Raptor 74GB - How bad is it?

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:25 am

Well, I have a Samsung 160GB SATA with JVC motor. The drive has been extremely quiet at the begining and it's a little noisier now, but not too bad as I am not a silent freak

However, I NEED SPEED, I desperately need a very fast drive with quick access times and I am looking into WD Raptor 74GB which has fluid bearing... It was reviewed at some places to have a very good noise characteristic, I know it wont be on the list of silent HDDs, but HOW BAD is it?

I am mostly concerned about idle as I dont care when the drive seeks while I am working on it. How does the idle compare to a Samsung 160GB with JVC motor? Is it tolerable?!

Thnx

Alev · Post by **Alev** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:01 am

I had these exact two drives in my system.

Idle noise of Raptor might be higher then that of Samsung, but subjectively, I was more annoyed with whine of the Samsung.

As for seek noise, Raptor is a lot louder when hardmounted, but ones suspendedit is suprisingly quiet.

In general, I liked acoustics of suspened Raptor over that of Samsung with JVC motor.

matt_garman · Post by **matt_garman** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:25 am

Alev wrote:Idle noise of Raptor might be higher then that of Samsung, but subjectively, I was more annoyed with whine of the Samsung.

Can you describe the characteristics of the idle noise of the Raptor? Is there any whine or otherwise obnoxious high-pitched frequencies coming from the Raptor? Is it a gentle whirrring? Do the sounds oscillate?

Right now I have a Fujitsu MAP3367NP (10k SCSI drive) which whines pretty badly. (Softmounting had no effect on the idle whine.) I'd like to replace this drive, but not lose the "enterprise class" characteristic of my main drive.

Matt (who likes whining about hard drive whine)

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:48 pm

Alev wrote:I had these exact two drives in my system.

Idle noise of Raptor might be higher then that of Samsung, but subjectively, I was more annoyed with whine of the Samsung.

As for seek noise, Raptor is a lot louder when hardmounted, but ones suspendedit is suprisingly quiet.

In general, I liked acoustics of suspened Raptor over that of Samsung with JVC motor.

Thanks man, so if I can tolerate Samsung JVC, I should be fine with Raptor 74?

peerke · Post by **peerke** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:48 pm

My Raptor makes sort of a whooshing sound comparable to how I remember a panaflo L1A at 12 volts to sound like. Very audible but smooth and not unpleasant. Haven't suspended it yet but it's sitting on foam which calms down the seeking noises a little but doesn't eliminate my case vibrating.

I bought the Raptor because of it's speed and quality. The setup in my signature was inaudible because the central building ventilation system raises my ambiant noise quite a bit but with the Raptor and new Enermax noisetaker PSU I can hear it again. So I'm happy to be facing a challenge again. In the coming weeks I will be swapping fans and enclosing and suspending harddisks until I'm back to inaudible again.

IMOM · Post by **IMOM** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 2:42 am

I have the 74GB Raptor suspended on rope in my case lined with acoustical foam. I drilled out the rivets and removed the drive cage of the SLK3700BQE case. The Raptor is the noisiest part in my system. At idle I don't hear it but when the Raptor seeks and writes...you definitely hear it and it gets annoying for me. Right now I have a power supply channel so I don't hear the power supply and I only have two 120 globe fans (one for the exhaust and one for the cpu) in my system (besides the power supply but the noise been taken care of with acoustical foam in a power supply air channel).

I suggest you stick with the samsung 160 drives...I have two one sata and one pata both with NIDEC motors and I can't hear them except when you are 6 inches to drive with the case off. I thought about the DMAX10 16MB cache drives...perhaps it's an option for you. I'm trying to get rid of my Raptor for DMAX10 drive.

Derekasaurus Rex · Post by **Derekasaurus Rex** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:38 pm

I just bought a 160GB Samsung (NIDEC) to replace a 74GB Raptor. My need for silence beat out my need for performance. I find the idle noise of the Raptor acceptable, but the seek noise is very pronounced, certainly louder than any 7200 RPM drive I have ever owned. Mine is hard mounted, so I'm sure it could be made quieter using any number of techniques, though achieving total silence may be a challenge to say the least. It also runs hot in my SFF case so I had to add fan, which only increases noise. (Though heat wouldn't be a problem in a full-size, well-ventilated case.) But if you want performance, it delivers.

Alev · Post by **Alev** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:52 pm

alexb

If you can tolerate Samsung with JVC motor, you should be fine with a SUSPENDED Raptor.

There's been quite a discussion in this forum about effect of suspention on Raptor. Use search and see for yourself

matt_garman
I can't be presice anymore about characteristics of the idle noise of the Raptor's as I sold the drive resently. If I remember it correctly it was whooshing and constant sound.

The Instigator · Post by **The Instigator** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:44 pm

I have both of these drives as well. My samsung (JVC) and Raptor are both very quiet at idle. It sounds mostly like wind noise. The raptor seeks are very noticeable whether suspended on foam or in a mounted zalman heatpipe cooler. The samsung sounds the same whether seeking or at idle(low whooshing).

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:40 am

Well, what do you know. I run a Raptor and a Samsung as well. (Raptor 740, Samsung V 160, Barracuda V 120.)

As you can see I have HDDs of every speed. The Raptor @ 10.000 need lot of cooling, which adds up on the noise problem. The Barracuda need standard cooling. The Spinpoint V @ 5400 need no cooling whatsoever as long as it hangs freely. (That's a great advantage and makes the Samsung V-series the King of quiet backup drives.)

The Raptor vibrates very much. Mounting it hard is not an option.
Hanging it in soft cords pushes the drive into the reasonably quiet section but not into the truly quiet. Even if the noise isn't all that loud, it's of the annoying type. You'll hear it over the fans.
If you have a w/c setup I'd recommend cooling it with water and wrap it up.