5400RPM FDB motor drive for a Quiet PC?

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R

richard6121

Guys,

Looking for opinions on the 4R120L0 (Maxtor) as a quiet drive that will
survive in a system that has minimal cooling.

I see that the idle noise is 2.4 bels which is ballpark with the higher
peforming 7200rpm Barracudas. This drive may not be any quieter than the
'cuda but would it run cooler? I'm looking to eventually stuff it into a
SmartDrive/Silentdrive enclosure.

Thx,
RM
 
Guys,

Looking for opinions on the 4R120L0 (Maxtor) as a quiet drive that will
survive in a system that has minimal cooling.

I see that the idle noise is 2.4 bels which is ballpark with the higher
peforming 7200rpm Barracudas. This drive may not be any quieter than the
'cuda but would it run cooler? I'm looking to eventually stuff it into a
SmartDrive/Silentdrive enclosure.

Thx,
RM
Click to expand...


What about a 2.5 inch laptop disk ? I've been thinking about using
one for a microatx system to cut down on power/heat and it just
occured to me that I work with laptop PCs all the time and don't think
I've ever heard much noise from the disk.
 
Guys,
Click to expand...

No one here cept us rather badly behaved animals.
Looking for opinions on the 4R120L0 (Maxtor) as a quiet
drive that will survive in a system that has minimal cooling.
Click to expand...

I'd go for a samsung V80 series drive myself.

V80 for the 5400 rpm and significantly lower power
demand to minimise the effect of minimal cooling.
I see that the idle noise is 2.4 bels which is ballpark
with the higher peforming 7200rpm Barracudas.
Click to expand...

Those numbers are pretty hopeless when
looking for a really quiet PC, particularly
when comparing the quietest drives.
This drive may not be any quieter than
the 'cuda but would it run cooler?
Click to expand...

The Samsung certainly will. One of the lowest power
consumptions around with their 5400 rpm drives.
I'm looking to eventually stuff it into a
SmartDrive/Silentdrive enclosure.
Click to expand...

Get a samsung.
 
Those numbers are pretty hopeless when looking for a really quiet PC,
particularly when comparing the quietest drives.
Click to expand...

Has the Quiet PC crowd settled on laptop drives? What's out there (in
3.5" desktop FF) that's quieter than 2.4bels?

R
 
On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 04:41:58 -0500
Has the Quiet PC crowd settled on laptop drives? What's out there (in
3.5" desktop FF) that's quieter than 2.4bels?
Click to expand...

Go over to <http://www.silentpcreview.com> and see what's currently
considered to be the best drive choice. You're not going to find a
drive much if any quieter than 2.4 bels--the laptop drives aren't and
that was the noise level for the Barracuda IV, which was probably the
quietest drive produced to date--the Barracuda IV installed in any kind
of halfway reasonable case is for all practical purposes
inaudible--first time I installed one I thought it was dead until I
_felt_ not _heard_ it start to seek--I've got a machine with 4 of them
and they're inaudible over the ambient noise in a quiet room.

The quietest _available_ drives, the Barracuda IVs being discontinued
and the newer ones not having acoustic management enabled thanks to some
legality or other, are some Samsung models--I've got Samsungs in my Tivo
and they are inaudible over the fan in the Tivo, which, incidentally is
a replacement that is quieter than the original--the bearing in the
original fan went and I replaced it with an FDB Papst with the same
airflow.

If you need absolute silence, your only real choice is a solid state
drive, and they in any kind of reasonable capacity are not cheap.
 
The quietest _available_ drives, the Barracuda IVs being discontinued and
the newer ones not having acoustic management enabled thanks to some
legality or other, are some Samsung models--
Click to expand...

The numbers on those Samsungs weren't any better than the Diamondmax 16's.
Is this a case of the numbers not telling the whole story on how the idle
noise is perceived by human hearing?
a replacement that is quieter than the original--the bearing in the
original fan went and I replaced it with an FDB Papst with the same
airflow.
Click to expand...

They make FDB fans now? No shit!

RM <-- off to Google for FDB fans
 
On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 03:43:19 -0500
The numbers on those Samsungs weren't any better than the Diamondmax
16's. Is this a case of the numbers not telling the whole story on how
the idle noise is perceived by human hearing?
Click to expand...

Check the seek noise--the Maxtor is 1.1 bels louder than the
quietest Samsung in seek--acoustic management affects seek noise, not
idle noise.

A Smart Drive enclosure will cut down the idle noise to inaudible
levels, but won't do anything about seek noise. A bungee mounting such
as the Novibes II will reduce the seek noise considerably but won't do
anything about the idle noise, and the bungee mountings do have an
effect on transfer--the drives are designed to be rigidly mounted--when
head seeks can move the drive physically this throws off the timing a
little which increases settling time, and, since the drive can continue
to move after the seek is complete tends to make the heads drift a
little which increases the soft-error rate. So seek noise is in some
regards a more significant problem than idle noise.

Whether seek noise is an issue for you depends on how you plan to use
the machine--for most home theater and recording-industry situations it
does matter as seeks occur frequently during recording and playback.
They make FDB fans now? No shit!
Click to expand...

Been making them for years--Papst and Panasonic are the best known
producers. They were around before the first drives with FDBs.

You can download the entire Papst catalog from <http://www.papst.de/>.
Panasonic information is at
<http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/appliance/appliance_fans_panaflo_a
xial.htm>. You can get most of the line of Papst/EBM fans from
<http://www.galco.com> and most of the Panaflos from
<http://www.digikey.com>. Take the noise ratings with a large dose of
salt.
 
J.Clarke wrote
Click to expand...
The numbers on those Samsungs weren't any better than the
Diamondmax 16's. Is this a case of the numbers not telling the
whole story on how the idle noise is perceived by human hearing?
Click to expand...

Correct.

And the reality with these very quiet drives is that the numbers
dont mean much if you have to feel the drive to see if its spinning
when initially installed with no covers on the case etc.
 
Check the seek noise--the Maxtor is 1.1 bels louder than the quietest
Samsung in seek--acoustic management affects seek noise, not idle noise.
Click to expand...

Ah! I should've clarified. I'm looking for low idle noise. Seek noise
doesn't bother me. In fact, I used AMSET to disable acoustic management
on both of my existing Maxtors.
A Smart Drive enclosure will cut down the idle noise to inaudible levels,
but won't do anything about seek noise.
Click to expand...

Excellent! The SmartDrive is what I want then.

RM
 
5400 rpm is becoming mainstream for 2.5" drives.
Click to expand...

When 7200 rpm pas already become the mainstream for 3.5" drives.
And I just put a 7200 rpm 60 GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K60
(http://www.hgst.com/hdd/travel/tr7k60.htm) in my Thinkpad
X22 this afternoon.
Click to expand...

Sure, but when there are already 7200 rpm 3.5" drives that
are so quiet you have to feel them to see if they are spinning
up at install time in a case with the covers off, what's the point
in spending much more per GB for a 2.5" drive in a desktop PC ?
That is certainly true. And the largest 2.5" drive is still "only" 80 GB.
Click to expand...

Yeah, tho that is enough for plenty of
people. The main problem is the $/GB.
 
When 7200 rpm pas already become the mainstream for 3.5" drives.
Click to expand...

I haven't touched a desktop PC for years, but I'm under the impression
lots of basic desktop computers are still sold with 5400 rpm drives.
At least it's the case where I live (Finland).
Sure, but when there are already 7200 rpm 3.5" drives that
are so quiet you have to feel them to see if they are spinning
up at install time in a case with the covers off, what's the point
in spending much more per GB for a 2.5" drive in a desktop PC ?
Click to expand...

I was not advocating the use of a 2.5" drive in a desktop PC, I was
mostly addressing your claim that 2.5" drives are "noticeably" slower
than 3.5" drives. It used to be the case when (not so long ago) all
2.5" drives where 4200 rpm, but no longer.

Anyway, using a laptop (and therefore a 2.5" drive) instead of a
desktop isn't about drive speed, there are lots of other, more
important considerations.

Cheers, Dominique
 
I haven't touched a desktop PC for years,
Click to expand...

Thats obvious.
but I'm under the impression lots of basic desktop
computers are still sold with 5400 rpm drives.
Click to expand...

Nope. In fact quite a few hard drive manufacturers
dont even make them anymore in the smaller sizes
that are used in those basic desktop PCs.
At least it's the case where I live (Finland).
Click to expand...

Dont believe it.
I was not advocating the use of a 2.5" drive in a desktop
PC, I was mostly addressing your claim that 2.5" drives
are "noticeably" slower than 3.5" drives.
Click to expand...

They are.
It used to be the case when (not so long ago)
all 2.5" drives where 4200 rpm, but no longer.
Click to expand...

Its still true when most desktop PCs use 7200 rpm drives now.
Anyway, using a laptop (and therefore a 2.5" drive)
instead of a desktop isn't about drive speed, there
are lots of other, more important considerations.
Click to expand...

Pity the thread happened to actually be discussing
using 2.5" drives for a quiet desktop PC. Not point
when 3.5" drives are so quiet that you have to feel
the drive to see if its spinning up when installing in a
case with the covers off when 2.5" drives are in general
significantly slower and much more $/GB, as I said.
 
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