Recommended Hard Drives - a major revision

[leem]

The Samsung MT2 is a very good price for a 1Gb 2.5" drive, anyone got info on the noise/vibration, and reliability of Samsung drives generally?

cheers

[silenceseeker]

I know SDDs are the ultimate silent drives, but for terabytes HDDs are still relevant. Unfortunately, the latest update in this article is from December 2009 and we're almost in December 2011.

Any chance we can get an update on more modern and lager capacity HDDs like the HITACHI DeskStar series? (2TB - 3TB)?

[markanini]

To me, as someone who has owned more than a few recommended drives, I doubt any current 3TB drive will be included until the manufacturers move to >1TB platters.

[MikeC]

Finally, an update: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Hard_Drives

[Abula]

Finally, an update: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Hard_Drives

Thank you Mike, really appreciate all the updates and time you invest into SPCR.

[quest_for_silence]

Finally, an update: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Hard_Drives

Thank you Mike, really appreciate all the updates and time you invest into SPCR.

+1

Hey MikeC, here we say something like "three pieces worth an evidence": but that's fall (I mean, usually not the proper time for... "spring cleaning" )!

[CA_Steve]

woot

[Sylph-DS]

Hooray. Well timed! I've been intending to replace my ancient data drives. Thanks!

Is there any chance of the HDD enclosure list being updated? I think most of the ones on it currently are no longer available.

[MikeC]

Hooray. Well timed! I've been intending to replace my ancient data drives. Thanks!

Is there any chance of the HDD enclosure list being updated? I think most of the ones on it currently are no longer available.

I missed one -- http://www.silentpcreview.com/tichepc-hdd-vib-killer -- and it will go on the list shortly. Honestly, we don't know of any others worth considering. We HAVE tried many other devices that never got reviewed, weren't worth the time/effort, they were so obviously ineffective.

The only one available from Scythe these days is the Himuro, which is definitely not worth it -- doesn't work.

The novibes is still around, also shows up under some other brand names. Try searching.
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g33/c11 ... ncers.html

Smart Drive is still around, mostly under the name "Grow Up Japan Smart Drive" or some variant thereof. Never was cheap but it's now somewhere around $90 -- likely not worth it unless you have a special need to retain an old noisy drive or use a new noisy one for some special reason. Like -- maybe -- a 1TB velociraptor... though I'd opt for a fast 2~4TB 7200rpm (maybe hybrid?) w/ the fewest platters if I needed something like this. Generally, newer drives are much quieter than older ones, so the need for these things is far less than in the past.

http://www.quietpc.com/smartdrive-classic
http://www.acousticpc.com/gup_japan_store.html -- I see a novibes copy is here too under GUP brand. That might be worth review.

[Das_Saunamies]

From 2011 to 2014. Feels like time travel.

Regarding enclosures, I think the time for internal 'silencers' is drawing to a close. As smaller form factors like µATX and mini-ITX become more popular, there's just no space left (RIP 5.25" bays; note plural), so it'll be soft-fix (elastic band etc.) or nothing. SSDs are also slowly but surely taking over as system drives, so you won't even have a pressing need for an internal HDD anymore. I think the latter especially are contributing to any decline in the HDD peripheral market.

Obviously SPCR should be the entity to test any contenders left, but it just seems like that train's gone as far as it will go.

Another factor are external enclosures. They are as affordable and offer much more versatility than silencers; hotplug, remote placement, modding etc. With eSATA you won't be giving up performance or features either. If you have a need for massive storage (more drives than comfortably fit in enclosures), NAS' are not out of most people's price range, although you will give up some performance in the process - but that's only a critical factor during initial setup, as in use a good Gbit NAS serves quite well (way faster than most clouds/internet anyway). I may backup several hundred megabytes daily without an issue, sometimes even during online gaming.

Glad to see HDDs still getting some love despite having become second-class citizens in the world of silence.

[MikeC]

From 2011 to 2014. Feels like time travel. .....

....Glad to see HDDs still getting some love despite having become second-class citizens in the world of silence.

+1

[nizer]

Great! Keep updating those Recommended X articles!

[MikeC]

Regarding enclosures, I think the time for internal 'silencers' is drawing to a close. As smaller form factors like µATX and mini-ITX become more popular, there's just no space left (RIP 5.25" bays; note plural), so it'll be soft-fix (elastic band etc.) or nothing. SSDs are also slowly but surely taking over as system drives, so you won't even have a pressing need for an internal HDD anymore. I think the latter especially are contributing to any decline in the HDD peripheral market.

Obviously SPCR should be the entity to test any contenders left, but it just seems like that train's gone as far as it will go.

More confirmation of this assessment.

Here's a reply this morn from AcousticPC.com to my request for review samples of 2 HDD dampers we hadn't examined before:
http://www.acousticpc.com/gup_japan_sma ... osure.html
http://www.acousticpc.com/silenx_hard_d ... encer.html

Mike, both of these hard drive enclosures have been discontinued. Silenx Still has some stock, but after that it is gone, no more. I do not forsee anyone making new ones with SSD’s going down in price.

[Das_Saunamies]

So long, and thanks for all the disks.