After reading this thread, I feel so stupid. I've suspected that elastic suspension would be the way to ease the acoustically-coupled vibration on my Sonata case, but I hadn't considered the first method shown here (suspended from the tray). I considered the suspension inside the rack (with the trays removed), but I wanted easier access to my drives than that.
I don't know whether it's just my particular case, this particular drive, or if this is a common problem, but the top of the case is acting like a real sound-plate. The Maxtor drive seems fine enough (ie. the vibrations don't create an audibly distracting noise), but the WD has me fit to kill.
In any case, here are the two dumb things I tried earlier tonight that did NOT work:
1. Added some extra foam under the drive and used longer screws to attach. This did not work, as the screws themselves were still transferring too much vibration to the tray, then to the case.
2. Sat the drive on the foam WITHOUT screws. Yup, it worked not bad. Acceptable. But I was worried about the heat getting to the foam. There seems to be a reasonable amount of heat generated by the drive to affect my cheap generic household foam, and I didn't want to take the risk.
3. Took apart an old CD-ROM I had. This would be a housing for an elastic suspension, which would still be able to slide in and out on its plastic rails; a convenience middle-ground. BUT... some of you will have seen this coming... after almost completing the project, I went to do a test-fitting. Would not go into the bay. Scratched my head and looked closely. AHA... the part of the CD-ROM chassis that was to be my makeshift 'tray' is actually the TOP half, negating its potential usefulness.
I'm a part of some music forums, so I know how forumites can be quite helpful. That's when I discovered this forum, some of the FAQs and articles, and this thread in particular, which I'm going to revive from the dead.
Questions:
1. How risky is it to use something like... non-slip rubber kitchen cupboard liner as an insulator, in terms of heat? It's made of rubber... will a hard drive sitting on it generate enough heat to cause damage?
2. Only a few pictures remain on this thread. Since the pictures tell a thousand words, I'm not sure about some of the concepts anymore. Does anyone know where I can see an archive of them?
3. Does anybody know of any other threads (on this or any other forum) discussing elastic suspensions or HDD vibration suppresion with regards SPECIFICALLY to the Sonata or other cases with the same configuration? I'd like to see a few other modified trays and/or drive bays before committing to a play of action.
4. I haven't put in a 'front' (more like internal) fan yet. Considering how mild my overclock is, and that the temperature in my case seems quite cool indeed, would it be a worthwhile addition? A Stealth or SilenX wouldn't add too much extra noise, and I'm thinking that it might provide a bit of extra cooling to counter-act the higher temperatures incurred by a suspended hard drive.
Anyhow, any suggestions or comments are welcome, including pointers to other threads and/or sources of information!
Thanks,
Greg
Let me know how it goes.
Since you couldn't live with it, I'm guessing you have something better... MUCH better
