WD 150 GB Raptor AND a "silent system". Possible?

GreenRay · Post by **GreenRay** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:29 am

I am trying to build a silent system with a WD 150 Gb raptor. I have read the review on this website and listened to the sound samples which proved to be rather noisy.

So some accessoiries are needed.

I thought of using a Nexus Drive-Away HDD-silencer combined with an Antec 150 case (anti vibration rubber bands included to fit a HDD in). Is this enough to make the HDD silent? What do you think?

Neros · Post by **Neros** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:17 am

I am just using a NoiseControl NoVibes V and I certainly can't hear my WD 150 HDD even if I start a full virus scan and defragment at the same time. My WD 150 HD was at first mounted in the rubber things in the Antec case - which was noisy as hell for my taste.

Just my 2 cents.

alfred · Post by **alfred** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:05 pm

I've been using Nexus Drive-a-Way enclosures for several months; it's very good at attenuating idle (whine) noise and it softens the seek noise a fair amount; but if you hard-mount the enclosure in a 5.25" bay it will transmit a significant part of the HDD vribrations to your case. Also I had a problem with one of the enclosures I bought, see here http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 044#279044

I've started using Scythe Quiet Drive enclosures since two days and so far I'd say they prove easily as good as the Nexus ones. I won't go into details for now, but make sure you have a look at http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=32509

GreenRay · Post by **GreenRay** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:22 am

Within days i will purchase a system and the question remains will it or will it not be possible to have a raptor operating noise free? If it is not possible to reduce noise much, then i will go for a 7200 rpm disk something like the T7K250 or WD25000KS.

I am just using a NoiseControl NoVibes V and I certainly can't hear my WD 150 HDD even if I start a full virus scan and defragment at the same time. My WD 150 HD was at first mounted in the rubber things in the Antec case - which was noisy as hell for my taste.

This sounds promising but a bit contradicting to what alfred wrote.

Thanks for the replies. However i am still not convinced if a disk enclosure will sufficiently keep down the noise emitted by a raptor spinning @ 10.000 RPM. Especially reading what alfred posted. Does anyone have sound samples of a raptor mounted in a disk enclosure?

alfred · Post by **alfred** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:15 am

According to SPCR's review http://www.silentpcreview.com/article622-page1.html the Raptor 150GB 10,000rpm has a very low idle noise but sharp and heavy seek noises. This means you should focus on decoupling rather than fighting idle noise; so I guess an enclosure may not be the best option, be it hardmounted ina 5.25" bay or not.

Did you evaluate any other options ? For example two very quiet 3.5" 7200rpm hard disk drives, set in a RAID-0 array, each drive in a Scythe enclosure (avoiding to hardmount both drives on the same case structure). Or if you don't like RAID arrays, a single 7200rpm drive that would be quiet enough in an enclosure; WD3200KS, HD401LJ... Depending on your typical computer usage, the performance gap isn't necessarily that big.

GreenRay · Post by **GreenRay** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:39 am

Well I learned that it is not possible too quiet down a raptor with the current enclosures.

Evaluating some 7200 rpm disks, I concluded that you are right alfred about the WD####KS series being one of the quietest drives available. I will probably buy a single WD2500KS disk with a Nexus Drive-A-Way instead of the raptor. I presume that the performance gap between the WD2500KS and the WD3200KS is negligible since both disk are the same series, right? (The latter might be a bit faster though, due to its size).

alfred · Post by **alfred** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:29 pm

Don't know for sure about performance gap between WD3200KS and WD2500KS; also make sure the KS you buy has been manufactured lately, as these model numbers have been used for more than a year, while drive designs changed (bigger platters, etc).

Using both WD3200KS and Samsung HD401LJ drives (each one in its own quiet PC, each one in a Nexus enclosure) on a daily basis since 4 weeks, I'd recommend the Samsung if you can find it somewhere : on-par performance and quieter.

JollyTime · Post by **JollyTime** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:08 am

alfred wrote:According to SPCR's review http://www.silentpcreview.com/article622-page1.html the Raptor 150GB 10,000rpm has a very low idle noise but sharp and heavy seek noises. This means you should focus on decoupling rather than fighting idle noise; so I guess an enclosure may not be the best option, be it hardmounted ina 5.25" bay or not.

Did you evaluate any other options ? For example two very quiet 3.5" 7200rpm hard disk drives, set in a RAID-0 array, each drive in a Scythe enclosure (avoiding to hardmount both drives on the same case structure). Or if you don't like RAID arrays, a single 7200rpm drive that would be quiet enough in an enclosure; WD3200KS, HD401LJ... Depending on your typical computer usage, the performance gap isn't necessarily that big.

So, what's your verdict on the Nexus enclosure for the Raptor 150? Does it dampen the seek noise to a degree that you notice the difference?

I'm thinking of getting the Nexus enclosure as soon as possible and mount it on rubber bands in the lower (sealed off) compartment of my P180 case.

Bories36 · Post by **Bories36** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:48 pm

JollyTime wrote:
alfred wrote:According to SPCR's review http://www.silentpcreview.com/article622-page1.html the Raptor 150GB 10,000rpm has a very low idle noise but sharp and heavy seek noises. This means you should focus on decoupling rather than fighting idle noise; so I guess an enclosure may not be the best option, be it hardmounted ina 5.25" bay or not.

Did you evaluate any other options ? For example two very quiet 3.5" 7200rpm hard disk drives, set in a RAID-0 array, each drive in a Scythe enclosure (avoiding to hardmount both drives on the same case structure). Or if you don't like RAID arrays, a single 7200rpm drive that would be quiet enough in an enclosure; WD3200KS, HD401LJ... Depending on your typical computer usage, the performance gap isn't necessarily that big.
So, what's your verdict on the Nexus enclosure for the Raptor 150? Does it dampen the seek noise to a degree that you notice the difference?

I'm thinking of getting the Nexus enclosure as soon as possible and mount it on rubber bands in the lower (sealed off) compartment of my P180 case.

that would probably be rly quiet, the Nexus enclosure would help dampen the noise and the rubberbands would absorb the vibrations

alfred · Post by **alfred** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 5:12 pm

I never tried any 10,000rpm drive but I guess your idea is worth a try.
However I recently got hands on several Scythe enclosures (after one of my 5-months old Nexus enclosures "died") and I join Nici into thinking they're a better choice.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:32 pm

alfred wrote:I never tried any 10,000rpm drive but I guess your idea is worth a try.
However I recently got hands on several Scythe enclosures (after one of my 5-months old Nexus enclosures "died") and I join Nici into thinking they're a better choice.

Details?

alfred · Post by **alfred** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:46 am

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 044#279044

As an off-topic side-note, another one of my Nexus enclosures started to have increased vibrations; investigation showed that the enclosures' panels weren't screwed in such a way that everything fits solidly together anymore and it seems there is no way to repair it... Pretty bad for a 5-months old enclosure; I've ordered Scythe Quiet Drives (thanks Nici for your excellent roundup !).

In February 2006 I bought several Nexus Drive-a-Way enclosures and dispatched them to several PCs I'm using for my work. All 3.5" drives except a 2.5" Samsung (HTPC boot drive). Depending on the cases, the enclosures were hard-fixed in 5.25" bays or decoupled from the tower with foam etc. I was initially happy with the noises reduction but had to reconsider air flow : even hard-mounted this enclosure isn't very good for thermal conduction. After a few mods I was satisfied with both noise reductions and SMART-reported temps, and stopped testing / modifying.

A few months later, one of these rigs started to have increased vibrations. I checked most probable causes : tower assembly, fans, cable routings, took out the dvd burner... No change. I then took the (previously hard-mounted) Nexus enclosure out of the tower, put it on deep foam, launched Hitachi's F-Tool (AAM seek noise test), put my hand on the enclosure and found the SP2504C was producing far more vibrations than what I consider normal for this drive (I own several other ones). So I opened the enclosure -- well, I tried to. One screw didn't want to go out; it seemed strange, it clearly was mounted the right way (no angle, not deeper than other screws etc). Up until then, I had always thought the materials and build quality of these enclosures were quite high. I finally managed to unscrew it but the end of the screw broke, staying in the black metal case. Carefully examining the opened cover, I saw it was somewhat torsioned (don't know the proper english term), it wasn't purely flat and square anymore.

Maybe I did something wrong when assembling this particular enclosure but I'm still asking myself how could that be the reason. I've got trained pianist fingers and for sure I never do any manual work the rude way. I suspect it's not that easy to put the optimal torque on all screws when assembling a Drive-a-Way enclosure; for example the rubber ones inside -- not easy at first to 1/ determine how strong they need to be screwed; 2/ applying similar force to each similar screw. I guess this enclosure had a defective screw (obviously there was a weak point in its metal); combined with differentiated screwing torques and hdd's vibration over a few months of 24/7 use, including wide ambient temp variations, it finally got to the point it started vibrating a lot more, and disassembling then broke the screw.

By the way, I'm still using this SP2504C and its vibrations level is on par with my other P120 drives. First tested it hard-mounted just to check, then put it in a Scythe enclosure; so far I'd say it's better overall, compared to the Nexus. I'm also using Scythe enclosures with other 3.5" 7200rpm hard disk drives; everything nice. Up until now

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:01 am

My Drive-A-Way heated up my Raptor 74 so I had to salvage it before it got cooked. Not a good combo. Nexus numbers say the Drive-A-Way should lower HDD temps but they are lying. Temps according to D-Temp rising more than 5 degrees C, comparing box to free air both outside the case. Yuck!!!

snutten · Post by **snutten** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:50 am

The Mcubed Vertical Silence, on the other hand, works just fine.
Just bought one and temps are good. Dtemp reports 38 C now with the HDD in the box placed on some foam outside of the case for testing. Light browsing and DC++ running for a couple of hours.