I'm going to build a SFF PC using a Asus T3-M2N.
But it's impossible to softmount a 3.5" HDD. Now I have to decide between a 3.5" single plate HDD or a 3x more expensive 2.5" 7200rpm HDD.
The 2.5" drive can be soft mounted, where I can only damp the HDD case with case-dampingmaterial.
Which drive is the most smooth:
3.5"
Samsung HD160HJ
WDC1600AAJS
Hitachi 7K160 - 160GB
2.5"
Seagate momentus 7200.2 - 160GB
Hitachi Travelstar 7K200 - 160GB
Un-mouted the 2.5" produce more noise compared to the 3.5" drives, but I'm wondering how they would sound like mounted. A SFF is on the desk so vibration would be a pain.
Best regards,
Pascal.
Low noise single plate 160GB HDD or 2.5" HDD?
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Das_Saunamies
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Having little experience with 7200 RPM 2.5" HDDs but some with single-platter 3.5" HDDs, I'd say go for the former.
I'm basing my opinion mostly on my personal experiences with a 160GB Seagate that I still own and use every day: it is a never-ending torrent of vibrations, seek noise and whimsy spin-ups. My rig is blissfully silent until I have to access that drive to play my games, when noise doesn't really matter... but the 30 minutes it takes for shutdown after that are jarring, to say the least. Performance is good, as it is my only 3GB/s SATA drive, but that dense platter seems to produce the most horrid of vibrations.
The exact model in question is ST3160811AS, as reported by SMART, but Seagate no longer list it on their site(it was there when I bought it and checked up on thermal information). I'm thinking it's a model from their .9 range, as it's only about six months old.
2.5" HDDs should be easy to soft-mount, and so far each and every one I've witnessed has been pleasing to the ear.
--
About the exact products listed: only an owner of all will know the relative differences, but an owner of one will know what it's like. All the brands have quiet models as we all know, but the reality for each model and batch thereof is always a question of user experience.
I'm basing my opinion mostly on my personal experiences with a 160GB Seagate that I still own and use every day: it is a never-ending torrent of vibrations, seek noise and whimsy spin-ups. My rig is blissfully silent until I have to access that drive to play my games, when noise doesn't really matter... but the 30 minutes it takes for shutdown after that are jarring, to say the least. Performance is good, as it is my only 3GB/s SATA drive, but that dense platter seems to produce the most horrid of vibrations.
The exact model in question is ST3160811AS, as reported by SMART, but Seagate no longer list it on their site(it was there when I bought it and checked up on thermal information). I'm thinking it's a model from their .9 range, as it's only about six months old.
2.5" HDDs should be easy to soft-mount, and so far each and every one I've witnessed has been pleasing to the ear.
--
About the exact products listed: only an owner of all will know the relative differences, but an owner of one will know what it's like. All the brands have quiet models as we all know, but the reality for each model and batch thereof is always a question of user experience.