Whats a good QUIET 40gig hard drive ?

[deftron]

I'm on a mission to quiet my PC.

So far, I have an ALpha 8045 Heatsink with a Pannaflo fan
and PP & C Silencers for case fans.

The only thing I can hear now is my hard drives.

40GIG Qunatum [Maxtor] (7200rpm)
30GIG MAxtor (7200rpm)

The high pitched sound of the spinning drives really stands out now.
I've seen the Silent Drive device, but heard it overheats your harddrives.

So, I guess I'm gonna replace my drives with quieter ones.
I assume I'm gonna have to step down to 5400rpm drives, but not sure.

Does anyone know what the quietest harddrives are that still have good performance?

 

[AluminumStudios]

I have western digital 7200 RPM hard drives. I have two 20 gigs and one 40 gig (wd40bb or something like that). They are the most quiet hard drives I've ever encountered. I have to leave my case open because of poor ventilation and overclocking. It sits on the floor right to the right of me and I have to strain to hear the hard drives, even when their grinding away. I often can't tell if they're asleep or not (I have to reach down and feel if they're warm). So Western Digital BB series gets my vote!

Be aware though, that the high capacity ones have some different design features from the 40 gig and smaller ones despite still being a "bb" series. So I can't vouch for them.

~William Milberry

 

[zzzz]

seagates new model. I have the 80gig model and it is really quiet.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

<< seagates new model. I have the 80gig model and it is really quiet. >>


yep the barracuda IV's are totally silent, even when they are at work.

 

[deftron]

I'll have to look into those Seagates.

Upon closer inspection, I think only the Quantum drive of mine is the super loud one.

 

[ecke]

Stay away from the Maxtor 5400RPM's too. They also have that high pitched whine that can make a person go insane.
I'm using two 80Gb Seagate U6 drives in Silent Drives (RAID0) and they are almost dead silent. Since they are only used as storage drives they don't get very warm and the Silent Drives are working well. The performance is very good (about 55Mb/s), but most important; they are extremely quiet.

 

[getbush]

deftron, may i ask which PS you are using in your system?

 

[deftron]

My power supply is the Antec PP412X 400W
It came with my 1040B case.
No complaints about its noise.
Its not AS quiet as my case fans, but I definitely dont hear it over my
hard drives.

 

[BFG10K]

Another vote for the Seagate Barracudas. My 60 GB drive is so silent that I never know what it's doing unless I look at the LED.

 

[RazeOrc]

Seagate Barracuda IV, COMPLETELY SILENT, and VERY UNLIKELY TO FAIL, while they do run marginally slower than IBMs and Maxtors, they still have good rates and if silence is your need then look no further...

 

[xtreme2k]

Seagate Bara4 is SILENT.
Then the next quietest is the IBM
and lastly the Maxtor. I dont know about WD because i dont have them.

 

[Def]

I'll have to agree.

I have a 40GB 60GXP and it is pretty quiet. Almost inaudible except when about six inches from it while it is seeking.

Two friends recently got 'Cuda IV's and those things are just dead quiet. I put my ear just inches from it while we were installing Windows and I could not hear anything from it. Hands down the quietest drive you can buy.

 

[rbaibich]

I'd go with the Barracuda IV too. Excellent silent drive. I have no complaints at all.

 

[VicLavigne]

I've got WD 20gb, 30gb, and 40gb 7200rpm drives between 3 of my computers. They are all so silent you have to strain to hear them.

 

[conjur]

WD's reliability is questionable these days.

Check out the new fluid-bearing Maxtors...supposed to be even quieter than previous models (I have a couple of olders ones in one of my rigs and I can't hear it)

 

[S0me1X]

I am using a Maxtor 7200 RPM and a Western Digital 7200 RPM (both 40GB). The western digital hard drive (wd40bb) is quite a bit louder than my Maxtor.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

I'm using a 5400 RPM Maxtor and it's literally silent. Of course, it's not as fast as 7200 RPM drives, but its not like I can notice it in real world performace. But yeah...no matter how hard I try, I have never heard the thing.

 

[Bovinicus]

The Seagata Baracuda IV is fast and silent. The word around town is that even while defragmenting and such you can't hear the drive. Sounds good to me. =)

 

[nortexoid]

out of experience, i know the quantum drives to loud as sh1t...they're truly awful drives
the maxtor ones aren't so bad, but definitely not the best

i own a fujitsu MPFxxxAH 7200 model, and it's dead silent...again, it's getting outdated, but the MPGxxxAH series are just as quiet...might be hard to find since fujitsu stepped out of the IDE market though

i havent heard the seagates but everyone's claiming they're quiet as hell, so...i remember seagate USED to use fluid dynamic bearing (like fujitsu) but had issues with it and stopped...i wonder if they've figured it out and are now using it again, and hence their quietness.

i also hear the samsung spinpoint drives are hella quiet too...again, might be hard to find

 

[LXi]

Seagates are indeed the quietest, but you'll have to trade in some performance for that, which makes the Barracuda IV a great storage hard drive, but doesn't really do it for me prsonally as the main/boot drive. Just to show you how quiet the Barracuda IV is, I had to put my ear ON the damn thing to hear the seeking noises.

The next quietest is no doubt Maxtor/Quantum, the D740X(Quantum derived) is very low in noise, even more so if you get the fluid bearings version; though not as silent as Seagate, but definitely very tolerable, that just completely throwing the "Quantum is loud as sh*t" argument out of the window. I know how loud Quantums use to be, but they're quiet now and that's all we should care. Unlike the Barracuda IV, the D740X is currently one of the fastest IDE hard drives.

The IBM 60GXPs and 120GXPs are quiet hard drives as well, but without fluid bearings, they dont have the edge over Seagate and Maxtor anymore. But they're brilliant performers, best suited if more performance is desired. Though I hesitate with the IBMs because of their questionable reliability right now.

 

[kgraeme]

<< own a fujitsu MPFxxxAH 7200 model, and it's dead silent...again, it's getting outdated, but the MPGxxxAH series are just as quiet...might be hard to find since fujitsu stepped out of the IDE market though
>>



I have the 5400 MPGxxxAH, and while it was completely silent when I got it, it's gradually developed a very noticeable clunkety-clunk read/write noise.

 

[Shide1]

I think the IBM's are relatively loud, at least when you run two like me.

 

[Rahminator]

People who say Seagate is absolutely silent are full of crock, have deltas along with 6 case fans or do not actually own one. Few weeks ago I could have sworn that my 40 GB Barracuda 4 is absolutely silent. That was when I had a delta and 3 case fans. Now I replaced the delta with Zalman CNPS 5000 in quiet mode and I have one very quiet case fan and now that my comp is quiet it's very obvious when the drive is working because I can hear it. It's quieter than other drives I've been working with, but by no means is it silent.

 

[whitelight]

i've owned a maxtor diamondmaxplus and an ibm60gxp, and i have to say the ibm is slightly quieter. even when it's seeking, i can't hear it.

 

[Pabster]

Barracuda IV (Seagate) is as close to silent as you're gonna get. They are virtually silent, even during seeks. But they do tend to run pretty warm...

I prefer the Maxtor D740X. I couldn't notice any difference between the fluid / ball bearings, but I find the D740X quiet, considering its performance. It's hella quietier than my IBM's, for sure