SmartDrive2002, still king?

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:10 am

Anyone found a better enclosure than the SmartDrive2002?

I like that it silences both high pitched idle whine and seek noise, but I wished it was better at cooling.

-Ed

ozdoc · Post by **ozdoc** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:06 pm

I'm interested in the same question, for Raptor enclosure.

Does anyone have head-to-head experience with the Smartdrive v Scythe box v Nexus drive-a-way?

Mike C - time for a 'sound off' v cooling v cost comparison?

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:34 am

Sorry, nothing to add, but I'd love to see a review of the newer Smart Drive 2002C with the copper liner. It's not too clear how the copper lining connects to the outside of the case if at all, and how much better it cools than the original design.

sunefred · Post by **sunefred** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:18 am

This is something I am very interested in aswell. What are the contestants though? Googling a bit I cameup with 3 similair products:

Smart Drive 2002C
Nexus Drive-a-Way
AC Ryan XTOR Xilencer
MCubed hdd vertical silence

Any others?

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:53 am

Here is a german review comparing the mCubed Vertical Silence, Scythe Silent Box SBX-1000 and ilentmaxx HD-Silencer Rev. 2. Even though it's in german you can always see the numbers

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:47 pm

Of course, the best cooling one was the loudest.

I'd stay far far away from SilentMaxx, just based on their piss poor customer "service" in the past. That is if you consider stealing your stuff to be "service". :rolleyes:

-Ed

Pgh · Post by **Pgh** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:05 am

I've had a non-copper SmartDrive for a couple years and just bought a Nexus DriveAway.

I woud say the SmartDrive is still a little better at reducing noise and keeps temperatures reasonable, but it's a close call.

One thing I don't like about the DriveAway is the way SATA drives connect to the enclosure on the inside. There is a very short and stiff SATA cable that when connected, and the drive is mounted inside the box, it seems to put a lot of lateral stress on the drive's SATA connector. I worry that it could eventually break the drive's connector.

I don't have any sound measuring tools, so my judgements on the relative noise levels are purely subjective.

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:54 am

The Drive-A-Way is however not compatible with a Raptor since it cools too poorely.

eckre · Post by **eckre** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:42 am

I have two Silentmaxx HDD Silencer Rev 2.0

Unlike the:"

Nexus Drive-A-Way
SilentDrive Copper
Scythe Quiet Drive

It makes your HDD quieter AND cooler, which is important to at least me. why should I enclose my HDD and bake it? - Heat is the enemy of parts, etc.

Silentmaxx's poor customer service? WTF? It's a solid state part, what do you need support on? It's as simple as a big heatsink, even if you drove over the whole enclosure with a dumptruck, I don't think you could damage anything. I have absolutley no clue why you would even need any support, put in HDD, screw shut. It comes with pictorial instructions if you don't know where the hdd goes... (the big empty space in the middle) I'm sorry but I'm just clueless here to their lack of support for this item. You buy them from http://www.quietpcusa.com/ anyways, I'm sure they'd help you with anything you needed.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:41 pm

Anyone try a Raptor in a SmartDrive2002?

I'm thinking of getting a Raptor, but not sure if the SmartDrive2002 will just bake it.

-Ed

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:58 pm

I used a Raptor in a SD - temps weren't any different to my memory. The only reason I took it out was because I switched back over to my Samsung as my only drive for awhile - the Raptor's quiet, but the idle "whoosh" and seek noise are still more audible vs. a Samsung in the same setup. Of course now, I have both drives plugged in with my Rator as my primary and I can hear the seeks quite well in its currently unenclosed form. I'm going to do some backing up and a reinstall of Windows, so I'll probably just take the opportunity to take the Raptor offline again for the forceable future.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:29 pm

I'm wondering if the Scythe Quiet Drive will be an improvement over the SmartDrive2002.

It's nearly half the price of the SilentDrive2002C as well.

What's the "quietest" Raptor out there now? Relatively speaking, of course.

-Ed

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:55 am

I'm also intrigued by the Scythe Quiet Drive, since it's available for only 44 euros here. Currently my raptor is ghetto suspended and I am wondering, if the Quiet Drive and moving it up to 5.25" slot will actually make it louder because of possible resonance. It could also possibly bake the drive since my case has low airflow. I am so tempted, but not really willing to gamble...

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:13 am

Maybe SPCR should do a group review of the various HDD enclosures available (SD 2002, Scythe, Nexus, etc).

eXa · Post by **eXa** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 3:54 pm

well, wee have this:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=32509

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:55 pm

eXa wrote:well, wee have this:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=32509

Yes, but it is missing the SmartDrive2002.

-Ed

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:46 am

Edwood wrote:
eXa wrote:well, wee have this:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=32509
Yes, but it is missing the SmartDrive2002.

-Ed

Yeah, nici did a nice job (man he owns many hd enclosures...), but personally I'd like the test to be a bit more thorough. For instance I'd like the test rig to be a pretty close to the ideal/average spcr rig. Let's say Antec P150/solo, Ninja, Nexus fans @ 7v, gpu cooled with zalman vf-900 etc... for example. This would give us a test rig with a realistic airflow (for temp comparison) and low enough noise level, so the comparison/test can be made while the HD is mounted inside the system, plus you can easily make a suspension vs enclosure in 5.25" slot vs enclosure on foam/suspended comparison.

The hard drive would ideally be something like the Maxtor DM10 SPCR had in their review:
"The DiamondMax's seek noise is loud and disruptive." "Even the second sample still had more vibration than any other drive in the lab, although the difference was not as marked as in the first sample." And according to Anandtech tests, it is also one of the hottest drives there is. It would be much easier to distinguish (and record) the subtle acoustic differencies and the thermal differencies would be more obvious with this drive then with nici's Samsung.

Well this kind of test is highly unlikely to ever happen, since we all know that enclosures are expensive, usually have poor availability etc... but a man can dream, can he...

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:55 am

Plus it would have SPCR rigorous noise measurements for their noise reduction abilities (or lack of).

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:44 pm

Erssa wrote: The hard drive would ideally be something like the Maxtor DM10

How about a few years old DM9 120Gb or a Raptor 740?

250Gb DM10 is also doable

Tested in my sig system, with the bottom intake blocked and the lowest 5,25" slot open. I posted the results of the samsung+scythe with that setup in a couiple other enclosure threads, bare drive was 1,5Â°c cooler than the drive in the scythe, hardly significant.

It would get a x800GTO with VF700Cu since im getting rid of my second machine. The DM9 would be best for testing though, it has the loudest whoosh and seeks. Though with AAM enabled the seeks are quieter than my P80s..

If we want o get really complicated i can start comparing the noise to a 120mm Nexus, S-Flex or tri-cool. Like how the noise is compared to the fan at 7V for example.