HDD enclosures / $175USD Smart Drive Classic Cooper any good

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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echn111
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HDD enclosures / $175USD Smart Drive Classic Cooper any good

Post by echn111 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 12:34 pm

Rebuilding my system and am looking for ways to reduce disk noise. Currently using Scythe Quiet Drives, but can still hear the vibration noise and my tolerance for noise is low.

Is the "Smart Drive Classic Cooper" any good? I'm looking for results, so price is secondary to results, but for $175USD I want to be sure.
http://www.quietpcusa.com/Smart-Drive-C ... earCache=1

Haven't kept up with the latest in noise reduction techs, so am wondering if anyone has any other suggestions on the best way to reduce disk noise via enclosures?[/url]

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:20 pm

reviewed here. if it really is only vibrational noise that is left, then try soft-mounting (ie either on foam or suspended).

echn111
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Post by echn111 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:45 pm

jaganath wrote:reviewed here. if it really is only vibrational noise that is left, then try soft-mounting (ie either on foam or suspended).
That's from back in 2002? If the new copper version that costs 3 times as much is the same, then forget it as vibration noise is what I'm trying to eliminate.

I might just take some rubber bands and soft mount my drives.... but then non-vibrational noise may now become audible.

Has sound dampening technology improved since 2002? There's got to be a professional solution that's better than what we can do ourselves and that eliminates normal as well as vibrational noise. Is there?

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:51 pm

Has sound dampening technology improved since 2002?
no. 3.5" HDD have however,new Samsung & WD drives (eg HD501LJ/WD5000AAKS) very quiet. quieter than that,look at 2.5" HDD.

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:00 pm

While still a bit pricy (and it's still available elsewhere, I just didn't bother to check) the aluminum version is more than sufficient, at half the price: http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std ... e2002.html

JazzJackRabbit
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Post by JazzJackRabbit » Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:59 am

$175? I think not...

WR304
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Post by WR304 » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:55 pm

Chances are the Scythe enclosures you already have are quieter. :(

I've had one of the cheaper aluminium Smart Drive 2002c enclosures for a few months now. The hard drive in it is a Samsung Spinpoint T HD401LJ 400gb SATA drive.

The drive sits on the internal copper plates inside which transfer heat out to the shell. My drive has thermal paste between the drive and the plates. Build quality is really high and it's nicely made. It's quite good for temperatures and is better than a bare drive for noise.

Don't expect anything like silence from it though.

It gets rid of some hard drive hum but doesn't do much about seek noise.

If you have it hard mounted to the case it's a racket.

Have you tried soft mounting or suspending your current hard drive enclosures? With your current aluminium Lian-Li PC-S80 case that would probably give you the most benefit. :)

I ended up placing my drive on foam so it doesn't touch the case. Even so it's only fairly quiet. :(

Image
Smart Drive 2002C Drive Enclosure Mounted on Foam (Blanking Plate Removed)

JazzJackRabbit
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Post by JazzJackRabbit » Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:54 am

WR304 wrote:I ended up placing my drive on foam so it doesn't touch the case. Even so it's only fairly quiet. :(
I got Scythe Quiet Drives, and they still do not completely mask idle HDD sound. You'd think they would make drive almost inaudible, and yet I can still hear it if I put my ear within 1-2 feet from it.

They do definitely help to quiet the drive, but it's hard to say objectively by how much. I think that they help noisier drives much more than already quiet ones. I've got 3-platter seagates in Quiet Drive and Samsung HD321KJ and I think it helps seagates a lot more than it does samsung.

WR304
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Post by WR304 » Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:02 pm

I've definitely had more success just replacing the hard drives with new ones for reducing noise. :)

My Samsung Spinpoint T hard drive is quite a bit quieter than the Western Digital hard drives it replaced. It's still a 3.5" hard drive and clearly audible with or without enclosures/suspension etc though. :(

The problem of all these retail hard drive enclosures is that they're designed to fit in a 5.25" bay. The hard drive really needs to be buried in a larger enclosure for more effect. That way you're not as limited in how much damping material surrounds the drive. :)

A laptop hard drive or one of the new solid state drives would probably go a long way towards reducing hard drive noise.

Solid State Drives look like they'll be a reasonable option soon. £300 to get the PC a bit quieter isn't too bad really...

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/0 ... te_drive/1

64 gig SSD drives should be available soon also:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/06/2 ... roduction/

Additional storage could be provided by a NAS box such as one of these Qnap TS-109 Pro NAS boxes in a different room:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=9344&page=1

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/hardware ... eview.html

It's passively cooled, has built in gigabit ethernet and running Linux you have a wide range of configuration options.

That's the way I'm starting to look at going anyway. :)

JazzJackRabbit
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Post by JazzJackRabbit » Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:27 am

WR304 wrote:Solid State Drives look like they'll be a reasonable option soon. £300 to get the PC a bit quieter isn't too bad really...
I don't think they will be a reasonable option soon. I'd rather buy 2.5" drive and new Scythe 2.5" enclosure, inside the case combination of two should be completely inaudible. Same effect, but only $100-120 out of pocket.

alleycat
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Post by alleycat » Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:32 am

You may have missed my homebrew drive enclosure, there is a thread about it around here somewhere. The drive is rendered completely inaudible, however the enclosure is a little bulky and does not fit in a drive bay. I made mine for around AUD40.

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:06 pm

What alleycat said. I've got the relevant links in the hard drive enclosure in this FAQ in the newcomer room: viewtopic.php?t=21152

WR304
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Post by WR304 » Fri Aug 10, 2007 6:26 am


JazzJackRabbit
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Post by JazzJackRabbit » Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:33 am

1. From what I've read alleycat's enclosure is prone to generate condensation inside.
2. I seriously doubt it completely silences the drive. It might be as good or better than commercially available HDD enclosures, but it will not be silent.

alleycat
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Post by alleycat » Fri Aug 10, 2007 4:28 pm

The enclosure does not "generate" condensation, which is basically impossible. Where did you read about this? I'd be interested to know the physics behind such a phenomenon. I love how pervasive a little FUD is; it's an interesting insight into human nature, but that's getting WAY off topic.

You may "seriously doubt it completely silences" the drive, and I have never claimed that it does. What it does do, and has been doing for nearly three years, is render the drive inaudible from any practical distance. Just for you, I yet again opened my PC and put my ear about 5cm from the enclosure. There is a feint hum, quieter than the undervolted Nexus fan on the back of my case. I can't tell when the drive is seeking; I need to look at the light on the front panel.

A few others around these forums have constructed the enclosure with similar results. You too are welcome to try; perhaps then you could make some useful comments.

Hramm
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Post by Hramm » Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:00 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote:I'd rather buy 2.5" drive and new Scythe 2.5" enclosure, inside the case combination of two should be completely inaudible. Same effect, but only $100-120 out of pocket.
You can add the QuietDrive 3.5" on the 2.5" with a Spinpoint M(22-26 dB).
But a Spinpoint S(24-28 dB) would be cheaper.

alleycat
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Post by alleycat » Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:06 pm

Thanks, WR304 for digging up that article!

vortex222
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Post by vortex222 » Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:38 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote:1. From what I've read alleycat's enclosure is prone to generate condensation inside.
2. I seriously doubt it completely silences the drive. It might be as good or better than commercially available HDD enclosures, but it will not be silent.
total hogwash, 1 and 2. Allycats enclosure WORKS, and works freakin well.

echn111
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Post by echn111 » Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:49 pm

Ok, if the best solutions provided by manufacturers are mediocre amateurish solutions 5 years old, then I suppose have to improvise like everyone else.

I've decoupled my Scythe Quiet Drives from the standard mountings and have them sandwiched between layers of acouti foam. Pressure from the foam holds the SQD in place. Looks terrible compared to a professionally manufactured solution but it is very effective. I'll probably end up taping the foam to the SQD to make it look a bit more sturdy, but it works. No more vibration sound. In fact, no more HDD sound. Peace and quiet.

Was initially apprehensive of the static from the foam shorting out the HDD's or heat causing it to burn, or the HDD's heating up too much as they're wrapped in a SQD and foam, but so far no problems.

And it's quiet which is the only important thing.

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