Noisiest hard disk you've used?

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 8:31 pm

Well, I wasn't paying attention to sound but recently, so I dunno how the old 80mb SCSI and 20mb MFM drives of yesteryear were.

But, I've got a dang good (bad?) one in use (when need be) now.

Quantum Bigfoot, 4gb.

Yeah, Bigfoot. As in 5.25" wide. The operating whine on it is louder than either of the Western Digital drives I've got. Its permeating. I can hear it 20' down the hallway.

And the seek noise is even better! Sounds like a bunch of gnomes in the computer with pickaxes. It resonates, clunks, and grunches it way towards the data its seeking. I may be able to compare (slightly) the whine to a Western Digi drive, but I've never heard a seek noise like this.

So, anyone have to deal with anything similarly horrendous? I'm sure there's some other Quantum Bigfoot horror stories out there.

edit add: This atrocity is in my domain server, an ancient Acer K6-2/266. Its been down for various reasons for over a month. I can't believe I used to have this thing on 24/7. And at the foot of my bed too! Fired it up to pull off some pictures, been going maybe 10 minutes now and I'm already going crazy from the whine. Need to get my butt in gear and get my dead Cuda IV in on RMA.

rp · Post by rp » Mon Dec 08, 2003 7:08 am

Idle noise: 1st gen Cheetah, seek noise: Atlas II.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 7:16 am

How do these compare to the bad IBM deskstars?

Seek wasn't as bad, but I'll bet they are at least as bad in idle. It really would drive me crazy. I'd type a paper for twenty minutes. Go lift weights, type another 20 or 30, go back and run the tread mill, etc. after a couple of hours I'd take a nap, go eat, and start again. After awhile I'd churn out a pretty crappy paper, but I got into decent shape.

I finally just started using the computers in the library

I used my computer as a door stop for a good part of the year.

Had to use it for my stupid CS classes though...

Have you been through the extension wire phase? I had a 15' DVI cable, a similar link of USB and threw all my laundry on top of the computer at the other end of the room. It would get really hot, but never burnt.

Ironically, when I first got the computer it was great, but it burnt up, they fixed it, burnt again, they fixed it, it was loud as hell!, and I put laundry on top of it. Never burnt up the third time

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 7:31 am

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9. Seeking is atrociously loud. Sounds like velcro ripping repeatedly.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 8:33 am

My old Samsung 4G - still works but what a whiner.

30G Western Digital - seek noise was terrible. It died on me last week. Good riddance I say.

mfeingol · Post by **mfeingol** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 10:03 am

davidstone28 wrote:Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9. Seeking is atrociously loud. Sounds like velcro ripping repeatedly.

I have a DM+9 and I can barely hear the seek noises at all.

Granted, the disk is lying upside-down on foam, tied down with elastic cords, inside a Coolcases D8000 with Acoustipack material all over. But it's still sooo much quieter than the WD1200BB that it replaced...

Sam Williams · Post by **Sam Williams** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 12:00 pm

davidstone28, time to break out the floppy discs and get Maxtor AMSET, methinks.

Seltzer · Post by **Seltzer** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 12:06 pm

Definitely, he must not have used many other harddrives if he thinks the DM+9 is the loudest one out there.

Before I built the computer I had now, it had a hard drive that, while quiet in idle, sounded like someone was shaking a pair of coffee cans full of nails when it started working. AMSET=very good.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 12:16 pm

Loudest seeks of any drive that I can remember came from a 1.xGB Bigfoot.

Loudest whine was probably from some Maxtor D740X's. I've never used SCSI HDDs.

Boomerang Rapido · Post by **Boomerang Rapido** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:02 pm

Well I never really payed much attention to it before I started looking into silencing my system, so I couldn't say if I've had worse, but....

With my latest upgrade I scrapped my Quantum fireball (30 GB) because I found it too loud. It must have made more noise than my ti4200.

It never seizes to amaze me how much changing hard drive can do for overall system noise!

the_smell · Post by **the_smell** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:11 pm

I get to use SGI's with SCSI HDs at work, I don't know the make but they're all on the loud side constantly - the external ones even have an extra winey 40mm fan to annoy you! Noise cancelling head phones have been employed, but it's nice to have an excuse to listen to music all day

Tigr · Post by **Tigr** » Tue Dec 09, 2003 1:33 pm

Zyzzyx wrote: Quantum Bigfoot, 4gb.

Yeah, Bigfoot. As in 5.25" wide. The operating whine on it is louder than either of the Western Digital drives I've got. Its permeating. I can hear it 20' down the hallway.

Yep, Quantum Bigfoot 1GB here

I wanted ti use it recently for a boot disk. The idea shrivelled and died within 2 seconds of the drive starting up

I also used to have things like Seagate Medalist which goes to say that Seagate was not always the quietest

EDIT: Hey, hey, I have a server at the office with 5 or 6 drives: SCSI, about 2 GB each. This thing can be used to illustrate the adverse effects of noise on peoples' health. Fortunately, we do not use it anymore...

colcha · Post by **colcha** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 12:53 am

The noisest hard drive that I ever had was a 160MB ESDI drive (circa 1991). I believe it was made by Conner.

Whenever it read or wrote data, it would make a loud chugging noise (not unlike that made by a locomotive train) that could be easily be heard in the other room. Worse yet, the whole computer case would shake voilently at the same time

I took the drive back to the shop and they simply said that it was a common "feature" of that model. Suffice to say, I was not surprised when it eventually died prematurely!

Comparing my Barracuda IV to that drive makes me realise just how much progress storage makers have made in the past 12 or so years...

GeekMoses · Post by **GeekMoses** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 8:10 am

I have this old 7200 WD hard drive, it makes a very loud whining noise. As for seek noise, I'd have to say my old bigfoot is the most iritating.

-GM

Inexplicable · Post by **Inexplicable** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 8:35 am

Hmm. My vote goes to a 232 MB Maxtor RLL drive, which I bought in the early 90s. I forget the model but it had eight platters and used up two 5" drive bays. It had a pleasant low-growling sound that made the computer sound very powerful. I could feel the seek vibration in the soles of my feet from a couple of meters away.

EDIT: Ok, I looked it up. It was a Maxtor XT-1240R. Full size 5" drive, 15 heads, 1024 cylinders, 26 sectors per track, formatted capacity 204 MB, seek time 28ms, power consumption 26.5W.

Ahh, the good old days.

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:21 am

My pick rests on a Maxtor 16.7GB 5400RPM HD that I have in my 500MHz Intel PIII machine from 1999 -- its seek noise is truly unbearable that you can hear it above the 45-50dB CPU cooler, 40dB PSU, and whiny GeForce 2 GTS cooling fan all wrapped in a Palo Alto ATCX minitower (akin to Dell Dimension 4100 series from a few years ago). Second place goes to the relatively low seek noise, yet very whiny Western Digital 120 GB Special Edition that broke on me a month ago.

tay · Post by **tay** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 11:13 am

1. 1st generation 10k rpm 4.8 GB cheetah.
2. These 2 maxtor 80 GB 5400 diamondmax HDs from 2 years ago are EXTREMELY whiny. Almost as bad as the cheetah. Luckily they store "data" *cough* warez *cough* on a linux server in the closet and are off most of the time.

Viperoni · Post by **Viperoni** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 9:09 pm

tay wrote:1. 1st generation 10k rpm 4.8 GB cheetah.
2. These 2 maxtor 80 GB 5400 diamondmax HDs from 2 years ago are EXTREMELY whiny. Almost as bad as the cheetah. Luckily they store "data" *cough* warez *cough* on a linux server in the closet and are off most of the time.

I hear you on the cheetah, those were LOUD.

I had a Seagate Elite 9.1gig HD.... 5.25", FULL HEIGHT. Yup, 2 full cdrom bays. Thing weighed at least 5lbs. What a monster. You knew when that thing was spinning up! Not particularily annoying over the cheetah's though

bigred · Post by **bigred** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 11:59 pm

Quantum Bigfoot and the Atlas II.

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 2:59 am

Same as you, Zyzzyx. Quantum Bigfoot 4GB. I still have it on the shelf, and it still works great too. But it is definitely the loudest harddrive I've ever heard, in both idle and seek.

blackstar · Post by **blackstar** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 6:50 am

all you guys with noisy seeks on current maxtors, you need to download AMSET or IBM's ftool..

o/ wise, theres no point in posting that Maxtor drives are noisy, unless youve set the seeks to quiet mode - it makes a huge difference.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 12:54 pm

blackstar wrote:all you guys with noisy seeks on current maxtors, you need to download AMSET or IBM's ftool..

o/ wise, theres no point in posting that Maxtor drives are noisy, unless youve set the seeks to quiet mode - it makes a huge difference.

Re: D740X Maxtors. AAM makes a difference but not a big difference, the seeks are still ridiculously loud and the whine is just atrocious.

DanceMan · Post by **DanceMan** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:43 pm

Overall, A Bigfoot 4.3G

For whine, a Fujitsu 1.7G

tavarua88 · Post by **tavarua88** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 12:54 am

agreed, i couldnt stand my maxtor, quiet mode or not. just got my samsung today, what a difference!

Ralf Hutter wrote:
blackstar wrote:all you guys with noisy seeks on current maxtors, you need to download AMSET or IBM's ftool..

o/ wise, theres no point in posting that Maxtor drives are noisy, unless youve set the seeks to quiet mode - it makes a huge difference.
Re: D740X Maxtors. AAM makes a difference but not a big difference, the seeks are still ridiculously loud and the whine is just atrocious.

angerboy · Post by **angerboy** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 2:51 am

Quantum Bigfoot 4.3GB, by far. I live in California and shipped it off to a relative a couple of thousand miles away. I sware that I can still hear that thing running sometimes.

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 11:27 am

I'd say the overall loudest, in terms of whine AND seek, was an old WD SCSI drive I had around 97'. Currently, my dad has a Maxtor Atlas 10k-III SCSI that seeks like you're blending frozen strawberries. Very snappy drive, but I'd go nuts with that thing within ten feet of me.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 11:39 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:Loudest seeks of any drive that I can remember came from a 1.xGB Bigfoot.

Loudest whine was probably from some Maxtor D740X's. I've never used SCSI HDDs.

I'll second the Maxtor D740X. But soon that drive will be retired and a Samsung SATA 0812C will come alive.

JimK · Post by **JimK** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 1:58 pm

Seagate Medalist 4321 that sounded like nails shaking in a tin can. Right now it's sitting on the desk next to my LaserJet printer while a Maxtor DM+8 does its job. Thanks to SPCR the Maxtor is sitting on foam at the bottom of the case with AAM enabled. Wow, what a change!

I may just fire up some old Seagate ST225s and ST240s this week to see how bad they were.

Jim

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