SPCR

Steve_Y wrote:The last 3.5" drive I tried in a quiet PC was a 500Gb Western Digital Caviar SE16. Even carefully enclosed it was much louder than 2x 2.5" drives, and I was unhappy with its temperature in a low airflow system.

Obviously certain newer 3.5" drives are a fair bit quieter, I might give them a try in a future build, but their heat is still an issue.

sounds like you got a dud drive then...RMA that shit. And the heat of 3.5" drives is a bare minimum these days...they easily stay under 40C when suspended in 5.25in bays (with no air blowing over them).

Most hdd's are rated for temps pushing 50C I belive, so heat really isn't an issue these days. That said, putting one in a SQD and not having any air blow over it might change that. Anyone try that yet?

Either way, the 2.5" sqd is definitely sexy, there's no getting around it :D

i have a wd6400aacs(2 platter, 5400rpm, ~1yo) in an sqd.

temps are excellent with no airflow, sitting at the bottom of an open case it is warmish to the touch and smart reports temps typically 7~8C above ambient. putting the drive into an sqd dropped the reported temps by 4~5C.
its still the loudest thing in my pc, louder than a smooth 80mm sleeve @760rpm in the psu and the 92mm alpine64 @700rpm -bare in mind though that this is in an open case.

the new generation low rpm drives should be quieter, but i think a 2.5" will be even more so.

Would a 12.5mm-thick drive (e.g., WD Blue 750Gb) fit? I believe someone mentioned that a Velociraptor does fit (just doesn't get cooled well), so my guess is that the answer is yes...

shleepy wrote:Would a 12.5mm-thick drive (e.g., WD Blue 750Gb) fit? I believe someone mentioned that a Velociraptor does fit (just doesn't get cooled well), so my guess is that the answer is yes...

It really would not fit well at all in the inner box, but if you left the inner box off, then probably no problem. How this would affect noise reduction.... probably not that much.

I got shipping price from Scythe EU for 3 SQD. They sell the SQD for equivalent of US $49 + 17% VAT. Shipping - $52 for 3 drives with regular air (7-14 days, no tracking) and $112 for UPS with tracking. Also plus tax.

3pcs x Quiet Drive 2.5 by UPS = ($49 + $8.33) x 3 + ($112 + $19.04) = $303.03
3pcs x Quiet Drive 2.5 by Regular Air = ($49 + $8.33) x 3 + ($52 + $8.84) = $232.83

I think the article needs to be corrected in this part: Street Price US$30~40.
Also worth to mention that the product is discontinued.

micksh wrote:I think the article needs to be corrected in this part: Street Price US$30~40.
Also worth to mention that the product is discontinued.

AFAIK, it is not discontinued. Also $37.50 is the price clearly marked at the US Scythe site.

I have a private email from a Scythe principal in Japan who wrote:

We've tried to sell QuietDrive2.5 in US and Canada.
The US distributors are somehow not really forgiving as Japan or
EU it seems for us. We've been trying in the same way for
all the regions, but by far US and Canada is the toughest.
I'll try see what is the current situation with the QuietDrive2.5
in our US office.

My take is that anyone in the US or Canada who wants any should email immediately to both US and Japan Scythe to let them know how many you wish to buy at the price we all thought it would be ($30~40) -- or at least close to it.

[email protected]
[email protected]

There's a discussion of the 3.5" version in this viewtopic.php?t=32220 thread.

I use a SQD2.5 in my main computer for the past 2 years. It was purchased from directron.com. I recalled it was on sale even, as it appeared that nobody wanted them back then.

Excellent product I may comment.

I am looking for one or two more SQD2.5s recently and could find nobody in the US that sell them. The prices on Ebay from European sellers are just too ridiculously high.

Maybe we can organize a SPCR group buy.

I'm using SQD2.5 inside SQD3.5 for about 2 years now! Yes, I know - it's too much for average PC - but I wanted ultimate silence. I have enclousures on bottom of PC where is almost no airflow, but HDDs still stay in idle at about 30 - 33 degC and load about 45 degC.

Better than my notebook, where HDD idles at 50 and load at 55.

I finally found one in the US. Aerocooler.com has them in stock now. Great product - 7200RPM drive now silent. No sound at all, before the enclosure the seeks were annoying and now that is gone - completely. Very happy and will be getting more if I get more drives in the future.
Steve

Anyone have recommendations for a product that does something like this, one which is currently available in the US?

Scythe Himuro Mini Hard Disk Cooler looks like a replacement.

MikeC wrote:Scythe Himuro Mini Hard Disk Cooler looks like a replacement.

Thanks for the tip. Looks good.

If the Scythe Himuro Mini is anything like it's 3.5" counterpart, it will be all metal, and do nothing to reduce noise. The rubber mounts will also be too hard to be useful. I tried the 3.5" version a couple of years ago (using a Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB), and it actually made the hard drive noise worse (more echo, sounded tinnier).

I have a "Himuro mini" order arriving in the next few days. I'll report what I find.

Just set up my "HIMURO-mini" with a "Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM". It eliminated the idle whoosh/hum and greatly muffled the seeks. I could still hear an occasional noise that may be head unloading. I'm pleased.

Oddly, it seems that it's designed for most of the padding to be *above* the drive, so I imagine it'll work better upside-down. The padding is sticky, so it'll suspend the HD for some time, but I imagine the HD will detach at some point.

Note that this HD isn't the best 2.5" drive ever, so the effect maybe more subtle with a better drive.