Sorbothane Hard Drive Box?

CroSsFiRE2.0 · Post by **CroSsFiRE2.0** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:28 pm

Well, just started to post on SPCR forums after creeping for a while and I was wondering if anybody has had any success in building a hard drive enclosure/box to dampen sound. I'm thinking of building a foam box lined with sorbothane to dampen the noise from the hard drive since my Seagate 320GB doesn't come with AAM and getting a new hard drive isn't an option. My only concern about this box is the potential for overheating and it would be great to get some thoughts and opinions about it.

Thanks in advance

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:34 pm

Why a foam box? Isn't dense enough to absorb any real sound and will just insulate the drive keeping all the heat inside (bad). A better solution would be to use "alleycat's enclosure" and if there is still vibration being transmitted, place the enclosure on sorbothane blocks.

However, what noise are you trying to eliminate. Is it hard drive seeks (grinding/clacking noise) or do you have a lot of idle whine (high pitched hum)? If it's the seeks, then the best option is to simply suspend the hard drive using some elastic material. If you don't want to go to that effort, try getting some very soft sorbothane (the softer the better) and placing small (1" square) block at the four corners of the drive.

What case do you have? Do you have adequate room do do suspension or soft mounting? Any more info will help get better answers.

CroSsFiRE2.0 · Post by **CroSsFiRE2.0** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:55 pm

I currently place my hard drive on a sheet of foam at the bottom of my case so seek noise is much less, I'm trying to find a way to remove the idle whine, thus the 'box'. Of all the hard drives, my Seagate 320GB has AAM disabled for some odd reason (yes, I checked elsewhere, every one of those hard drives have it disabled)My case is just a generic case so airflow and acoustics are pretty bad but the only thing thats audible other than the Corsair 450vx fan is the hard drive. My basis for the sorbothane box is http://www.silentpcreview.com/article67-page1.html instead of using rubber. I presume building a box for it as is would result in a dead drive in a short time and I was wondering how i would go about cooling. The rubber box article mentions using a fan but I'm not sure how that works to cool it since the hard drive is inside the box.(Any1 got pics of the front?). As for alleycats gelpack box, I'm a bit worried about the gelpacks breaking inside the enclosure after extended use so I'd like to stay away from any liquids in case if that's possible.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:24 am

That's why you need to get the medical-grade packs. They are made of very durable films that can handle numerous amounts of hot/cold cycles (which will destroy most films) and are very tough to puncture.

There are some HDD enclosures out there, but most won't do too much for 3.5" drives and damping idle whine, but maybe they're worth a try (Scythe Quiet Drive), but to be honest, it'd be much easier to save up for a couple weeks and get a new Western Digital 500GB GP drive for ~$60 USD. You'll never hear it, especially if it's suspended.