does this worth with other hdds too, like seagate 7200.7's and maxtors? if not, where can i get the ones for those?

Whininess is from the motor bearings, not from seeking; the seeks come out as vibrations or ticking/clicking, and is generally random, while the whining has a frequency and comes out in a wave-like pattern. The AAM will reduce your seek noise volume level, but for the most part won't help with the idle whine.

Newer Seagates do not allow direct control over AAM due to some sort of legal dispute and some lack of desire to pay for the right to use the technology from the people who own the actual rights to it (older models allow it). Samsungs can be adjusted this way; Hitachi drives are also controllable. I am unsure for Western Digital drives as I honestly don't care whether the seeks are quieter; the idle whine is worst than the seeks on a WD.

-Ed

ah i c. Oh well. Doesn't matter now, RMAed. They haven't gotten back to me if they have found a NIDEC one that they can send to me or if I just iwll be getting a refund -.-;;

I am unsure for Western Digital drives as I honestly don't care whether the seeks are quieter; the idle whine is worst than the seeks on a WD.


that's for sure, i bought my WD60BB from bestbuy, on sale, with a mail-in rebate, and at first, as an overclocker it wasn't a problem. my cpu, PSU and case fans were loud.

now i've gotten rid of all fans, the 60BB is unaccepably loud.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Whine
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Whine
Model Number: SP081C
Supplier: Newegg
Month of purchase: 2004.05
Motor: JVC With FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.03

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): ZERO
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): ZERO
Model Number: SP0411N
Supplier: Newegg
Month of purchase: 2004.03
Motor: NIDEC With FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.02
Any other relevant/interesting info: Absolutely silent except for a slight barely audible crunching/grumbling sound during seek which you have to listen for with the case door off.

The JVC is on the way back...it was painful to listen to. I'm trying another NIDEC to see if it matches my 40GB and if not, I'm sticking with that little guy.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No (well if I really strain I can hear it. My case also has dampening material.)
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Yes
Model Number: SP1614N
Supplier: Local
Month of purchase: Feb, 2004
Motor: NIDEC, FDB
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: Jan 2004
Any other relevant/interesting info: N/A

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): No
Model Number: SP1614C
Supplier: www.kustompcs.co.uk
Month of purchase: 2004.05
Motor: JVC stamp - "P/V80 2D R2 JVC" and "40205DN" - no mention of 'FDB'
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.03
Any other relevant/interesting info: For all intents and purposes the drive is silent. No whine, humming or any other unusual noises. If I physically press my ear right against the top of the drive when its on, I can hear a gentle constant whoosing sound - a bit like the sound you get when you put a seashell against your ear. Basically, it just the sound of the drive being 'on'. When I still have my ear stuck against the top of the drive, and the heads are seeking / writing, I can hear a gentle sheeeet - sheeeet type sound - I guess its the heads touching the platters. All sounds are inaudible from 3 or 4 inches away. No problems whatsoever. Leagues ahead of the clickety clack of my Maxtor DM9 and whine of my WD Caviar

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): No
Model Number: SP1604N
Supplier: www.zipzoomfly.com
Month of purchase: 6/2004
Motor: NIDEC F0335611F FDB G
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2003.12
Any other relevant/interesting info: I have a new Maxtor 160GB 8MB that is very quiet, I checked and it had AM on the quitest setting. The Samsung is silent compared to the Maxtor

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): No
Model Number: SP1614C
Supplier: ebay
Month of purchase: 6/2004
Motor: NIDEC FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2003.11

this drive has NO WHINE. I placed my ear right next to the drive as it was transferring gobs of data, nothing. The other one with the JVC motor (date 2004.2) has a noticable whine as everyone has reported.

Perhaps they ran out of nidec or something.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): None
Model Number: SP1641N
Supplier: NewEgg
Month of purchase: June
Motor: Stamp: 40319CD P/V80 2D R2 JVC
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.04
Any other relevant/interesting info:
AAM was disabled by default.
Installed in a Shuttle ST62k Zen.
Suspended drive to eleminate head seek noise being transmited through case.
Drive operates at roughly 40 C

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Yes
Model Number: SP1641N 160gb pata 8mb
Supplier: www.tekheads.co.uk
Month of purchase: June 2004
Motor: 40417EN P/V80 2D R2 JVC (no fdb stamp)
Revision:
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.05
Any other relevant/interesting info:

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Yes (have to be within a few inches)
Model Number: SP1614C 160gb sata 8mb
Supplier: www.newegg.com
Month of purchase: June 2004
Motor: JVC
Revision: haven't looked
Date of Manufacturing: haven't looked
Any other relevant/interesting info: elastic suspension, Serial FX305546, Firmware Revision SW100-27, AAM disabled by default (enabling it made no difference in whine and not a large difference in seek noise, so I left it disabled)

My SP1616C has noticable whine (JVC motor), but I have to put my ear within a few inches to hear it. I can't hear it with the case closed and I never noticed it, before finding this thread, opening my case, and putting my ear next to the drive.

I have used probably a dozen other Samsung drives in various systems I've built and I never noticed a whine with any of them, although it may have been there and been so low volume (like this drive), that it was inaudible, for all intents and purposes.

All in all, I'd say the whine is a non-issue, since I can't hear it from more than a few inches away, but I did have to answer YES to the poll, because it DOES have a whine, but it IS negligible.

(I have very sensitive hearing and I can hear sounds over 20 kHz, according to precise hearing tests, performed inside an anechoic chamber, a few years ago. My 19" Viewsonic P95f monitor is actually far louder at a few feet away than the hard drive a few inches away. My monitor makes a high frequency noise (sounds a bit like insects buzzing, outside), when displaying pages with a lot of white, or light color background (like the SPCR forums.)

Try changing your refresh frequency on your adapter settings. You may be able to find an adequate frequency that doesn't buzz.

Its funny you mentioned that. I just called Viewsonic a few minutes ago, thinking "What the heck, they probably know how to fix this..." and that is exactly what they suggested.

Voila! 100 Hz refresh rate, instead of 85 Hz, and now there is no more noise.

I can't believe I never thought of doing that, before. This monitor has been making this noise for years and I've just been ignoring it.

The funny thing is, I had similar problems with a few monitors at work, years ago, and this is how I fixed them. For some reason, the light just never went on in my head, when it came to my home monitor...

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): faint
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Yes
Model Number: 1614n
Supplier: newegg
Month of purchase: July
Motor: 40426DD P/V80 2D R2 JVC
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.05
Any other relevant/interesting info: hd mounted on sorbothane, case(bqe) is lined with melamine, fans turned down

Whine is of a high pitch nature and loud. I'm guessing I got one of you guys' RMA'd drives .

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): nothing really
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): there is some noise
Model Number: SP1614C
Supplier: NTCW
Month of purchase: today
Motor: JVC without FDB
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.03
Any other relevant/interesting info:

I am still not very sure what "whine" sound like? Is it like a high rpm dc motor? or is it like those TV hsssssss sound with higher amplitude?

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Slight directional whine within 6 inches
Model Number: SP1614N
Supplier: Newegg
Month of purchase: 2003-09
Motor: NIDEC FDB G
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: 2003-06
Any other relevant/interesting info: The is the quietest hard drive I have ever owned. Much, MUCH quieter than the WesternDigital nightmare. I never noticed any whine until today when I stuck my ear right up to the drive to answer this post. The only thing I can hear on occasion are the read/write heads, but they are so quiet I hardly notice them.

looks like all 1614C have JVC motors and the batch manufactured in Mar 2004 is particularly whiny

heh, both of mine are manufactured in Mar 2004. Perhaps I should RMA one again and see if anything changes. The problem is that Newegg might give me a refurbished disk since it's over 90 days since my purchase.

Guess I'll have to RMA through Samsung. Anyone have any experiences, things I should be aware of?

Also I think we should all send a bunch of letters to Samsung requesting that they use Nidec motors in their drives.

exactly!

i just exchanged my 1614C with a 1614N, still a JVC motor with a same high freq sound so i refunded it (good service)

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): A little, but pretty low
Model Number: SP1203N 120Gb PATA 2Mb
Supplier: www.savastore.com
Month of purchase: Dec 2003
Motor: NIDEC (FDB Stamp)
Revision: Rev A
Date of Manufacturing: -
Any other relevant/interesting info: Seems to be very cool running. Tested in a silent drive and only reported 35c according to speed fan. Normally low 20c outside. Does feel pretty cool to the touch so these might be correct?

Seems to be very quiet, no whine although idle noise is audioable, it is far from annoying. The noise blends in pretty much like a quiet case fan.

FYI guys, in case you haven't read yet, my pal MonsterMac has posted that Silicon Acoustics is selling guaranteed NIDEC SP1204Ns for like $99.

-Ed

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Very Slight (you have to almost strain to hear it)
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Noticeable
Model Number: SP1213C
Supplier: Micro Center
Month of purchase: 2004.07
Motor: NIDEC with FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.04
Any other relevant/interesting info: Whine is high pitched and only occurs when the drive seeks. I'm not that bothered by it, and I don't think most people would be. Luckily, I got the last Nidec motor in stock at Micro Center. The drive is suspended vertically via Stretch Magic in the D8000 drive cage (pics coming soon). AAM is disabled. Other than this minimal whine, there is hardly any detectable motor/seek noise. Great performance, and a huge advance acoustically from my previous WD 40Gb Caviar. I'm lovin' it!

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): NO
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): YES - Very low intensity, high pitched
Model Number: SP1614C
Supplier: Imported by a local store from USA
Month of purchase: July/04
Motor: JVC, no FDB
Revision: A, Firmware SW100-27
Date of Manufacturing: March/04
Any other relevant/interesting info: The whine is constant and very quiet, about the same level as my Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA 120 GB (now retired for good), but the seeks are MUCH quieter in the Samsung.

Just a note about Microcenter. I called their online store about "cherry-picking" an SP1213C (SATA version) for me, and they indicated that they don't have a way of attaching a note like that to an order, and that orders are fulfilled from one of several locations.

However, she told me that if the drive I receive doesn't have the motor that I want, I can take it to my local Microcenter (I have one in town, but they are currently out of stock) and exchange it for one that I want - if its in stock. If it's not, then I can send it back to the online store for an exchange for the same item -- there is no restocking fee for PC components, but you pay for return shipping -- and hope my luck is better.

This would seem to be a good way to go about getting a quiet one, as they are all OEM "Bulk Package," so you can try it out, audition it, and then exchange it if it doesn't satisfy your needs. Lord knows how long that process could take you if you are anal enough about it, but that's up to you...

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Yes, but very faint
Model Number: SP1614N, 160GB
Supplier: www.komplett.se
Month of purchase: July 2004
Motor: Nidec, FDB
Revision: Haven't checked
Date of Manufacturing: June 2004
Any other relevant/interesting info: VERY nice drive!

It's been time for quite awhile to upgrade my aging^H^H^H^H^H aged circa 1999 P2-400 machine's 8GB hard drive with something bigger.

I really wanted the extra 40GB, so instead of playing it safe with SiliconAcoustics.com's NIDEC 120GB HD, I played the NewEgg lottery and am the happy winner of a 1614N with NIDEC FDB motor :

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): No
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): No
Model Number: SP1614N, 160GB
Supplier: www.newegg.com
Month of purchase: July 2004
Motor: Nidec, FDB
Revision: Rev. A
Date of Manufacturing: 2004.05
Any other relevant/interesting info:

Everything is basically quiet (case fan, PSU fan, hard drive). The problem is that this 5-year old Optiplex GX1 case is vibrating like crazy (right now it seems like the HD cage). The journey begins ...

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): None
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Barely
Model Number: SP1213C
Supplier: MicroCenter.com
Month of purchase: 07/2004
Motor: JVC (no FDB markings, but has to be)
Revision: A
Date of Manufacturing: Didn't look - will get back to you
Any other relevant/interesting info: I love this drive! I thought my previous Maxtor DM+9 was a good balance of fast and quiet - it was a noisy slug compared to this drive! I get a consistent 49MB/s rating in Sandra (was getting 36MB/s at the Maxtor's peak - replaced it because it started coming in at 16MB/s for no apparent reason) and an 8.9ms access time (never got better than 11ms on the Maxtor). Popping in this drive brought my idle noise down to near nothing (my wife is now very impressed with how quiet the PC is), and there is literally no seek noise. I can feel the seeks if I put my hand on the computer, but there is no sound that I can discern (its a little disconcerting sometimes - I didn't realize how much I had relied upon seek noise to reassure me that the computer was doing something).

Does anyone know where I can get a NIDEC (FDB) 1614N in the UK?

I originally got mine from Komplett but they have stopped selling them and I wouldn't buy from Savastore/Watford due to their shoddy rep.

Noticeable whine (with case closed, about 1 meter away): Noticable but not very intrusive.
Noticeable whine (with ear next to harddrive): Both a low grumble and a high-piched whine
Model Number: SP1614N
Supplier: Local store
Month of purchase: late June 2004
Motor: JVC
Revision: ?
Date of Manufacturing: ?
Any other relevant/interesting info:

Seek noises and high-pitched whine disapear when suspended inside a case lined with acoustipack standard. Runs pretty hot when suspended, I'm going to try a Zalman heatpipe hdd cooler. Smart temperature is on crack: 33 degrees C. Probably about 50 or so = too warm.