WD raptor 74gb and P180

Rocc Howse · Post by **Rocc Howse** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:27 pm

With this hard drive inside this case would a smart drive enclosure (blue one) be worth it and would there be any noticeable differencE?

TheAtomicKid · Post by **TheAtomicKid** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:37 pm

I've never used a smartdrive enclosure, so I'm not sure how well it would hold up. I do have two raptors, and I can tell you... as long as they get airflow, theydo just fine... but if you, say, sit them on a piece of foam or something, in a location that doesnt get a breeze, they get warm, fast.

Have you tried suspending it instead? I haven't suspended mine, so not sure how much of a difference it would make, noise-wise. I don't find the noise from mine irritating at all... I generally only notice them when they seek. Ask me again after I replace my northbridge heatsink/fan and my stock cpu cooler (coming in a few days)

TAK

for what it's worth... and again, I havent actually USED a smartdrive enclosure of any type... I wouldnt put em inside a box without thorough testing for heat buildup. They do get very warm, if you sit them where they dont get airflow.

TomZ · Post by **TomZ** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:52 pm

I just built a machine with a P150 with a 150GB Raptor suspended with the included elastic bands. It was generally inaudible until I listened with my ear about 1" from the outside of the case, at which point I could hear only a faint rotational sound.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:31 pm

My experience (150GB Raptor in a P150) is that when suspended all motor noise and hum is gone, but the seeks and very, very audible over the rest of the system. Even with AAM enabled on the drive (a setting which frankly appears to make *no* difference) the seeks are still audible across the room.

They're not overly offensive (sort of a light tickling sound), but they are the only intermittent noise source from the PC, and I'd like to be rid of them if I could do so without major a rebuild.

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 1:22 am

You can effectively silence the Raptor by pulling out the lower drive cage and setting the Raptor on an acoustipack block on the bottom of the case. With the lower Nexus fan at it's lowest setting it's enough to cool both the Raptor and the fanless PSU I'm using.

TheAtomicKid · Post by **TheAtomicKid** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 3:01 am

AAM for the raptor series is disabled. It's an enterprise drive, generally intended for workstations, where it'd be handy, and low end servers, where they're generally stuffed in a computer room. I can't remember for absolute _certain_, but I vaguely remember reading it somewhere in western digitals documentation. In any case, changing the setting via the utility has no discernable effect, in case you were wondering if you simply had an 'off' drive. I have two.. neither quiets down one bit.

TAK

krille · Post by **krille** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 3:13 am

I'm very interesting myself in P180 and WD150. Is it the same thing here? Inaudible, unless seeking? Because I have no problems with temporary noise during seeks. It's the constant noise when idle (ie when browsing web, writing an essay, programming, working or while gaming and map is loaded already etc noise bothers me). Pulling out lower drive cage and placing HDDs on a pad, mat or a piece of foam sounds good. But will the WD150 be sufficiently cooled, even with the fan running on low?

Wouldn't a Smart Drive 2002C or equivalent enclosure be even better (although placed in the same spot, maybe)?

Bar81 wrote:You can effectively silence the Raptor by pulling out the lower drive cage and setting the Raptor on an acoustipack block on the bottom of the case. With the lower Nexus fan at it's lowest setting it's enough to cool both the Raptor and the fanless PSU I'm using.

YOU! Hey. I had no idea you were into silent computing as well. Anyway, how do you power that rig of yours with a tiny little 300W passive PSU? :drool: :slobber:

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:05 pm

*Bump*

I was about to ask the same thing but no point opening a new thread.

One question (on top of the Topic one..):

The Smart Drive 2002C seems to be rated quite well by most people, but not as good as suspension. So would suspending the drive in a Smart Drive be any good? Best of both worlds, perhaps?

WD raptor 74gb and P180

WD raptor 74gb and P180

re...

Unless I'm mistaken...