External USB 3.0 HDD enclosure with elastic suspension

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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runeks
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:07 am
Location: Denmark

External USB 3.0 HDD enclosure with elastic suspension

Post by runeks » Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:01 am

Hi guys

I live in a single room apartment, where I have a silent (no-fan) Intel NUC (in a passive Akasa Tesla H case) that's always running. Doesn't make a noise and I'm very happy with it.

I would, however, very much like to add a few terabytes of storage to that. The external Seagate HDD I have makes way too much noise, so I'm looking for an external HDD enclosure -- preferably with an USB 3.0 interface -- with elastic suspension.

Has anyone come across such a thing?

Vicotnik
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Location: Sweden

Re: External USB 3.0 HDD enclosure with elastic suspension

Post by Vicotnik » Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:50 am

Normal external drive on a brick of foam? :) Don't think you will find an external enclosure with any meaningful internal suspension.

runeks
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:07 am
Location: Denmark

Re: External USB 3.0 HDD enclosure with elastic suspension

Post by runeks » Sun Apr 27, 2014 7:59 am

Yeah, Google certainly isn't coming up with anything useful.

I've ordered one of these: Image
http://www.acousticpc.com/silex_acousti ... osure.html

They're pretty cheap, so I figure it can't hurt to try it out. I'll report back on the noise level (if I remember).

I recalled that my NUC has an extra SATA port that I can use for the drive, so I won't need the USB 3.0 interface after all.

runeks
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:07 am
Location: Denmark

Re: External USB 3.0 HDD enclosure with elastic suspension

Post by runeks » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:55 am

So, to update (I just got a PM asking for an update), the silicone enclosure is fairly good, especially for its price.

I sleep three meters away from the HDD, and it's barely noticeable in my apartment with my windows closed (although my apartment is in the city, so the base noise level is probably relatively high). What you can hear is basically the plates spinning inside, and no low frequency humming or anything (like you would get from a large vibrating surface). Exactly the same you would hear if you hold the HDD in your hand while it's on, or suspend it from some elastic bands or something. So if you want to know the noise level, hang a HDD up in some string or elastic bands, and it'll be more or less like that with these silicone enclosures.

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