Samsung just replaced one of my SP1604N drives that developed read errors. I sent them a NIDEC, they returned a JVC. I compared the new JVC to one of my other NIDEC ones:

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): whine noticable when powering up only.
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Definate whine.
Model Number: SP1604N
Supplier: Samsung (warranty replacement, original from overclockers.co.uk)
Month of purchase: 2004.08
Motor: Stamp "40204DN P/V80 2D R2 JVC" (no FDB)
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: No date

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No whine
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): No whine
Model Number: SP1604N
Supplier: overclockers.co.uk
Month of purchase: 2003.10
Motor: Stamp NIDEC F0337521F FDB G
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: 2003.09

I did the test blind. Case is a stock alu case, drive is not suspended, soft mounted, or padded.

My opinion on the whine: when sourcing new drives I'll continue looking for NIDEC ones. As for this replacement, I'll keep it, it's good enough for its intended purpose.

My overall opinion on the Spinpoints: They're much quieter than the Seagate/Maxtor drives I used previously. The price/performance and capacity are attractive. Of the 4 Spinpoints I use 24/7 only one has developed errors (after 10 months), and was replaced on warranty, in 4 working days. The SMART selftests are very useful. These drives are my current favourite.


IdontexistM8: www.kustompcs.co.uk sold me a 1614N NIDEC. If you email them, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to look on any drives in stock to see if they're NIDEC.

How long is the turn-around time when RMAing directly to Samsung?

My SP1213C JVC whines (depends on the orientation of my head, heh) with my case open. I'm moving to a new case next week so I guess I'll see how it sounds in the new case before deciding. It is a super quiet drive from my limited (got it yesterday) experience.

Also, the SP1213C doesn't seem to be listed in the supported drives list for AAM (here: http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDis ... /hutil.htm). I'm assuming it works though, right?

Sorry for not acknowleging your post. I contacted Kustom in my search and they had only JVC at the time. I managed to get 2 off Tekheads and got a cheaper price than listed.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): None
Model Number: SP1614C
Supplier: Anitec
Month of purchase: August 2004
Motor: Nidec w/ FDB
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.03
Any other relevant/interesting info: Grommet mounted in an Antec P160. Seeks are virtually inaudible.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Nothing
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Very slight
Model Number: SP1614C
Supplier: mycom.se
Month of purchase: 2004.08
Motor: NIDEC stamp with FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.07
Any other relevant/interesting info: Bought mine today, was quite a bit nervous :p but it turned out OK and the only thing I can hear from it from about 10cm is a quiet humming which I've never heard from a harddrive before (and thats good since the humming is very quiet and low pitched). Very satisfied, beats all my Barracuda IV, V and 7200,7 drives.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Whine
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Whine
Model Number: SV8004H
Supplier: Compaq
Month of purchase: 2002
Motor: JVC (no FDB)
Revision: Ref A
Date of Manufacturing: 2002-10
Any other relevant/interesting info: Ok, I have one of the most oldest Samsung HDD on this forum. There was literally unnoticeable whining when it was new. However, as time goes by, 2 years after it was new, the whining gets worse and worse. Now it is of such HIGH frequency whining it becomes annoying. It is not super loud, but it is very high pitch and gets in your head. Thinking of applying a SilentDrive or something!!

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Nearly none
Model Number: SP0812C
Supplier: www.gogocity.com
Month of purchase: 2004.10
Motor: NIDEC stamp with FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.08
Any other relevant/interesting info: Way better than the Seagate 7200.7 it replaced!! In terms of noise, its like comparing a freight train to a bicycle![/b]

Just bought a used SP1614N. Here's the straight skinny:

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): no
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): no
Model Number: SP1614N (PATA 160GB)
Supplier: Private Party
Month of purchase: Oct 2004
Motor: NIDEC FDB
Revision: Rev A
Date of Manufacturing: Jul 2003
Any other relevant/interesting info: -

"I'll trade two JVCs for one NIDEC??"

Jan

I do what I gotta do to find quiet hardware.

Okay, first of all I'am very pleased with the two samsung sp1614N spinponts I have. One has an Nidec motor, the other an JVC.
I must say the Nidec is quieter. But the JVC motor does a good job. It's barely noticable from 1 meter with the case open.
Here are my findings:

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No whine
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): barely noticable
Model Number: SP1614N
Supplier: Alternate (NL)
Month of purchase: 2004.2
Motor: Nidec F0345512F FDB
Revision: a
Date of Manufacturing: 2003.11
Any other relevant/interesting info: This drive is used alot, aproximately 10h/day

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No whine
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): whine, directional (horizontal)
Model Number: SP1614N
Supplier: Gistron (NL)
Month of purchase: 2004.10
Motor: JVC 40821bd P/V80 2D R2
Revision: a
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.9
Any other relevant/interesting info: This drive has less vibration than the one with the NIDEC motor. This is also my second one with an JVC motor, the one before was broken after 3 months

I have to mention that my case is insulated with 3 cm thick noise absorbing foam, used in speakers. (don't know the english word for it, in dutch it's "eierdoppenschuim").
With the case closed both drives emit only a slight whirring sound, not annoying, but present. I plan to get my hands on some silentmaxx drive enclosures soon to get rid of that.
I'll post my findings when i have them.

Greetings Chris

Hey Chris,
Welcome to SPCR
For our poor and now confused english/american speaking readers here is the translation; "eierdoppenschuim" means "eggcrate foam"
If you're looking for a way to get rid of the vibration of your drives try suspending them; http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10315 . It'll make a big difference.

Thanks the help Peerke ,

I already have considered only suspending my drives (right now they are suspended with shoe laces). But my second problem is that they get to hot. I don't want any casefans, so a (fine?) solution would be the silentmaxx enclosure. I know that I can place them at the bottom of the PC, but only as a last resort.

Btw, I have noticed that my samsung SP1614N with the JVC motor is getting hotter than the one with the Nidec motor. Too rule out location dependancy, I have swapped the drives and still the JVC motor runs hotter (approximately 5 degrees celsius higher).

Shoelaces do not have enough elasticity to be really effective at decoupling the vibrations. Change it to elastic like thin bungee cord or clothing elastic & you should hear an improvement. No vibrations should be felt on any part of the case.

Your avoidance of any fan is not necessarily wise nor practical. An undervolted Nexus or Panaflo low speed 80mm fan can move enough air to drop a drive's temp close to 10C but its noise level is = or < any 3.5" HDD.

Also, don't trust those HDD thermal diodes completely: Who can tell whether they use the same sensor and whether the sensors are both reading accurately? Try a double-check using an external probe stuck to the hottest point you can find on the outside of the case.

Hej MikeC,
I have followed your advice and strapped a temp. probe on the hottest part I could find (In this case for both drives it was the motor, other parts where 2 to 3 C lower). To make the results comparable, I took the Hd's outside the case and placed an equal load on them (continous writing at a speed of 20 mb/s). I also let them heat up at idle speed for half an hour.

The temp. results were surprising. Both HD's measured 38C with the multimeter, although Everest (aka Aida32) displayed variating values between 32C and 40C. Apparently either Everest is incorrecly annalyzing the S.M.A.R.T temp. data from the drives, or the temp. diodes are faulty. I assume the first one is the problem here, as the temperature sometimes instantly jumped ca. 3C.

So to all..sorry for giving you false information, I should have checked my findings more thoroughly before posting them.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None, but my case is internally isolated. Otherwise I surely would have heard just a little whining, so I voted "whine" in the poll anyway.
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Oh yes.
Model Number: SV1604N
Supplier: Mycom.se
Month of purchase: 2004.07
Motor: JVC (stamp) no FDB
Revision: rev A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.05
Any other relevant/interesting info: About as loud as my Barracuda V 120 PATA w. aam, but the whine from the Cuda is softer and to my ears a little less unpleasant. This 5400 Samsung runs very cool.

I've ordered Samsung Spinpoint SP1213N hard drives (with NIDEC motors) - I'll be sure to add my info.

Problems from the supplier (sending over JVC instead of NIDEC)

I'll have to wait a few more days for a hard drive of NIDEC goodness (hopefully).

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Absolutely none
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Very clear, quite high pitch
Model Number: SP1614N
Supplier: Micro Direct (UK)
Month of purchase: 2004.7
Motor: NIDEC FDB stamped
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.6
Any other relevant/interesting info: Drive sits on foam strips on case floor and seeks now barely audible

Finally got hold of two NIDEC 160GB Spinpoints.

Drive 1 and 2
Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Not tested yet
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Yes, high pitch.
Model Number: SP1614N
Month of purchase: 2004.11
Motor: NIDEC FDB stamped
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.10
Any other relevant/interesting info: Drives were sitting on top of plastic packaging during testing - when both in operation, a cyclic high pitched noise can be heard. Hopefully it will become inaudible when mounted properly in the case.

When comparing these drives to my Western Digital setup - it's amazing how quiet these are! Too bad I've got to wait a few weeks before I can use them as my primary drives.

It seems like there are no such things as NIDEC SP1614C 160GB SATA drives from Newegg.com.

I just bought my Samsung SP1213C (120GB) yesterday in Hong Kong which has a NIDEC motor on it. And AFAIK, there are still a lot of NIDEC models in Hong Kong. How do I know you ask? Well... simple, unlike in the United States, while most people need to purchase computer stuff through the internet, Hong Kong only got a few locations which actually sell DIY computer's part. Hundreds of small computer stores are packed in a small mall which basically looks like a farmers market to me. And most of the sales are part-time higher school kids that they will do whatever it takes to make a sell, especially when their boss is not in the store! Anyway, I went to a couples of stores which carry samsung hard drive, and I asked them if I can check the hard drive before I make my purchase; they have no problem with that and they let me open the box and examine each drive. I was quite surprise to see that all the drives I examine have NIDEC motor on it and none with JVC motor. Finally I got my drive from the cheapest store and I am very happy. Unfortunately, I am still waiting for my motherboard as they are currently out of stock. I will post my result later.

I'm planning to buy a Samsung 80GB SP0802N at a local store. Since this harddrive is in those plastic see-through cases, is it possible to see if it is a JVC or a NIDEC motor by looking at the bottom of the hd case? Is the stamp visible? (since I don't think I can open the case and see what motor it is at the store)
Thanks

Yes, it is definitely visible.

Is it possible that Samsung has (hopefully) used up it's inventory of JVC motors and has returned to Nidec motors exclusively?

Yes, it's easy. Look here for the stamp:

Posted this before, but I just got two 1213C's from Newegg. Both are running Nidec motors.

Well, the one that I got was in a plastic see-through case too (After you open the box).
However I couldn't check the motor, because the warranty card was inside the case too and blocking the view. Anyway, the plastic case is very easy to open and it doesn't require you to "break it" in order to open it. You can open it and then close it back without doing any harm to the case. If they don't let you open the case, then just tell them this and let them open it for you. Good luck!

Shaking the casing a bit should move the warranty card out of way.

Cheers,

Jan