thinnest 3.5" hd drives?

rei · Post by **rei** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:29 pm

i just noticed in maintaining the SFF hp workstations we have at work that the 3.5" seagate drives are much thinner than 'normal' 3.5" drives. it it due to (lack of) platters and the platter density?

what is the largest these come in? 160gb?

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:26 pm

Yes, the thinner drives are due to fewer platters. The smallest they come depends on the platter density (how many GB per platter). With today's generation, 160GB would probably be the smallest you could get, but I'm not sure how you would tell if the drive is thin or not unless you could get manufacturer spec based off the model #.

Lensman · Post by **Lensman** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:49 pm

Since drive manufacturers are packing in 320-333GB (maybe even 375GB) onto a single platter right now, that'll be the biggest drive there *could* be in a thinner form factor. Not sure if they're actually putting those platters in the drives you're talking about. What's the model number of the drive you've seen?

I know this may sound silly, but are you sure you're actually looking at a 3.5" drive and not a 2.5" drive? I see that some HP SFF desktops are using 2.5 in drives. In that case, the biggest drives that are currently shipping are 320GB though Seagate has announced 500GB drives shipping "real soon".

Emyr · Post by **Emyr** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:26 am

I guess it depends whether or not the manufacturer can be bothered to make a smaller version of the casing;

The last "thinner" 3.5" drive I bought was an 80GB DiamondMax 8(?) PATA HD a few years ago.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:59 am

Emyr wrote:I guess it depends whether or not the manufacturer can be bothered to make a smaller version of the casing;

The last "thinner" 3.5" drive I bought was an 80GB DiamondMax 8(?) PATA HD a few years ago.

See, and I have two of those and neither are "thin". Like I said, you'd have to go with the specific part/model number to get an accurate telling.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:33 am

We are currenty using the Seagate 250GB slim (0.75") drives, which we have used many of and had no problems (likewise its slim 160GB predecessor). We have had quite a few problems with the 320GB slim models, we have moved back to using the 250GB models instead - I am not sure if this was a problem with a batch, as they we all bought at about the same time, or if their is a genuine problem with them. We use pretty much nothing but Seagate drives and have done so for years, this is the only problem we have encountered bar the obvious occasional faulty drive (accross several hundred the failure rate is very low).

The model No's for the slim 160GB PATA are ST3160815A, and the 250GB SATA ST3250410AS.

Andy

rei · Post by **rei** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:40 pm

i see their specs are 19.9mm height vs 26mm normal.

will definitely consider the ST3250410AS.

rei · Post by **rei** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:41 pm

does this help with airflow/temp in any way?

rei · Post by **rei** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:00 pm

found a pic:

rei · Post by **rei** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:03 pm

er, what are the 320gb slim models?

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:14 pm

er, what are the 320gb slim models?

Not sure, Seagates website may tell you, or I might still have a 320GB lying around waiting to be RMA'd.

When we first started using the slimline drives we fould them slightly cooler (to the touch) than their 1" high brothers, we also found them to vibrate slightly less and quieter overall, but still not comparable to Samsung drives.

RE: Airflow, this is a very good thing in a closed/cramped environment, such as many small slimline PC's that dont actually have any airflow, these drives will have a little breathing room which will help even if their is no airflow and if there is some airflow will be better still as the air will be more free-flowing air due to less resistance, and as already mentioned are slightly cooler running as well. I have often wondered whether they are fitted with lower powered motors, which will help them stay cooler as they will use less Watts - remember W = Heat, its a direct relationship with no "but's or exceptions".

Andy

Lensman · Post by **Lensman** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:15 pm

rei wrote:er, what are the 320gb slim models?

I looked around on the Seagate site and found model #st3320613as. It's a 320GB drive that's 20.17 mm (0.794 inches) high. Normal/HH drives are 26.1 mm (1.028 inches) high.

I think I've detected a pattern where the second-to-the-last digit in the model number is a "1" for these thinner drives.

rei · Post by **rei** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:00 pm

thanks for the replies. andy: did you find the 250gb quiet enough?

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:50 am

Seagates slim drives are quiet by Seagates and most peoples standards, but would not be considered silent by SPCR standards.

Andy

rei · Post by **rei** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:02 am

my standard right now is the wd5000aaks or the 640gb one, both "full" sized. How does the 3/4 compare?

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:01 pm

From the Tests SPCR have conducted on the Samsung drives I have used at home (quiet) compared to the Slimline Seagates I have used at work (noisy by SPCR standards) they dont look so good.

They really need decoupling as the seeks although not loud shake and vibrate enough to be heard over and above the same drive sat on bubblewrap (I have tested this whilst shunting data around), their idle vibration is quite low, and their seeks quite quiet, but the seeks are still quite aggressive and can be made louder by the case. You can do better with the noise level, but to my knowledge only Seagate and Samsung make slim drives now, and I am not familiar with any of Samsung's slim drives.

Andy