smartdrive 2002

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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SungHyun7
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2002 1:45 pm
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smartdrive 2002

Post by SungHyun7 » Sat Dec 14, 2002 8:34 pm

so any verdict on the smart drive 2002 yet?

does anyone have it?

i would like a second opinion before purchasing one myself.

thanks!

sgtpokey
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Location: Dublin, CA / Liverpool UK

smart drive 2002

Post by sgtpokey » Sun Dec 15, 2002 12:23 am

I've just placed an old WD 40gb 7200 hard drive into this enclosure. My case is quieter than stock systems, but is not a hard core silent case -- rather it's a quiet, overclockable machine.

The WD drive used to have a very noticeable high pitched whine. Now, I can't hear the whine, which makes me happy. In fact, the only time I can barely hear anything from the Smart Drive is when I run a file search.

The fit was very snug and the 2002 model has those ridges on the sides to presumably improve it's heatsink capabilities. One thing to note, if you're using a rounded IDE cable, make sure you have one of those flexible rounded cables that provide a flat area near the connector. When you screw the top of the Smart drive down, your hard drive is completely enclosed except for a very thin, flat slit where your cables for your power lead and IDE lead sit. If your IDE ribbon is round with that rubber-like cover it may not sit well in the slit. Fortunately the new flexible rounded cables (encased in a clothelike mesh, fanning out to a flat ribbon near the connector) fit very well.

Temperature wise, the drive doesn't *seem* to be in distress at all but I have no testing instruments for this so I'm going by "touch" after a few hours of general use. My case is fairly well ventilated with 4 low rpm fans (1 top exhaust). I used to have the top exhaust fan unpowered but I've powered it on since that extra airflow ought to help out the smart drive.

I also have the smart drive mounted so that its face is exposed to the outside world. In my lian li case, I couldn't get it to sit flush with the rest of my drives - it's a bit regressed. This does, however, open up a small air channel to further improve cooling. I actually wanted to cover up the smart drive with my case's drive cover, but I couldn't move the smart drive back enough to allow the Lian-Li drive cover to snap into its mooring.

So the only con i have with it so far is the black aluminum front (with it's Smart Drive logo) does not match my silver aluminum Lian Li case.

I am very pleased with the reduction in noise without any drastic increase in drive temps.

When I get my hands on a Seagate SATA drive, I'll verify that the enclosure also works with a SATA cable, it looks like it should, but who knows?

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