Suspending Enclosed HDDs

Caudipteryx zoui · Post by **Caudipteryx zoui** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:44 am

Those with HDD enclosures like the SmartDrive and SilentBox, what is stopping you from suspending your HDDs after enclosing them?

Are you satisfied with the airborne/vibrational acoustic performance of your enclosed drives whilst grommetted/screwed in your 5.25" bays? Have you tried suspending the enclosures and not noticied any positive difference? Does your case lack the space, even after internal modifications, to suspend 5.25 HDD enclosures to your satisfaction? Is the degree of modification required too off-putting?

I'd like to know why in the age of custom HDD cages when most people use midtowers I don't see more people doing this. Perhaps my impression is not accurate or my reasoning is not sound.

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:37 pm

What's to keep you from getting an external enclosure, modding it to use heatpipes, and burying it in a closet, with a cord running out?

jamesm · Post by **jamesm** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:09 pm

i thought about suspending a box too. It would be kinda tricky though because the box is 5.25 inches, while the anchor point for most suspensions is 3.5 inches.

Post by **Rusty075** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 6:15 am

I have a suspended, enclosed HDD in my main system. I actually took it a bit further than that even, my system is a 2.5" momentus 100gig drive cushioned with sorbothane blocks, inside an AC Ryan 3.5" HDD enclosure with the extra space at the ends of the enclosure filled with acoustic foam, and then that is suspended on its side across 4 5.25" bays with stretch magic. The result: zero noise, zero vibration.

OmegaZero · Post by **OmegaZero** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 6:20 am

Rusty075 wrote:I have a suspended, enclosed HDD in my main system. I actually took it a bit further than that even, my system is a 2.5" momentus 100gig drive cushioned with sorbothane blocks, inside an AC Ryan 3.5" HDD enclosure with the extra space at the ends of the enclosure filled with acoustic foam, and then that is suspended on its side across 4 5.25" bays with stretch magic.

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 7:45 pm

Rusty075 wrote:I have a suspended, enclosed HDD in my main system. I actually took it a bit further than that even, my system is a 2.5" momentus 100gig drive cushioned with sorbothane blocks, inside an AC Ryan 3.5" HDD enclosure with the extra space at the ends of the enclosure filled with acoustic foam, and then that is suspended on its side across 4 5.25" bays with stretch magic. The result: zero noise, zero vibration.

0v3rkill to the max....

akio · Post by **akio** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 12:04 am

Deskstar T7K250 160GB (HDT722516DLA38) + SmartDrive

My enclosed HDD vibrated the side panel when it was screwed in the 5.25" bay, so I thought I wanted to suspend them. But I haven't come up with the accepatble formation in my relatively small case(W18 D43 H42 cm) yet. They are laid on a artificial lawn on floor of the case at the moment and it's unexpectedly good. It might be permanent.

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:29 am

"Artificial lawn"... now there's an idea and a half!

Soft, automatically weight adjusting suspension... with airflow.

Nice one akio, I think you'd find it hard to improve on that unless you needed something more solid for transport.

Pete

akio · Post by **akio** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 3:30 am

Actually, it's not my idea, Pete. I read somewhere in Japanese site.
If I would transport this pc, it would take half an hour to fix this and that beforehand.

Caudipteryx zoui · Post by **Caudipteryx zoui** » Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:00 pm

If anyone wants to actually admit they suspended their 5.25"-enclosed HDD, please come forward.

So far no one has come on record indicating they have (in this thread at least).

dshao1 · Post by **dshao1** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:53 am

I have 2 Samsung 160GB drives (w/JVC motors) enclosed in SmartDrive 2002Cs. The SmartDrives stand on one edge, on top of of some foam in the 3.5" drive bay section. (I have a no-name, tower, case that can hold five 3.5" drives in the front bottom section of the case, so there is enough room to stand the Smartdrives upright on one edge).

I put one piece of foam on each of the four sides of the cage (front, back, right and left) to make sure they don't touch the cage or side panels. I also placed a piece of foam in between the 2 SmartDrives so they don't touch each other.

It's not pretty, but it works to reduce the vibration dramatically. When I put my hand on the case, right next to where the SmartDrives are located, I can't feel any vibration. Sorry, I don't have pictures to show.

P.S. I took out the front intake fan because I didn't think it would do any good, as the SmartDrives totally block the fan's opening into the case. The hard drives are always between 41C - 44C

agus_c_o · Post by **agus_c_o** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:57 am

here is my suspended enclosed drive hope it helps http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=24644