VelociRaptor quiet or not[?]

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 4:29 pm

Now that the price of the of the veloci raptor is $160 I'm thinking about getting one. Now my question is, on newegg almost everyone writes in that its very quiet. But is it quiet by silentpc standards? I currently have the samsung f1 320 gb HD which is pretty fast and dead quiet. How much of a difference is their in sound between these two drives?

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 8:19 pm

SPCR's Review.

Compared to the 1TB Samsung F1 and without the heatsink thing, the VelociRaptor is quieter at idle and has quieter seeks with AAM. The VelociRaptor is 1dbA louder when AAM is turned off.

Overall it seems like a really quiet drive.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:37 pm

falcon26 wrote:Now my question is, on newegg almost everyone writes in that its very quiet. But is it quiet by silentpc standards?

In my opinion, not if you're looking for a drive to use "naked".

I have a VR in a 2.5" Scythe Quiet Drive, suspended in a NoVibes, with AAM turned to max. Seeks are clearly audible in my system, but not offensively so. Without the enclosure it would be unacceptable to me. I don't hear any readily identifiable rotational/vibration noise though.

All the above is assuming that the IcePack sled thing is removed. With that left in place the drive is truly obnoxious.

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:20 am

I had a VR enclosed in SQD 2.5" and then SQD 3.5" on foam.
Seeks were almost inaudible but a very high-pitched whine was audible at all times.
Extremely annoying.

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:34 am

I'll stick with my samsung f1 then

thanks...

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:54 am

Single-platter 320Gb Samsung F1 for US$50 is hard to beat.

Immortals · Post by **Immortals** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:19 pm

AuraAllan wrote:I had a VR enclosed in SQD 2.5" and then SQD 3.5" on foam.
Seeks were almost inaudible but a very high-pitched whine was audible at all times.
Extremely annoying.

My God. You have a drive within an enclosure within another enclosure soft mounted in a case and you can still hear it?

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:01 am

I just have to say this is not my experience. We've had 3 VRs in the lab. 2 of them are suspended (P150 case) in the system I'm on right now -- it's midnight, neighborhood is very quiet, and the system is inaudible from where I sit. I can't hear the drives. Period. Maybe my hearing is going, maybe the other guys are bats, or maybe they got bum samples... but I've never heard any whining from these drives bare. It's quieter than any 3.5" drive. Period. In the anechoic chamber, I think it doesn't even register 15 dBA/1m. OK, the difference between these and the quietest 3.5" drives is not big, but it's there, and it has less rumbling low freq noise and lower vibration.

Larry, who's listened to these and is using one, can't hear any whine either. I'd take these any day over any 3.5" drives. Even w/o the buiilt-in suspension of the P150, it' so easy to suspend in a 3.5" drive bay where cooling will be ideal. Now, even the price has dropped enough that it's perfectly acceptable (to me) for a high performance silent OS drive.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:26 am

MikeC wrote:I just have to say this is not my experience. We've had 3 VRs in the lab. 2 of them are suspended (P150 case) in the system I'm on right now -- it's midnight, neighborhood is very quiet, and the system is inaudible from where I sit. I can't hear the drives. Period.

*shrugs* Maybe we should send you our drives?

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:18 am

Immortals wrote:
AuraAllan wrote:I had a VR enclosed in SQD 2.5" and then SQD 3.5" on foam.
Seeks were almost inaudible but a very high-pitched whine was audible at all times.
Extremely annoying.
My God. You have a drive within an enclosure within another enclosure soft mounted in a case and you can still hear it?

Yes. It annoyed me so much that I sold the drive and bought a Mtron SSD instead. Thats definitely silent.

MikeC ! ............. dude ! ............ hellooooo. Can you hear me?

Sorry, but those VR's are not quiet at all. I've heard a few others then the one I had.
The SPCR samples must be somewhat special.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:23 am

See this is where i'm stuck. If i were to listen to AuraAllan and others, i would definately get an SSD.

But if MikeC is right and the others have bad samples, spending a quarter the price for twice the capacity over the 80gb Intel SSD for a drive that is almost as fast seems the better way to go.

Maybe i can order a single platter VR from Newegg, and if its not quiet just send it back for the Intel SSD instead.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:36 am

Aris wrote:See this is where i'm stuck. If i were to listen to AuraAllan and others, i would definately get an SSD.

But if MikeC is right and the others have bad samples, spending a quarter the price for twice the capacity over the 80gb Intel SSD for a drive that is almost as fast seems the better way to go.

Maybe i can order a single platter VR from Newegg, and if its not quiet just send it back for the Intel SSD instead.

It does seem like we're talking about two entirely different products!

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:49 am

Perhaps the parties involved should start talking about Model numbers/Mfg Dates, to get to the bottom of this discrepancy of course.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:14 am

rpsgc wrote:Perhaps the parties involved should start talking about Model numbers/Mfg Dates, to get to the bottom of this discrepancy of course.

Never mind that, it won't solve anything, as the issue has been around right from the very beginning when they were all made around the same time. I'd just like to hear one of the units that's noisy.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:09 pm

MikeC, im curious. Where did you get your VR samples from? And are they all the 300gb version?

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:28 pm

Aris wrote:MikeC, im curious. Where did you get your VR samples from? And are they all the 300gb version?

Straight from WD, all 300gb, but each one a different "model": 1 w/original icepack, 1 with 2nd version icepack, 1 bare. They were shocked when I showed them the difference in noise w/ and w/o the icepack -- at least my PR contact was. We chatted about it via phone after she listened to the audio recordings.

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:52 pm

I'm another one with a loud VR, but mine wasn't as bad as AuraAllan's. I've got it out of the IcePak, in a Scythe Quiet Drive, and suspended in my Solo. I haven't bothered with AAM, so I can still hear seeks at one meter, but I have to be unrealistically close to the case to hear spindle noise.

Basically, I think we need to work out a drive trade if we're ever going to sort this out. I'll be hanging on to mine until SLC SSDs become a bit more mainstream, but if someone is not using or getting rid of their loud VR, they should consider loaning theirs to SPCR. Geography makes this difficult, as does trusting relative strangers with several hundred dollars' worth of computer hardware, but it's something to consider.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:47 pm

MikeC has 3 of them, he could trade one of his for someones "loud" VR.

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:13 am

Hey, I'm not giving up my VRs -- what if they're rare!?

Here's a better idea: If anyone in the Vancouver area has VRs they think are noisy, give me a shout, bring them over and let's compare a bunch. Then it's not just my assessment -- although the anechoic chamber spectrum analysis is pretty neutral.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:06 pm

@falcon26 - where have you seen a $160 Vraptor? I'm guessing (and hoping) you're talking about USD... $212 CAD is the cheapest I've found here.

Mech0z · Post by **Mech0z** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:18 am

So if I want a quite Veloci 150gb do I buy

WD1500BLFS(2.5" without icepack) or WD1500HLFS (3.5" with icepack)

Because I heard that if I buy the one with icepack and remove it I void the warrenty. But anyway I plan to stuff it into a SQD or something similar and I have no idear what to do if I get the 2.5" with the none standard size? What did you other people do?

bgiddins · Post by **bgiddins** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:41 am

AFAIK WD1500BLFS is the same physical drive as the WD1500HLFS - just without the icepak. So buy the WD1500BLFS.

Mech0z · Post by **Mech0z** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:17 am

bgiddins wrote:AFAIK WD1500BLFS is the same physical drive as the WD1500HLFS - just without the icepak. So buy the WD1500BLFS.

Do I void the warrenty by removing the icepack? Because the 2.5" is 20$ more expensive here in denmark compared to the 3.5"

Mech0z · Post by **Mech0z** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:37 am

Ok bought the 2.5" 150gb version yesterday and GOD is there a huge difference between that and my Hitachi 1tb

I almost can't hear it work. So that together with WD GP drives is heaven !

/me is in love!

HAHA · Post by **HAHA** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:26 am

Storage Review has put up a comparison between the original VRaptor WD3000BLFS and a more recent release WD3000GLFS.

The BLFS noise was 37.6 db/A @ 3mm
The GLFS noise was 41.4 db/A @ 3mm

http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchm ... 6&devCnt=2

Stefan S. · Post by **Stefan S.** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:52 am

The VR is not a quiet drive!

This drive produces extreme noise while accessing the disk.

I put my WD1500BLFS in a Scythe Quiet Drive 2.5.

Doesn't help much. Still noisy like hell!

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:03 am

Stefan S. wrote:The VR is not a quiet drive!:(

Your VR is noisy. Not any of mine -- 2 inaudible ones in my PC.

Stefan S. · Post by **Stefan S.** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:37 am

MikeC wrote:Your VR is noisy. Not any of mine -- 2 inaudible ones in my PC.

Good for you. But it makes no difference. The VR is not a quiet drive.

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:12 pm

Stefan S. wrote:
MikeC wrote:Your VR is noisy. Not any of mine -- 2 inaudible ones in my PC.
Good for you. But it makes no difference. The VR is not a quiet drive.

I disagree. You have a sample of one. I've personally seen/heard/handled about 4-5 of them -- all have had exactly the same acoustics. W/o the heatsink, they're quieter than any other drives in the lab except for a few laptop drives.

But since you're complaining about seek noise, I should point out that enclosures do very little if anything to reduce seek noise. Soft suspension is what you need. My PC is housed in an Antec Solo, and both drives are suspended elastically in the stock HDD mount setup.

xan_user · Post by **xan_user** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:32 pm

lets compare apples..
How many posters have loud VR's and have them suspended? (not enclosed,not grommeted, nor soft mounted.-Suspended.)

VelociRaptor quiet or not[?]

VelociRaptor quiet or not[?]

Re: Veloci Raptor quiet or not

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