Just bought an 80GB Seagate 7200.9 PATA and it's LOUD!

Mikael · Post by **Mikael** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:12 am

So, I finally got around to ordering a new drive for my old computer. I'm kind of regretting my choice of drive now, though... This Seagate has a very loud whine that can be heard from any spot in my pretty large room. It's that annoying piercing sound and it really pisses me off!

Thankfully, it's still not nearly as loud as the old Fujitsu 20GB drive it replaces. Seeks are pretty soft and not very noticeable, even when the drive is screwed directly to the case.

I was also suprised to see how fast the drive was. I have an old 7200.7 40GB and this drive is in a completely different league. I measured the speed using HDTach and compared my drive to a 7200.7 80GB, using the built-in database. Turns out that the average sequential read speed is more than 30% faster on the 7200.9.

Another positive thing with this drive is that it seems to run pretty cool. It currently sits in a case with no case cooling except for the one (low speed) fan in the PSU. Despite this, the drive idles at around 35C and it hasn't been over 40C yet when being accessed. I also put my hand on the drive and the temp reading seems accurate enough. It felt luke warm at most.

So, this drive seems to be a winner in most ways, except for the horrible whine. I'm sure that there are 7200.9 drives that are less noisy, but that's not much comfort when you end up with a drive like this.

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:49 am

If you'd read some of our reviews on 3.5" Seagate drives in the last year or two, its noise would not have been a surprise. Note that there are NO 3.5" Seagates on our recommended list.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:35 am

Note that there are NO 3.5" Seagates on our recommended list.

Hi Mike, can I ask what led you to remove the 7200.7 PATA from the Rec List? Too much sample variance/lack of a formal review?

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:58 am

MikeC wrote:If you'd read some of our reviews on 3.5" Seagate drives in the last year or two, its noise would not have been a surprise. Note that there are NO 3.5" Seagates on our recommended list.

I notice an abscence of new Samsung's on that list. Would you say that is for lack of review of the newer variety or is that a reflection of a changing of the guard?

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

MikeC wrote:If you'd read some of our reviews on 3.5" Seagate drives in the last year or two, its noise would not have been a surprise. Note that there are NO 3.5" Seagates on our recommended list.

Yeah, I knew that atleast some 7200.9 were noisy, but I've also gotten indications that the smaller PATA models could be pretty good. I had to get a drive ASAP the other day and Samsung, which would have probably been my top pick, was not an option at the time.

jaganath wrote:
Note that there are NO 3.5" Seagates on our recommended list.
Hi Mike, can I ask what led you to remove the 7200.7 PATA from the Rec List? Too much sample variance/lack of a formal review?

Yeah, that's a little strange. I've got several 40GB 7200.7 drives and all of them are very quiet. They're actually the most quiet 3.5" drives I've owned, with very little whine and extremely soft seeks.

I've got a little update on this 7200.9 problem too. I managed to decrease the whining noise substantially by putting the drive up-side-down on a sock on the bottom of the case. This reduced the whine to approximately one third! It's also made the seeks very soft and muffled. So, a drive that was a real pain in the ass suddenly became okay-ish.

I was a little suprised that the whine was reduced so much, since it has been my experience that harddrive whine is hard to get rid of. Atleast without using an enclosure. Now I just need to figure out a more permanent solution...

EDIT: Okay, now I've suspended the drive on some foam on the bottom of the 5.25" cage. It seems even quieter now! Seeks are not noticeable unless it's very quiet around the comp and the whine is very hard (or impossible) to hear from most spots. Happy now.

Here's a pic of the setup.

intx · Post by **intx** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:30 am

Weird, the experiences I've read from other Seagate 7200.9 80gb users were that they were fairly (although not substantially) quiet. What date code and country of manufacture is stated on this HD?

Mikael · Post by **Mikael** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:00 pm

intx wrote:Weird, the experiences I've read from other Seagate 7200.9 80gb users were that they were fairly (although not substantially) quiet. What date code and country of manufacture is stated on this HD?

I don't want to open the computer right now to check the date, but the sticker on the bag said that it was manufactured in China.

It may be that my case somehow amplified the whine from the drive when it was hardmounted. Now that it is suspended on foam, it definitely falls in the "fairly quiet" category. I'm especially impressed by the seeks, as they're almost inaudible from where I'm sitting about 1.5 meters from the comp. I'm actually not able to hear the seeks unless it's totally quiet around me.