How much noise do microdrives make?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Louis Grant
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Louis Grant

Hello,

can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such as the 3600rpm
2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5" 4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not
so much worried about read/write noises but the noise it makes while
the microdrive is in idle.

Thanks!

Louis
 
Louis Grant said:
can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such
as the 3600rpm 2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5"
4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not so much worried about read/write
noises but the noise it makes while the microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...

What matters is what the end result is. My laptop with its 2.5" 5400 rpm drive
is so quiet that I cant tell when the drive is spinning and when its stopped.
 
Louis said:
Hello,

can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such as the 3600rpm
2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5" 4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not
so much worried about read/write noises but the noise it makes while
the microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...


I have an ancient 1 GB IBM microdrive and it doesn't make any noise at
all so far as I can tell ...
 
can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such as the 3600rpm
2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5" 4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not
so much worried about read/write noises but the noise it makes while
the microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...

For all practical purposes it's silent, and the noise it
does make doesn't sound much like a disk drive, it's a very
different pitch.
 
Louis Grant said:
can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such as the 3600rpm
2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5" 4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not
so much worried about read/write noises but the noise it makes while
the microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...

They are quieter than laptop drives but you can still hear them in a
quiet environment. IMO there's on point to them right now. They're
not much cheaper than CF flash cards, which are solid state and
totally silent; and their max capacity is no higher. 8GB flash cards
are easy to find and affordable, and 16GB is starting to appear.

Of course microdrives could get interesting again, if Hitachi
releases, say, a 20GB model at an attractive price.
 
I have a 6gb Hitachi Microdrive in a Canon 300D and haven't noticed any
noise at all.
 
LG [9 Sep 2006 10:07:48 -0700]:
microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...

MDs stop spinning a few seconds after access.
The heads park with a little tick. If you use
a stethoscope, that'd be pretty noticeable.
 
LG [9 Sep 2006 10:07:48 -0700]:
microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
MDs stop spinning a few seconds after access.
The heads park with a little tick. If you use
a stethoscope, that'd be pretty noticeable.
Click to expand...

Brings to mind that ancient saw, if bang your head against
a brick wall makes your head hurts, stop doing that.

In this case, dont use a stethoscope.
 
Paul said:
They are quieter than laptop drives but you can still hear them in a
quiet environment. IMO there's on point to them right now. They're
not much cheaper than CF flash cards, which are solid state and
totally silent; and their max capacity is no higher. 8GB flash cards
are easy to find and affordable, and 16GB is starting to appear.

Of course microdrives could get interesting again, if Hitachi
releases, say, a 20GB model at an attractive price.
Click to expand...

yes, was wondering myself about the point of microdrives... these would
be less likely to overuse a particular storage address as is the case
with cflsh... right?
 
Louis Grant said:
yes, was wondering myself about the point of microdrives... these would
be less likely to overuse a particular storage address as is the case
with cflsh... right?
Click to expand...

I think most flash cards these days include wear levelling. It's
possible that a microdrive could still last through more total write
cycles, but in normal applications (digital cameras etc.) this won't
matter a bit. I don't think anybody is using microdrives or CF cards
as swap devices or for update-intensive databases.
 
I have used Microdrives for 4 years. 1GB IBM in a Canon G2, and a 2 and 4
GB Hitachi branded, in a Canon 20D.

I have never been aware of any noise from them although if you put your ear
to the camera in silent conditions you can just hear them whirring when they
save an image or reload it for review. I don't think they run at all in an
idle state.

I have not had any problems with any of these drives although I know that
the newer solid state (no moving parts) Compact Flash cards are much more
competitive against microdrives on a £ per GB basis than they were, so I
would consider them next time I'm in the market.


Does this help?

Andrew
 
Louis Grant said:
can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such as the 3600rpm
2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5" 4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not
so much worried about read/write noises but the noise it makes while
the microdrive is in idle.
Click to expand...

In a Canon 30d I have to stick the camera against my ear in a quiet
room to hear it when it's writing photos to the disk. When the camera
is not accessing the drive then it makes no noise at all.
 
Louis said:
Hello,

can anyone tell me how much noise microdrives make, such as the 3600rpm
2Gb from Hitachi? Compared to, say, 2.5" 4200rpm laptop drives? I'm not
so much worried about read/write noises but the noise it makes while
the microdrive is in idle.

Thanks!

Louis
Click to expand...


I have used one of the new Hitachi made drives, and I never heard it. I
suppose that if you put your ear up to the camera door where the drive
is that your could hear something, bit not much I would think.


ob
 
Andrew said:
I have used Microdrives for 4 years. 1GB IBM in a Canon G2, and a 2 and 4
GB Hitachi branded, in a Canon 20D.

I have never been aware of any noise from them although if you put your ear
to the camera in silent conditions you can just hear them whirring when they
save an image or reload it for review. I don't think they run at all in an
idle state.

I have not had any problems with any of these drives although I know that
the newer solid state (no moving parts) Compact Flash cards are much more
competitive against microdrives on a £ per GB basis than they were, so I
would consider them next time I'm in the market.


Does this help?
Click to expand...


yes, helpful info, thanks!

Louis
 
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