Velociraptor - removing the heatsink

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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David Cole
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Velociraptor - removing the heatsink

Post by David Cole » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:26 am

Grateful for a steer on how to remove the heatsink. It looks like an Allen key is needed but none of the ones I have seem to fit. Also, one of the screws is covered in a round piece of plastic. I don't want to do any damage.

Thanks.

David

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Post by NeilBlanchard » Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:14 am

Hello David,

I believe it is a Torx wrench: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article844-page3.html

Xuestor
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Post by Xuestor » Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:16 am

It is indeed a Torx. Size 8 if I'm not mistaken. Don't try to unscrew them with something else, you will most definately damage the screws.

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Post by David Cole » Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:09 am

Much obliged. Never heard of one of them.

David

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Post by Xuestor » Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:37 am

Just remember that removing the plastic voids all warranties. Lame thing by WD, but I suppose they take every chances they can to sneak out of RMA issues.

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Post by David Cole » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:51 pm

Ah! I wondered what the black plastic circles were for! Listening to the velociraptor in its heatsink, the main thing I noticed was a high pitched whine which did alter if the hdd was repositioned. I don't know if removing the heatsink will deal with this.

David

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Post by Xuestor » Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:06 am

David Cole wrote:Ah! I wondered what the black plastic circles were for! Listening to the velociraptor in its heatsink, the main thing I noticed was a high pitched whine which did alter if the hdd was repositioned. I don't know if removing the heatsink will deal with this.

David
I don't think it will differ, but putting the baby in a Scythe quiet drive will. My high pitched noise dropped considerably.

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Post by David Cole » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:03 am

Xuestor wrote:
David Cole wrote:Ah! I wondered what the black plastic circles were for! Listening to the velociraptor in its heatsink, the main thing I noticed was a high pitched whine which did alter if the hdd was repositioned. I don't know if removing the heatsink will deal with this.

David
I don't think it will differ, but putting the baby in a Scythe quiet drive will. My high pitched noise dropped considerably.
That's the Scythe 2.5" enclosure not the 3.5"? ie you enclosed it after removing the heatsink?

David

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Post by MikeC » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:23 am

David Cole wrote:Listening to the velociraptor in its heatsink, the main thing I noticed was a high pitched whine which did alter if the hdd was repositioned. I don't know if removing the heatsink will deal with this.
Xuestor wrote:I don't think it will differ, but putting the baby in a Scythe quiet drive will. My high pitched noise dropped considerably.
Oh, it differs, all right! You obviously didn't read the review or listen to the recordings.

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Post by David Cole » Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:14 pm

MikeC

Thanks - I had read your article but not closely enough. I see now that you covered in it the whine and other acoustic issues solved by removing the ice-pak and also the tool to remove the ice-pak. I will read more carefully next time. I must say that the high pitched whine pre-icepak- removal is much more noticeable on my x2 velociraptors than in your recordings.

Now, if I can just negotiate the German website for the Novibes III....

David

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Post by Xuestor » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:04 pm

MikeC wrote:
David Cole wrote:Listening to the velociraptor in its heatsink, the main thing I noticed was a high pitched whine which did alter if the hdd was repositioned. I don't know if removing the heatsink will deal with this.
Xuestor wrote:I don't think it will differ, but putting the baby in a Scythe quiet drive will. My high pitched noise dropped considerably.
Oh, it differs, all right! You obviously didn't read the review or listen to the recordings.
Well I gotta say that my VR had a very noticable high pitch noise after I removed the Icepack, and the only thing that did it for me was an 2.5" scythe.

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Post by David Cole » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:20 am

Well, that's interesting. Perhaps I'd better get a couple of the Scythe 2.5" boxes. Have you had any heat issues using the Scythe on the Velociraptor? I'd prefer to use the NoVibes suspension cradles but if they don't stop the high-pitched whine I suppose I'll have to use the Scythe boxes as you have provided they do not heat the Velociraptors too much.

David

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Post by NyteOwl » Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:42 am

I'd actually be surprised if a thin aluminum sheet whose edge is spinning at approximately 120kph (75 mph) didn't whine :D

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Post by MikeC » Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:22 pm

Xuestor wrote:Well I gotta say that my VR had a very noticable high pitch noise after I removed the Icepack, and the only thing that did it for me was an 2.5" scythe.
The image captures of the freq spectrum graphs in my review show very little higher freq noise out of the frame. I hear very little -- if any -- when the VR is sitting on a piece of foam w/o the frame, even with my ear within inches. There may be sample variations. A read through the Newegg product buyer feedback for this drive suggests this. But judging by the single sample in my hands, I stand by my original analysis -- in the frame it's no very quiet by today's standards but not that different from previous Raptors. Remove the frame and it's quiet. Very quiet. I'd only suspend it if I were to use it in my own system... unless I had easy/cheap access to an enclosure, which then would still be suspended.

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Post by bonestonne » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:01 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello David,

I believe it is a Torx wrench: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article844-page3.html
Torx wrenches technically are Alan/Hex keys...but not enough people really knew the difference, so they started calling it torx and just left it.

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Post by Edwood » Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:38 pm

Did you buy Retail or OEM Velociraptor?

I bought Retail box and mine had the black circle sticker. It's just a plain old sticker.

Image

Sticker comes off really easily. Hair dryer wasn't even necessary, the residual heat from it running for an hour was enough to soften the adhesive. It's not a tamperproof sticker at all.

Just use a smooth plastic wedge or other flat tapered object to pry it. Don't use your fingers, since they'll stick to the adhesive and ruin it.

I put the sticker on wax paper and put the piece of crap Icepack in a zip lock baggie stored away in case I need to RMA it later.

Right now it's running in a 2.5" Scythe Enclosure Suspended with AAM enabled. Impressively silent. Runs a bit on the hotter side, but not bad in a suspended setup with minimal air flow. And it runs cooler than my Seagates in my other box which has poorer airflow and thermal management.

-Ed
Last edited by Edwood on Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Edwood » Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:41 pm

Xuestor wrote:It is indeed a Torx. Size 8 if I'm not mistaken. Don't try to unscrew them with something else, you will most definately damage the screws.
Yup, Torx T8 worked for me.

-Ed

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Post by Dazrin » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:59 pm

bonestonne wrote:
NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello David,

I believe it is a Torx wrench: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article844-page3.html
Torx wrenches technically are Alan/Hex keys...but not enough people really knew the difference, so they started calling it torx and just left it.
There is a difference between them. Allen/Hex (they are the same) keys have 6 smooth sides. Torx are more of a six pointed star. The Wiki page has a couple good pictures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx

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Post by bonestonne » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:10 pm

i meant they can be used interchangeably....besides, torx tips are more prone to warp and break than alan keys in some situations (but not all).

for the hard drive, it would be best to use alan keys if you wanted to make it look like you were never there.

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Post by Edwood » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:59 pm

bonestonne wrote:i meant they can be used interchangeably....besides, torx tips are more prone to warp and break than alan keys in some situations (but not all).

for the hard drive, it would be best to use alan keys if you wanted to make it look like you were never there.
Why? The screws are not black oxide coated where they could scratch up, they are just regular nickel coated steel. If anything, an Allen key would deform the tips of the inside of the torx screws more easily, than with a proper sized torx.

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Post by Xuestor » Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:55 am

bonestonne wrote:i meant they can be used interchangeably....besides, torx tips are more prone to warp and break than alan keys in some situations (but not all).

for the hard drive, it would be best to use alan keys if you wanted to make it look like you were never there.
Well, I tried several different allenkeys on this on, and none of them fitted, so Torx is the best.

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Post by Pgh » Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:01 am

Edwood wrote: ...

Right now it's running in a 2.5" Scythe Enclosure Suspended with AAM enabled. Impressively silent. Runs a bit on the hotter side, but not bad in a suspended setup with minimal air flow. And it runs cooler than my Seagates in my other box which has poorer airflow and thermal management.

-Ed

Edwood -

The Velociraptor (with the heatsink removed) is thicker than the standard 2.5" laptop drive - Which Scythe enclosure do you have that fits it?

Thanks

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Post by David Cole » Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:51 am

Pgh wrote:
Edwood wrote: ...

Right now it's running in a 2.5" Scythe Enclosure Suspended with AAM enabled. Impressively silent. Runs a bit on the hotter side, but not bad in a suspended setup with minimal air flow. And it runs cooler than my Seagates in my other box which has poorer airflow and thermal management.

-Ed

Edwood -

The Velociraptor (with the heatsink removed) is thicker than the standard 2.5" laptop drive - Which Scythe enclosure do you have that fits it?

Thanks
In another thread the approach was as in the second post - basically leaving out bits of the Scythe box to get the Velociraptor to fit:

viewtopic.php?t=48724


What's the best way to suspend the Scythe with Velociraptor inside it? My new build will use a P182 case which presumably means that if I want to suspend the Velociraptor directly or in a Scythe case, I'll have to use the first floor hdd area as the ground floor box only allows vertical hdd fitting.

Grateful for any more thoughts on this.

David

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Post by MoJo » Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:55 pm

Any chance someone intending to remove their heatsink and suspend the drive or otherwise soft-mount it could do before and after benchmarks, especially seek time and random read/write?

It has been suggested that doing so could have a noticeable effect on performance: viewtopic.php?t=48573&start=30

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Post by MikeC » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:44 pm

MoJo wrote:Any chance someone intending to remove their heatsink and suspend the drive or otherwise soft-mount it could do before and after benchmarks, especially seek time and random read/write?

It has been suggested that doing so could have a noticeable effect on performance: viewtopic.php?t=48573&start=30
The benchmarks I ran for the review were done with the VR sitting on a piece of soft foam -- this is essentially no different than a typical soft mount like elastic suspension. Most affected might be the random access, but the 7ms w/o AAM is no different from results obtained by other tech sites. Ditto the sustained and max read speeds.

Seagate, the biggest HDD maker, produced more white papers on HDDs for public consumption than any other in the business. For years these were all available for download on their web site. I can't find them any more, but a lot of SPCR's combined knowledge about HDD noise comes from these white papers. One specifically addressed soft HDD mounting to reduce noise many years ago. It was called Disc Acoustics, dated 2001 -- around the time that they started producing the Barracuda IV -- the first of the truly quiet drives that for several years was #1 -- no one else except Samsung got even close. Anyway, I quote directly from this paper:
At one time, years ago, isolators were thought to be impractical for disc drive mounting; the frequent long seeks could induce excessive drive motion through isolator “wind upâ€

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Post by David Cole » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:14 am

Just to record that I have removed the Icepak heatsinks from my two Velociraptors and have suspended the bare hdds in Noise Magic NoVibes 2.5" cradles which I bought from Germany (as identified by MikeC in his review). Much to my surprise the removal of the Icepaks and hdd suspension in cradles seems to have eliminated all unwanted sound - including the high pitched whine - except for some gentle high pitched chirping of the HDD seeks. This is just having the suspended Velociraptors propped up vertically on the floor. The hdd seeking noise will probably be inaudible when the hdds are in a case. On present plans, I intend to mount the hdd/cradle units vertically in the bottom hdd cage of a P182.

Much thanks to MikeC for giving such a good steer on these little drives.

David

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Post by Compddd » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:17 pm

Hey David, how much did the 2.5" No Vibes III run you $$ wise? I can't figure out how to order one for my VR.

Also you have a P182, does the No Vibes III fit into the slots in the HD cages? Or do you have to screw it into one of the drive sleighs that the P182 comes with?

Thanks!

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Post by David Cole » Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:47 pm

Compddd wrote:Hey David, how much did the 2.5" No Vibes III run you $$ wise? I can't figure out how to order one for my VR.

Also you have a P182, does the No Vibes III fit into the slots in the HD cages? Or do you have to screw it into one of the drive sleighs that the P182 comes with?

Thanks!
For x2 2.5" NoVibes III I paid Noisemagic.de £39.61p (UK).

The staff at the German shop were very helpful and gave me (a non-German speaker) these instructions for ordering (paying by PayPal in my case):

"First click this link.

http://www.noisemagic.de/home.php?nr=3080

It will come up with the Novibes for 2,5'' hdds

To order just enter the quantity and click the "bestellen" button. That means order.
The online system will show you a sumary of your ordered goods.
If that is ok click on the button "bestellen". That will bring up
a page where you have to enter your adress.
I assume that you stay in the [UK] so you have to choose ["Großbritanien"] from the country dropdown
box.
When finished click the button "weiter". That means continue.
The next page will ask for delivery and payment details. For UK choose GLS as delivery method and in the payment box choose paypal.
Then click "weiter".
On the now upcoming page you will see a summary of your order details. Please confirm
your order by clicking "bestellen".

After completing your order send the total amount via paypal to our account [email protected]"

Worked for me and the cradles arrived quickly.

I haven't installed the cradles/hdds in the P182 yet. They seem to me exactly the same size as standard 3.5" hdds and therefore that they can be installed in either of the P182 chambers (upstairs for horizontal, downstairs for vertical).

Hope this helps.

David

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Post by Compddd » Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:06 pm

Thanks! Actually I am in the USA, California, I hope that won't be a problem lol

Post some updates after you install them in the P182 and let me know how they fit in the P182's drive cages!

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Post by Edwood » Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:28 am

Just suspending the Velociraptor wasn't all that effective in noise reduction.

Putting a bare Velociraptor in a 2.5" Scythe Enclosure and then Suspending it in a 3.5" NoVibes worked the best for me.

-Ed

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