SATA vs ATA regarding noise

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:09 pm

Is it generally true that SATA is quieter than regular ATA drives?

I'm down to the point where my WD ATA drives are the loudest component in my system. I can either replace them with some Seagates as they go on sale, or wait for my next mb/cpu upgrade and go with SATA.

shathal · Post by **shathal** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:49 pm

Hmm - the fairest way to compare, would be to look at "same model" of ATA vs. same model of S-ATA.

Failing that, I'll be able to report "in general" terms in some while (ca. a month - I know it's a bit of time) on how that goes. I've got P-ATA Western Digital drives, which should be comparable in some regards to the S-ATA WD's I've shopped for my new system.

Since I'll need to pull data from the old drives, I might as well throw them for a while into the new system I'm building & compare.

It's some time off, but I'll try to report

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DonP · Post by **DonP** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:08 pm

I haven't personally compared but I'm guessing there is no difference. In fact all of the SATA drives I've seen (not that many though) are actually PATA drives with all the PATA electronics and then with a PATA to SATA adaptor.
I'm guessing some people may comment that SATA is better because the cable is smaller and therefore airflow is better.. but with good cable folding (see some of the galleries) PATA is just fine for airflow.

shathal · Post by **shathal** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:59 pm

True, but with S-ATA you've got a good meter of cable you can play with, rather than 50 cm of cable you usually get with P-ATA. Folding is nice if you've got a low number of devices to attach ...

.

I am not entire certain that I can get away with it

.

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:36 pm

I had a friend who said his new WD SATA drives very quiet but he may have a different threshold. Also, he was long overdue for an upgrade.

I guess it would take a silence freak (like everyone here) buying a WD SATA. It would probably be easy for them to tell right away.

I'm just trying to plan my upgrade path. Either I get some Seagate ATAs now and migrate them to the new rig down the road, or I save up and get the mb/cpu/ram and new SATA at the same time.

Belgarion · Post by **Belgarion** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 7:20 pm

PretzelB wrote:I had a friend who said his new WD SATA drives very quiet but he may have a different threshold.

He may be right.

I have two older ATA WD drives (13.6GB and 40GB) in my home computer, and the idle "platter whine" is really starting to get on my nerves. I can hear the whine from the next room through the open doorway. Decoupling them from the case doesn't seem to help.

However, my new computer at work (a Dell Optiplex) has a 120GB WD SATA drive (7200 rpm), which I CAN'T HEAR while idling over the normal office noise, even with my ear up to the front of the case (where the drive is mounted). Even the seeks are very quiet (I have to put my ear near the case to hear them), perhaps due to Dell's case design isolating internal noise. I looked the drive over and couldn't find any mention of the bearing type, but I'd be willing to bet money it's got fluid bearings (FDB). I don't see how it could be so quiet otherwise.

While I may not get another WD drive (unless I succomb to the Raptors!), I would definitely only buy an FDB drive from now on. The Samsung P80 that everyone talks about is an awfully good deal at about $65 for 80GB (from Newegg). X-bit Labs recently did a big HD round-up, and it was the only "quiet" drive in the higher performance rankings.

jonasy · Post by **jonasy** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 10:17 am

It can also be the other way.. Seagate ships their S-ATA drives with AAM set for max. speed, rather than quiet. The P-ATA drive on the other hand is set for min. noise. The AAM on Seagate is not adjustable by end consumer due to legal problems. However, Seagate can pre-adjust this before shipping them. _Large_ quantities of S-ATA Seagate’s can therefore be ordered with AAM set for minimum noise. More information is available on the forum. This only regards Seagate AFAIK.

I'd stick to the Samsung S-ata drives, but don't go S-ata for perfomance, they are actually not that faster. But the cables are nice, though

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 11:09 am

Well the noise comes from the motor/platters and head movements, which are interface independent. So in theory there is no fundamental difference. However, as SATA are more modern there is the chance the manufacturers specified quieter (if they think that is progress) motors and/or have better engineering of the drive wrt acoustics.

Then again, they may be really cheap (better engineering to save a buck rather than improve acoustics) and have gone for noisier motors, or as per jonasy the AAM may be different in which case all bets are off!