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Question about hard drive noise...

post #1 of 20
12/8/04 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 
Is it possible to get a laptop (or desktop for that matter) where the hard drive is very quiet? Or will there always be that annoying ticking type sound? (I personally find hard drive noise much more annoying then fan noise). Thanks.
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post #2 of 20
12/8/04 at 6:37pm
On the AW site, under the Area 51 5500 notebook, there's a HD called the Seagate Momentus 20GB 5400rpm which they call "nearly silent."

Not certain about the claim since I haven't come across anyone that has it.
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post #3 of 20
12/9/04 at 12:16am
Thread Starter 
Hmm sounds interesting. (thanks )
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post #4 of 20
12/9/04 at 1:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by twopiece
On the AW site, under the Area 51 5500 notebook, there's a HD called the Seagate Momentus 20GB 5400rpm which they call "nearly silent."

Not certain about the claim since I haven't come across anyone that has it.
The Seagate drives are supposedly pretty silent. I have only dealt with the desktop Seagates, and they are very quiet.

If you get a 5400 drive you will get good performance and low noise. Anything above 5400, will give more noise. Different people think different thngs, so what may be quiet to one person, will be intolerable by another.


^_^_^
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post #5 of 20
12/11/04 at 11:37am
Thread Starter 
Ok,thanks for the info
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post #6 of 20
12/11/04 at 12:15pm
Seagates as the guy above said is your best bet. Their desktop drives are usually very quiet, though not completely silent, though they do have a tendancy to run hot and slow.

Seagates are reliable too, ive had the same 120GB Seagate desktop drive for 4 years now and it hasnt hitched up once on me and this is me and heavy duty bittorrent. Normal useage through the day or when im home and downloading from BT when im sleeping or when im out.
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post #7 of 20
12/12/04 at 10:58am
I'm also looking at getting a Seagate HDD for my notebook computer. I see Newegg.com & BestBuy have them for $200 for the 100gb 5400RPM version. Even though I much rather have the 7200RPM, would the noise be too loud where it becomes an annoyance? If so, then I'll stick with the 5400RPM.

Btw, my current HDD is a 60gb 4200RPM frm Toshiba so even if I do get the 5400, there will be a noticable improvement from what I have now.
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post #8 of 20
12/12/04 at 1:31pm
Yea, the difference between 4,200rpm and 5,400rpm is pretty big. Definately noticable, but the difference between a 5,400rpm drive and a 7,200rpm aint that great. with higher RPMs, there's always more noise, but from what ive seen, a 5,400rpm drive with 16MB cache performs on par with a 8MB cache 7,200rpm drive while using less power and producing less noise.
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post #9 of 20
12/12/04 at 4:40pm
NovaShine, it appears the Seagate 5400.2 only has an 8MB cache and not 16MB, so how much of a difference would there be between an 8MB 5400rpm and an 8MB 7200rpm? Near similar performance as well? In device manager's thread comparing the Seagate 5400.2 & Hitachi 7K60 7200rpm, the Seagate performed almost on par with the Hitachi.. 30MB/S to 32MB/s.

Also, would it be wise to get the 100gb 5400rpm HDD now and not wait for the 100gb 7200rpm since the added speed isn't that great from 5400>7200? Would be saving $100 that way which I can use on other components to upgrade my notebook computer.
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post #10 of 20
12/12/04 at 5:28pm
Well, firstly, when i was talking about the 16MB cache 5,400rpm drive, i wasnt talking Seagate. But the average 5,400rpm isnt really very loud anyway, so it dosnt really matter anyway. 7,200rpm is louder, but not really by that much. I hardly hear my notebook hard drive and it's a 5,400rpm.

Secondly, Notebook hard drives only do around 20mb/s - 30mb/s transfer rates. There is no way that they could do over 90mb/s. Hell, that's just under what my Raid 0 configuration of Raptors do and they're 10,000rpms.
Normal desktop drives do around 40mb/s - 65mb/s depending on brand and type (assuming they're all modern 7,200rpm drives)

But in a notebook drive, there's a tiny difference between 5,400rpm drives and 7,200rpm drives performancewise.

For $100, that's not worth it.
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post #11 of 20
12/12/04 at 7:43pm
Thx for your help NovaShine. I've decided to get the 100gb 5400rpm drive. When I saw the graphs device manager posted, I initially saw the 90+MB/s figures. I knew that
was a little too high for notebook HDDs, then I looked more carefully.
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post #12 of 20
12/13/04 at 1:01am
how about maxtor drives?
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post #13 of 20
12/13/04 at 2:21am
Well, i know for a fact that their desktop drives dont got a great track record on reliability. Ive heard enough horror stories of people's maxtor's screwing up.
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post #14 of 20
12/13/04 at 10:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NovaShine
Well, i know for a fact that their desktop drives dont got a great track record on reliability. Ive heard enough horror stories of people's maxtor's screwing up.
This is off topic, but I have had more trouble with my IBM/Hitachi and WD drives then my Maxtor's. Years ago they where subpar, but they have come around and are just as good, IMHO.

My friend had 2 brand new WD drives die on him within 2 months of each other. The Maxtor(s) he runs are still going strong.

Seagate is nice for desktops, but a bit to expensive for my budget.

---------------------------------------------------------


I have heard that Seagate may release a 7200 version of the Momentus 100gb. You may want to look into this before you jump on the 5400.


^_^_^
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post #15 of 20
12/13/04 at 12:08pm
IBMs are the worst. Especially their Deskstar line, often nicknamed the "DeathStar" because they die so much. From what i hear on IBM releeased figures, 10% of the product yeild will die very, very quickly (a set timeframe i cant remember). Maxtors come second behind IBM/Hitachi in the most unreliable desktop HDDs, but trailing by a good amount. But i might also add that Maxtors do make the fastest Desktop hard drives around at 7,200rpm.

IMO, the only really reliable HDD manufacturers are Seagate and Western Digital.
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post #16 of 20
12/13/04 at 8:51pm
I have 2 external Western Digital HDDs (120gb + 250gb) and they have performed very well. The only problem that did occur was the power adapter failed after a year of use, but WD sent me a brand new one for around $20.
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post #17 of 20
12/14/04 at 5:04am
I had a Western Digital 60GB crap out on me after a year an a half. Turned on my PC one day to hear a not-so-pleasant clicking, scratching, "wookie" sound. I managed to get 90% of my data off it (after Windows deleted the other 10% for me) and got a nice and quiet Seagate Baracuda IV/V 7200.7. So far, no "wookie" sounds.

I have had no problems with Maxtor (8-yr old 2.1GB still running).
I have never had an IBM/Hitachi or Toshiba.
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post #18 of 20
12/14/04 at 9:19am
It is quite ashame that for as advanced as hdd technology has gotten, they don't seem to last as long as they used too.

Also the juggling of warranties by hdd companies, doesn't make me feel any better.


Any info on the 7200rpm version of the 100gb Momentus?


^_^_^
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post #19 of 20
12/14/04 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tech_Girl
Is it possible to get a laptop (or desktop for that matter) where the hard drive is very quiet? Or will there always be that annoying ticking type sound? (I personally find hard drive noise much more annoying then fan noise). Thanks.
I would go for one of the 5400rpm Seagate drives that have been mentioned earlier.

The 100gb is a very nice drive. It has good performance, and more storage then you will ever need in a mobile hdd.

If you need performance, you will need to look at a 7200rpm hdd, which will add noise and heat to your laptop.


^_^_^
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post #20 of 20
12/14/04 at 11:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack_Burton
I would go for one of the 5400rpm Seagate drives that have been mentioned earlier.

The 100gb is a very nice drive. It has good performance, and more storage then you will ever need in a mobile hdd.

If you need performance, you will need to look at a 7200rpm hdd, which will add noise and heat to your laptop.


^_^_^
I second that, but IMO, the 7,200rpm aint worth it.
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