This is the 40Gig 7200.7, for $53 at Newegg.
I thought this needed posting since there are various results with the 7200.7s of various models, but this particular model seems special.
The ST340014A (same as -RK which is boxed retail version) I've had for around 14 months as my main desktop system disk makes almost no sound, and this model was reported in other posts to be near silent. example:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =st340014a
Mine is so quiet in fact you can't tell when it's busy (accessing, seeking) without putting your ear against the case. In a quiet room with my very quiet PC running, you can not hear it accessing from 3 feet away. Performance is still reasonable (roughly within 5-25% of the new 7200 drives of various make) depending on application, and close on overall mixed use like system bootup time. If you need more performance and desire a very quiet drive, I wonder how 2 of these would do in raid 0. Also one could put another drive in a seperate channel for massive storage of many video files, etc.
For a typical home system drive of modest but good (modern) performance, it's a quiet and inexpensive choice.
Apples 7200.7 and Oranges 7200.7: ST340014A: I can't hear it
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Forgot to add: my computer is a sounding board
Ridgid aluminum case even with slightly loose side and front panel connections so that any vibration becomes amplified, and sounds are not muffled more than a slight amount by closing the case. No rubber gaskets, no modifications of any kind. So my computer is like a test bed for components: if they are quiet in my computer, they are pretty quiet.
The other sound reason (see what I did there? 
) for choosing a 7200.7, or any other Seagate, is their unmatched reliability, backed with a 5 year warranty.
"the Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 is more reliable than 90% of the other drives in the survey"
Vs.
"the Samsung SpinPoint P80 is more reliable than 51% of the other drives in the survey"
Drives need to be available for 18 months before SR reliability stats even out, otherwise you just get early failures counting. So no one quote back at me the 7200.8 percentage
) for choosing a 7200.7, or any other Seagate, is their unmatched reliability, backed with a 5 year warranty."the Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 is more reliable than 90% of the other drives in the survey"
Vs.
"the Samsung SpinPoint P80 is more reliable than 51% of the other drives in the survey"
Drives need to be available for 18 months before SR reliability stats even out, otherwise you just get early failures counting. So no one quote back at me the 7200.8 percentage