Single platter 2.5" drives?

[Sadako]

I'm looking around for a quiet 2.5" hard disk to use in an enclosure hooked up to a media player, and I know the scorpio blue series are highly recommended here, but I'm going nuts looking at their models.

Apparently, 250 GB and 320 GB single platter variant scorpio blues have been available since august and december of last year (respectively), but because their released under the same model numbers as the earlier drives, there's no way of knowing if what you order will be a one- or two- platter model...

So, what are the guaranteed single platter drives are available?

Capacity wise, even 120 GB would be enough, but I'd rather a higher capacity per platter for the increased speed the higher areal density yields.

Other than the scorpio, what other makes are recommended?
I like samsungs for 3.5" drives, but their 2.5" ones seem to have a poor reputation...

[MikeC]

imo, a lot of 2.5" drives have become so quiet that the difference between 1 and 2 platters is moot these days. For example, I have a 640g external drive from Seagate that's quiet enough that most of the time I can't really hear it placed directly on the desk next to my monitor -- less than 3' away. This has to a 2-platter model. Same or even better acoustics in a 1tb, thicker external 2.5" Seagate -- and that has to be a 3-platter drive.

[SleepyBum]

Other than the scorpio, what other makes are recommended?
I like samsungs for 3.5" drives, but their 2.5" ones seem to have a poor reputation...

I don't like Hitachi desktop drives, but their 5400rpm laptop drives are very quiet and usually leads in power savings. They almost always publish data sheets with the heads/platters information. Example, the whole Travelstar 5K500.B series is based on 250GB platters. So the 250GB 5K500.B will be a 1-platter drive/2 heads and the 120GB 5K500.B will be 1-platter drive/1 head.

http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/e ... r/5K500.B/

I have a Spinpoint M5 HM160HC (PATA) laptop drive in an old ThinkPad X22, and it's working fine. It's very quiet, except it makes a clicking sound rarely, only lasts about 2-3 seconds. Guess it's some kind of head adjustment/wear leveling.

Also, Fujitsu laptop hard drives are very quiet. They also publish the platter/head specs. But they have been taken over by Toshiba, so I don't know how easy it is to buy the drives now.

[Sadako]

Other than the scorpio, what other makes are recommended?
I like samsungs for 3.5" drives, but their 2.5" ones seem to have a poor reputation...

I don't like Hitachi desktop drives, but their 5400rpm laptop drives are very quiet and usually leads in power savings. They almost always publish data sheets with the heads/platters information. Example, the whole Travelstar 5K500.B series is based on 250GB platters. So the 250GB 5K500.B will be a 1-platter drive/2 heads and the 120GB 5K500.B will be 1-platter drive/1 head.

I was just about to chance the 250GB scorpio blue, based on MikeC's post, even if I did end up with a two platter model it wouldn't be the end of the world, but after checking here first I did a little more searching.

I could only really find reviews for the two platter 500GB 5K500.B, however they all came to more or less the same conclusion, especially the spcr review itself, maybe a tiny bit more vibration but overall as quiet as most other 2.5" drives, and hopefully a single platter will bring the vibration down a teensy bit.

Plus, it appears to use less power and (as a result) seems to run cooler than most other drives in it's class, so if noise is still apparent I could try lining the inside of the enclosure with some acoustipack I have left over (or just place the whole thing in a few thick socks, like I did with a noisy old seagate I have ).

So, I just ordered the 250GB 5K500.B, along with the Scythe Kamazo 2 enclosure (pity all the third party enclosures are aluminium, I would have gone for a plastic case if one was available).

Thank you both very much, and sorry for my first post being a request like this, not very good netiquette I know.
I've been a lurker for a while, and spcr and these forums were of great help with my recent PC build, hopefully I can actually contribute to the forums myself...

[Ralf Hutter]

So, I just ordered the 250GB 5K500.B.

So how is this drive working for you?