1.8 inch HDD?

wwenze · Post by **wwenze** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:47 am

I *think* this has been asked b4 but couldn't find it in search...

Are 1.8 inchers quieter or just as quiet as a 2.5"?

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:54 am

I recall someone commenting that the one they had in their Thinkpad X41 is actually louder.

Steve_Y · Post by **Steve_Y** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:06 am

In my experience even 1" drives aren't significantly quieter than the best 2.5" drives. In fact the one in my MP3 player makes an annoying high pitched noise that's audible from the other side of the room when it's quiet.

Unless the space available for the drive is really tight I don't think it's worth getting anything smaller than a 2.5" drive. As long as you have a free 3.5 or 5.25 bay you can easily surround the 2.5" drive with some sound damping and/or suspend it to reduce vibration.

If you select one of the quietest 2.5" drives around at the moment that will give you storage that's virtually inaudible, with a higher maximum capacity, more speed, and lower cost than a smaller 1.8" drive.

mond · Post by **mond** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:52 am

the hitachi 1.8" in the x41 thinkpad exhibits a loud periodic ticking noise when idle. this could possibly be resolved through firmware, as it is apparently a maintenance movement of the head to increase lifetime or something, don't quote me on that, think i read it in the forums at thinkpads.com
anyway, the noise is anoying and the drive also slower and not standart interface. i bought an x31 instead.

Bobfantastic · Post by **Bobfantastic** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:18 pm

Surely with a 1.8" drive there's room for an extra .7" or inulsulation over a 2.5" drive?
And if it was mounted in a 5.25" bay then that much high-density insulating foam would silence it pretty well...

Steve_Y · Post by **Steve_Y** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:44 pm

Bobfantastic wrote:Surely with a 1.8" drive there's room for an extra .7" or inulsulation over a 2.5" drive?

The real question is whether it would make any audible difference. Can you actually hear a quiet 2.5" drive once it's damped inside the case?

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:15 pm

Not when you put foam around it and put it in a SmartDrive enclosure. You can't even hear it sitting on your desk. As lond as it's a quiet drive like a Samsung 40GB. Performance is a bit lacking though.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:50 am

You actually CAN hear some 2.5" drives within an enclosure--not all 2.5" drives are quiet to begin with. I have a couple 2.5" drives which are so loud without an enclosure that even my wife can't stand them. Within an enclosure, they're quiet but definitely still audible.

I just got my hands on a couple 40gig 2.5" drives--a Fujitsu and a Seagate Momentus. They're silent within the enclosures (except for the seeks). I'm very happy to retire the older loud 2.5" drives.

I only have experience with one 1.8" drive. It's in my Gmini portable media player. I'm not particularly impressed with its noise level; there are quieter 2.5" drives.

It's like comparing 80mm vs 92mm fans. Theoretically, a 92mm fan could be quieter and/or produce more airflow. In practice, there are a lot more models of 80mm fan, so it's easier to get a quiet 80mm fan than a quite 92mm fan.