Loud HDD?

JustysRule · Dec 27, 2004

I'm building a computer for college, but I'm trying to make it as quiet, fast (application wise), and cheap as possible. I want to use two small SATA hdds with RAID 0. I won't ever use more than 80 gigs. I was thinking of using 2 Raptors, but that'd be out of my price range, I want to keep it cheap. So I was looking at mabye 2 Western Digital Caviar 40g hard drives, or mabye two Seagate 80gb drives for only another 40 bucks. Anybody have an idea how loud these drives are?

sobelizard · Dec 27, 2004

WD drive specs can be found at <A HREF="http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=83" target="_new">WD Home</A>

Click the environmental tab.

The WD Caviar SE Serial ATA 40 GB HD:
Acoustics
Idle Mode 33 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 0 35 dBA (average)
Seek Mode 3 34 dBA (average)

The Seagate (Barracuda 7200.7 SATA) specs are at <A HREF="http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,587,00.html" target="_new">Seagate Barracuda</A>

If you believe their numbers, they boast the industry's best idle of 2.5 bels.

Lizards do not taste like chicken, chicken tastes like lizard.

JustysRule · Dec 27, 2004

Wow, thats awesome. I'm sure they are exaggerating, probably more lie 15db, but still thats what I want, a quiet hdd. Thanks for the help.

sobelizard · Dec 27, 2004

Let me know which way you go as far as drives. I really don't think you could go wrong with either drive. If you wanted an ata drive, Maxtor makes a fluid bearing drive that is ultra silent. I used a pair of those when I built my grandparents a computer and you cannot hear them at all. I supposed putting them in a quick change drive enclosure helped.

Lizards do not taste like chicken, chicken tastes like lizard.

JustysRule · Dec 27, 2004

I think you have may have just sold me. I found these on new egg.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-336&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-318&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-350&depa=1

I'm trying to find the differences. I know the 3rd one is retail. The second one is only 2 dollars more than the 60g and it is 80g. It uses the same motor as the retail one. Also, under the 80g none of the reviews say it is quiet, while all the reviews under the 60g say it is silent. Is the 60g the ultra quiet one?

sobelizard · Dec 28, 2004

I cannot vouch for the Maxtor sata drives - just their ATA fluid bearing ones.

Take a look at <A HREF="http://www.maxtor.com" target="_new">Maxtor's site</A> and look up each model number for environmental specs.

Lizards do not taste like chicken, chicken tastes like lizard.

silverpig · Dec 28, 2004

Don't waste your time with RAID0. And don't think you'll never use 80 GB because I fell into that too. You can get a great deal on a nice quiet single 160 GB SATA drive that you'll be happy with for a long time. 2 drives are twice as loud as 1 drive.

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JustysRule · Dec 28, 2004

I'm going with two 80g maxtor diamondmax 9's. They aren't the fluid bearing ones, but the environmental thing says they are 2db and 3db searching. Although I'm sure that isn't accurate, still thats pretty encouraging. That, and they are 66 bucks each, and 132 bucks for 160g isn't bad at all.

I'd like the raid 0 because I'll be doing some modeling and video encoding that will be pretty hard drive intensive, and I figure I can live with a little more noise for more speed.

RichPLS · Dec 28, 2004

3db is totally silent, doubt any HD is that quiet even idleing.
Ambeint noise is much higher than that.

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Pavelow · Dec 28, 2004

Actually, in fact, two hard drives loudness do not add up linearly. 15db paired with another 15db will not result in 30 db. It is more like a total of 20db. But we get your point.

Pavelow

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silverpig · Dec 29, 2004

Uh it is twice as loud, but you are right that you will not get twice as many decibels. Twice as much sound power -> twice as loud.

OP: video encoding isn't very hard drive intensive; rather it is cpu and ram bound. It's video EDITING that benefits from a fast raid array because you're constantly loading and moving hundreds of megs to gigs of data. A single drive is quieter, and with a raid0 setup you are twice as likely to lose your data due to a failed drive (which DOES happen by the way).

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jihiggs · Dec 30, 2004

sound is measured in db. as far as i know the db rating is linear. twice as loud would be 30 db.

this is my boomstick!

JustysRule · Dec 30, 2004

Well, I don't think he meant that it doesn't add linearally, but whenever the exact same hdd run next to each other, there will be some destructive interference with the sound wave. Some of the vibrations from one will counteract the other. He's right.

JustysRule · Dec 30, 2004

On second thought, you guys may be right, it might make more sense to go with a a single disk. I was always under the assumption that a Raid 0 configuration was something like 180% as fast as a single disc, but now looking at some benchmarks on the internet it seems theres only like a 20% increase. Am I right?

RichPLS · Dec 30, 2004

For every 3db gain, the sound pressure doubles...
That is how it works.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

RichPLS · Dec 30, 2004

0 db is the threshold of hearing
Whisper: 15-25 dB
Background noise: about 35 dB
Normal home or office background: 40-60 dB
Normal speaking voice: 65-70 dB
Orchestral climax: 105 dB
Live Rock music: 120 dB+
Pain Threshold: 130 dB
Jet aircraft: 140-180 dB

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

RichPLS · Dec 30, 2004

Decibel is the unit of measurement for sound, using a logarithmic scale.
It is an expression of the relative loudness of a sound or power level.
For every 3 DB this doubles the amount of sound output.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

diplomat696 · Dec 30, 2004

more than likely the case fans on your computer will be more audible than the hard drives so i wouldnt worry about it too much, the main thing is to get good reliable harddrives with as much space as u can afford ....

Loud HDD?

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