Mine, (74 gigger) is only bested by a spinpoint p80 in the same system - my old quda IV and an IBM deathstar is noticeably louder, especially in idle (I think the quda has gotten worse over time). The Raptor seeks are quite audible, but not irritatingly so to my ears, and it's not grinding away much...

I'll throw in my 2 €ents. I got a replacement drive last week for a 74-gig Raptor that was dead on arrival. I've run it on foam rubber and in a zalman drive cooler/noise dampener (well...). There is no whine what so ever on my sample, but the seeks are about as loud as the ordinary oldish 80-gig PAT...