2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate?

b1_ · Post by **b1_** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:17 pm

2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate? Which set up would be more silent?

What's the quietest of the large 400-500 HDDs? How loud are these large HDDs?

Can anyone who has a 400/500GB Seagate or Western Digital HDD describe the sound. Are they too loud? I'm thinking that I'll just get the cheaper WD model if the Seagates arn't as quiet.

I was going to go with a Samsung 250GB SataII NCQ but realised the capacity wouldn't last me long, so, need some advice on these newer larger drives.

Thx if you can help

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:44 pm

How about a 3-platter T7K500?

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:38 pm

Heh... didn't know Hitachi uses 167Gb platters already, I was still under impression that their flagships have 5 platters. Oh well, good for them.

b1_ · Post by **b1_** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:09 am

I've never heard of this drive. Is it quiet? Is it available?

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:40 am

b1_ wrote:Can anyone who has a 400/500GB Seagate or Western Digital HDD describe the sound. Are they too loud? I'm thinking that I'll just get the cheaper WD model if the Seagates arn't as quiet.

My WD2500KS is quieter than my SP2504C. The seeks on both drives are noticeable even when semi-dampened. A single large drive will probably be quieter and use less power than two half-sized drives.

The new Hitachis have been announced, but I don't think they are available yet.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:22 pm

What about the new Seagate 750GB HD? Then you'd have enough space for sure!

elec999 · Post by **elec999** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:51 pm

Ackelind wrote:What about the new Seagate 750GB HD? Then you'd have enough space for sure!

Are you serious that Seagete made a 750gig hard drive.
I think the 250ks is very loud, and makes that ennoying wine sound.
Thanks

mb2 · Post by **mb2** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:52 pm

dont forget if u are going to have one drive with data on that u dont use all the time then u can set that one to turn off most of the time..
*sigh* just as laptop hdds were seeming relatively alright for capacity they get sh@ on again.. way forward i suppose shouldn't complain.

750gb should be retail in june i think.. wonder if there are any lower platter versions?

elec999 · Post by **elec999** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 7:26 pm

I might have another idea for you. You probally wont need 500gig of data on, all the times. So why dont you get your self a nice 250gig hard drive inside your box. And then get aanother drive inside a external sata enclosure, and only use it when you need it. Dont need the enclosure on all the time.
Thanks

b1_ · Post by **b1_** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 2:31 am

elec999 wrote:I might have another idea for you. You probally wont need 500gig of data on, all the times. So why dont you get your self a nice 250gig hard drive inside your box. And then get aanother drive inside a external sata enclosure, and only use it when you need it. Dont need the enclosure on all the time.
Thanks

I'm not keen on managing my data. I just want it there, accessable, all the time, whether I'm using it or not. One of the reasons I'm getting this large drive is because I'm lazy and can't be bothered soughting my data.

The Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 is impressively quiet in power saver mode which kicks in after about 10mins of idle (the SPCR review with sound samples is here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article304-page2.html). My first thought was that this would work well in my new PC because I'm going with a OS drive (74GB Raptor of course) and a data drive. But then I thought, it will be a data drive not an archive drive; I will be accessing this drive often. I will be saving all saved versions of whatever I'm working straight onto this drive, and I have a tendancy to save often. All music and video will be accessed from this drive aswell, unless I decide to move data onto my Raptor for its speedy access. I'm wondering whether the changes in sound profile will be more annoying than a constant louder sound.

In that review the Seagate 350 was clearly quieter than the Hitachi in normal mode, but it's seeks were clearly worse than the Hitachi's. And the Hitachi's power saver mode kicked ass.

Hard decision. I've put off buying my data drive for now. Need to read more reviews. MAybe a drive enclosure will be the way to go. I'll just use my new Raptor for now until I make a decision.

xaffeine · Post by **xaffeine** » Sun May 07, 2006 9:20 am

One thought about external enclosures: if you get a long cable you can put it further away from your ears! On the other hand, it needs its very own fan. Plus, how long a cable can you get, anyway?

So, I tried getting a TeraStation NAS from Buffalo. Ethernet cables can be very long, so you can put it in an actual closet. Plus, it's RAID 5 so you don't have to worry so much about backing up your backup, if you know what I mean.

I had problems with it, though. My Retrospect backup reported numerous error when copying data to it. That should not happen with a RAID 5. I took it back because life's too short for things that don't quite work.

I still like the idea of NAS over gigabit ethernet. I'm sure I'll try it again some day.

Tamas · Post by **Tamas** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:43 am

b1_ wrote:2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate? Which set up would be more silent?

What's the quietest of the large 400-500 HDDs? How loud are these large HDDs?

Can anyone who has a 400/500GB Seagate or Western Digital HDD describe the sound. Are they too loud? I'm thinking that I'll just get the cheaper WD model if the Seagates arn't as quiet.

I was going to go with a Samsung 250GB SataII NCQ but realised the capacity wouldn't last me long, so, need some advice on these newer larger drives.

Thx if you can help

If you consider reliability, safety, and the generated noise + vibration I think the best choice to use 2 drives:
-Hitachi T7K250 fast system drive, 2*125GB platter, very low vibration (I had 6 piece in my hand), seek noise adjustable via acoustic noise management.
-Samsung SpinPoint V120CE HA250JC 250 GB (U-100 IDE) This is a low noise 250GB 5760RPM drive. http://markt.golem.de/2-988e2.html

GebissetDK · Post by **GebissetDK** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:27 am

elec999 wrote: I think the 250ks is very loud, and makes that ennoying wine sound.
Thanks

I also have a WDC2500KS mounted in the HDD suspension cables in the Antec P150. Mine is very quiet in this setup. I have a 2,5" 5400 rpm WDC in a USB 2 case, which is way louder. Even the 2,5" Hitachi 4200 rpm in my HP laptop is louder.

Based on this - maybe yours have a problem? - I had my 2500KS in a Shuttle XPC SN25P previously, and apart from the general loud noise of the Shuttle and the seek noise of the drive, I didn't hear any highpitched whine sounds from the drive...

nina · Post by **nina** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:05 pm

mb2 wrote:dont forget if u are going to have one drive with data on that u dont use all the time then u can set that one to turn off most of the time..

Stupid question, how do you set that only one drive turns of
when not used?

Under 'power options properties', 'power shemes', I can set
the sheme to turn off hard disks. But this goes for all drives, I think.
Or am I wrong?
My loudest HD, a Seagate SATAII 160GB has a high pitch and a whoosy
sound, but this drive is not often used, as it holds my backup images
and mp3 collection, can I turn it off without enabling this on the other HD's?

2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate?

2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate?

Re: 2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate?

Re: 2 250 Samsung Spinpoints, or 1 500GB WD or Seagate?