Looking for quiet high capacity hard drive

[ryansebiz]

I just bought a 750GB Seagate Barracuda and this thing is LOUD. I use it for recording HD video and it's obnoxiously loud when it's working. Even my wife notices and we have to keep the ceiling fan running to try to drown out the noise.

I'm thinking about returning it for another high capacity hard drive; around 500GB. Does anyone have any recommendations on a quiet drive?

 

[coolpurplefan]

Samsung Spinpoint

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

In StorageReview forums, they specify a way to tell if your 7200.10 is a loud one or a soft one. Maybe you got the loud one? If not, then you got a quiet system. I can hear my Raptor over my dual 7200.10s anyday.

 

[Jojo1971]

get a WD 500gb SATA and use HITACHI's ACOUSTIC MANAGEMENT program ...

 

[Auric]

Yeah, Seagate have been known to be loud ever since they alone stopped offering acoustic management years ago. So, you're stuck with however it is preset which ain't gonna be the quietest else it would suffer in performance benchmarks and thus sales. Plus, with the current generation they apparently use two sources for motors -one of which is noisier than industry average. Samsung do run quiet and cool but last I checked they do not offer the larger capacties of others. Also, their quirk (every manufacturer seems to have one) is rythmic vibration but at least it's "inaudible". Unless you can get an older Maxtor (quiet), they will sadly just be rebranded Seagate now. Not sure about the state of Western Digital and Hitachi these days but at least with AAM they can have quiet seeks so its more down to the motor. Check silentpcreview.

 

[MadBadger]

The Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS 500GB is apparently the new standard in quiet drives according to silentpcreview.

Actually the drive that I linked is the RAID (RE) version of the on that was reviewed (both are very silent). The one reviewed was the SE version. The SE was designed to be used alone and the RE was designed to be used in RAID. The retail SE version has a 1 yr warranty, the OEM SE version has a 3 yr warranty and the RE version has a 5 yr warranty.

The caveat with the RE version is that it has a feature called TLER that only functions properly if the drive is in RAID. If the feature is activated and you aren't in RAID, there is an increased chance for data corruption. Last I read, if you email WD about it, they will send you a program that you can run to disable TLER.

At the price that zzf has it right now, that's .34 per Gb. Not too shabby really. It's also performed well in the tests that I've seen for it (there was one here on anandtech and another on storage reviews I believe)

Cheers. :beer:

 

[pkme2]

I use Western Digitals and find them quiet. While checking prices, I noticed the Seagate as being listed about $360.

My source will supply me with 2 WD 500GB SATA @ $150 each.and a WD 250GB for $58. IMO, getting the 3 drives for the same price and 1250GB sounds more realistic to me. What do you think?

 

[ryansebiz]

Originally posted by: MadBadger
The Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS 500GB is apparently the new standard in quiet drives according to silentpcreview.

So if I think 500gb will be enough, should I go with the SE? Or should I get the RE and leave the option of RAID open for future-proofing my system?

Originally posted by: pkme2
While checking prices, I noticed the Seagate as being listed about $360.

I bought the Barracuda last week for $300 from Outpost.

 

[MadBadger]

The main reason why I'd go for the RE is because of the 5 yr warranty (as opposed to the 3 yr with the OEM SE). It's also the same price as the SE as far as I can tell, so why not? The raid functionality is an added bonus.

You might want to verify the procedure for disabling TLER with WD though. I read about the program from a post, but I haven't verified it.

Cheers. :beer:

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: MadBadger
The main reason why I'd go for the RE is because of the 5 yr warranty (as opposed to the 3 yr with the OEM SE). It's also the same price as the SE as far as I can tell, so why not? The raid functionality is an added bonus.

You might want to verify the procedure for disabling TLER with WD though. I read about the program from a post, but I haven't verified it.

Cheers. :beer:

There is no (physical) difference between the RE and YR versions other than TLER, which won't make a difference in a non RAID setup as it won't be active (only kicks in for RAID 1, and possibly 5). They just want to squeeze you for a few extra dollars or a slightly shorter warranty.

 

[ryansebiz]

OK thanks fellas. I'm sending this grinder back to Outpost and will order the RE from ZZF.

P.S. I took the Barracuda out of the case to hear the noise - it sounds like an idle chainsaw!

 

[MadBadger]

Bobthelost - Did you get that information from WD? From what I've read, with the RE version of the drive, TLER is active by default. That's why WD does not reccomend using the RE version of the drive as a stand alone drive, since it increases the chances of data corruption.

Cheers. :beer:

p.s. you mean SE right (instead of yr)?

 

[Rubycon]

Wow something isn't right with that drive. Ours are whisper quiet and even hard use they sound like gentle rain.

 

[Howard]

WD WD5000KS

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
Wow something isn't right with that drive. Ours are whisper quiet and even hard use they sound like gentle rain.

From what I read, the 7200.10 drives use two different motors. One is fairly quiet and the other is hell-raising.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Howard
From what I read, the 7200.10 drives use two different motors. One is fairly quiet and the other is hell-raising.

That's scary although we do mount most of the drives in an isolated enclosure that damps ALL vibration. Even the Fujitsu MAU screamers are quite tame. Chassis coupling and resulting amplification of spindle motor "hum" and actuator seeks is really bad with some drives. Multiple 15k drives will "throb" very bad in some chassis'. Much worse than their practically ultrasonic (to humans hehe) spindle motor wine.

The only WD drives I have are 150's. (the 10k models) and they are VERY quiet idle with hollow sounding seeks.

The seeks on the 7200.10 are very 75gxp-ish. (light glass-metalic sound) Hopefully the reliability is better. :Q

 

[GrammatonJP]

I have both re2 and 750 seagate.. both sounds quiet to me...

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

Originally posted by: Howard
From what I read, the 7200.10 drives use two different motors. One is fairly quiet and the other is hell-raising.

That's scary although we do mount most of the drives in an isolated enclosure that damps ALL vibration. Even the Fujitsu MAU screamers are quite tame. Chassis coupling and resulting amplification of spindle motor "hum" and actuator seeks is really bad with some drives. Multiple 15k drives will "throb" very bad in some chassis'. Much worse than their practically ultrasonic (to humans hehe) spindle motor wine.

The only WD drives I have are 150's. (the 10k models) and they are VERY quiet idle with hollow sounding seeks.

The seeks on the 7200.10 are very 75gxp-ish. (light glass-metalic sound) Hopefully the reliability is better. :Q

How is the enclosure cooled?

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Howard

How is the enclosure cooled?

Some have 12cm fans and some have ducts with Nidec squirrel cage blowers. They start up insanely loud (POST test full speed) but run very quiet. Only a slight whir can be heard with the ear about 15cm away.

 

[Auric]

That silentpcreview link reminded me that Samsung's vibration issue, though substantially less annoying than Seagate's noise, is/was likewise dependent upon the source motor (Nidec good, JVC bad). Dunno which are used by Seagate but the good vs bad can be determined by the external appearance which is handy for local purchases but of course useless for mail-order. Regardless, the lack of AAM still rules them out for serious low-noise aficianados.

 

[tommo123]

my 750gb drive is fairly loud (doesnt help that all my drives are sitting outside the case at the moment), but i dumped it in a coolermaster cooldrive and its as quiet as a mouse now.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I have a samsung 250GB drive which is very very quiet except for said vibration. I just rubber mounted it and that problem is gone and I can't hear the thing at all anymore.
I have seen Samsung 400GB drives on newegg but I can't seem to find them anymore, I can only find the 250GB and smaller - where did they go

Nice to know about that seagate motor thing, I'll have to see if I can find some pics of the good and bad motors. Or maybe I'll just stay away from the 7200.10 series.

 

[Auric]

The gist of it is the spindle of the quiet motor is flush with the case while that of the noisy one is recessed.

Comme ca

 

[ryansebiz]

So if I'm going to get just one should I get the RE or SE?

Will it be that bad if I get the RE and use it by itself?

 

[MadBadger]

ryansebiz - I kind of answered your question up above. The RE version has a 5 yr warranty and costs the same as the SE version, the only caveat is that you'll want to disable TLER on the RE version if you're going to use it as a stand alone drive.

If I were you, I'd double check with Western Digital as to how you can disable TLER before you purchase the drive. Like I mentioned, I read about the program in a post somewhere but didn't confirm the information.

If that's too much of a hassle, just buy the SE version. Both are quiet, both are high capacity.

Cheers. :beer:

 

[w00t]

Check silentpcreview.com