Imitating old USB2.0 external drives

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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nesber
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:05 pm

Imitating old USB2.0 external drives

Post by nesber » Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:52 pm

I have few USB 2.0 hard drives, and none of them produces any significant vibration.

I thought that any external drive will "excel" in the vibration department, being that it sits inside a plastic box that absorbs the vibration, and also because the entire thing is outside the pc chassis. i was wrong...

I recently bought an external enclosure for internal drive, and put one of my regular sata7200 drives inside. To my amazement, the vibration is awful. I assume that my old external drives do not produce any, because of their low speed(probably 5400).

The question: what is the best way to "imitate" usb2.0 drives, being that i can't buy them any more? buying 2.5 drives with 5400 rpm speed, and suitable enclosure will do the job?

edh
Posts: 1621
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Location: UK

Re: Imitating old USB2.0 external drives

Post by edh » Sun Oct 05, 2014 10:48 am

Looking outside of USB hard disks would be one thing to do. Just how big are the things that you are storing to USB and for what purpose? Is a pendrive an alternative or a network share?

You could try examining how the hard disks are mounted inside the caddy and modifying to reduce vibration. A suspension system will not be appropriate but maybe some carefully positioned soft rubber spacers where the screws attach would have a big impact.

Pappnaas
Posts: 726
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 11:23 am
Location: Germany

Re: Imitating old USB2.0 external drives

Post by Pappnaas » Sun Oct 05, 2014 11:53 am

Why can't you buy them any more?

USB 3.0 are doing the same job connected to an USB 2.0 port and deliver USB 2.0 speed.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Imitating old USB2.0 external drives

Post by Abula » Sun Oct 05, 2014 12:50 pm

Most of the 7200rpm 2.5 hdds do vibrate, and get much hotter than 5400rpm drive, making them not suited for a USB enclosure.

I used make my own USB3 extrenal drives buying whatever drive i liked at the time, and MSI Coolmax USB3 enlcosure, i like this as it used two usb connectors, not the small one that most premade come with. Initially i used Hitachi 5k500b, then 5k750, then 5k1500 and recently i bought Samsung M9T 2tb.

But there is little reason imo to do it anymore, specially when its cheaper to buy a prebuild one, like Seagate Expansion STBX2000401 2TB 2.5-Inch USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive

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