries are approximately equal noise wise.

If you want a REALLY quiet one you should look at the 180Gb Seagate. Seagate specialise in making quiet drives.

<b>I am not a AMD fanboy.
I am not a Via fanboy.
I am not a ATI fanboy.
I AM a performance fanboy.
And a low price fanboy.
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[merk]

well i dont really need the seek times or transfer rates if i am only going to be using it to store digital video. I'm assuming even a 5400 rpm drive can handle writing 3gigs worth of video per hour.

I've had other people tell me seagate is also really quiet, but i'm not sure if its worth losing 100gb of storage.

I'm thinking of going with a 250gb 7200rpm maxtor drive. Or would there be a noticeable noise difference if i go with the slower drive?

 

[lhgpoobaa]

yeah should be no problem!
Bear in hind that 3Gb/hour sounds big, until you do the math to find that its really only ~0.85Mb/sec.

Even the lousiest 5400rpm drive can do that!
(~20-30Mb/sec sustained writes for your average 5400rpm drive).

I think it would be best if you looked at toms hardware hard drive benchmarks and
<A HREF="http://www.storagereview.com" target="_new">http://www.storagereview.com</A>
see what they have to say regarding drive noise.

<b>I am not a AMD fanboy.
I am not a Via fanboy.
I am not a ATI fanboy.
I AM a performance fanboy.
And a low price fanboy.
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[merk]

yeah that why i said even a 5400 should be able to handle that. I did look for some reviews on toms but i couldnt find any benchmark comparison for the current drives that also included the noise.

I guess i could always buy a maxtor and segate from bestbuy to test them and then return both