[michaelconnor]

I'm currently using a Samsung 160GB Spinpoint and a Seagate 80GB Barracuda.

I bought the Samsung because supposedly it was the quietest available. Surely enough, I have to listen very intently to even detect the seeking noise.

The Seagate, however, can be more likened to a shopping cart being pushed along a gravel road, yet this may be a bit of an overstatement

I'd suppose I got the lucky quiet motor in the Spinpoint, but since neither drive is a 250GB model, my experience may not be all that relevant.

 

[Pibborando]

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelconnor The Seagate, however, can be more likened to a shopping cart being pushed along a gravel road, yet this may be a bit of an overstatement

Is it strange that I've never heard my Seagate make ANY noise at all? Maybe all my fans are drowning it out, but my PC is still pretty darn quiet.

 

[michaelconnor]

Could be. My shuttle has only two very quiet fans, so factors like HDD noise really make a difference. The Seagate is the loudest part of the computer when it's being accessed, but again, this is a different model from the 250GB, and so the build quality, components, and design may not be exactly the same.

 

[Pibborando]

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelconnor My shuttle has only two very quiet fans

Heh, I've got 1x 90mm on the heatsink, 1x 60mm on the VGA, 1x 80mm blowing in from the front, 2x 120mm fans on front and back, 3x 80mm fans in the PSU, and an exhaust blower in the back. So, 9 fans total. I've got my headphones on most of the time anyway, so the noise it does make doesn't bother me. And when I put my hand behind it, I feel COOL air comming out. Yay for 28C CPU temps.

I've also got two other (older) WD HDDs next to the Seagate, and I don't hear those either. They're for storage, and foobar2000 (which is on the Seagate) reads my music off one of the WDs constantly, and still, I hear nothing. Maybe I'm lucky?

 

[Bones13]

Have used both. I agree with silentpcreviews as well. I love their testing methods.

I chose the samsung 250g spinpoint for my music storage on my office machine. I can't hear it, and my case is one of the perforated ones.

On the other hand the hitachi 80 deskstar, which I bought back in September for the early SATA 2.0 is noisy, and I had to buy an enclosure for it.

Next time, will just be looking for the Samsung. Next time I do a disk wipe and OS install, I might just skip the deskstar. The samsung 250 that I got supports the SATA 2.0. HEH HEH, at the rate my music collection is growing, the 250 might end up being the Main Drive with my MP3s, with an even bigger disk to hold the lossless. And if I can ever wean myself from gaming a bit more, I can make a much quieter computer.

 

[5ergo]

my $0.01

I have some old 80GB Seagate for 4.5 years and it works well. It has bacame a bit loud when i copy/paste something. Reliable for sure!

 

[MikoLayer]

Good to see I am not the only one thinking samsungs are quieter. Not that seagates bother me a whole lot, but there is some difference if you have to compare, with samsungs in favor. Wouldn't idle noise be probably more important since you wont (shouldnt be) hearing the seek noise while listening to music for the most part?

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikoLayer Good to see I am not the only one thinking samsungs are quieter. Not that seagates bother me a whole lot, but there is some difference if you have to compare, with samsungs in favor. Wouldn't idle noise be probably more important since you wont (shouldnt be) hearing the seek noise while listening to music for the most part?

Does the fact that Samsungs have so much little storage capacity, they wont go past the 250GB, http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/h...es/sp2014n.asp, represent a problem since you'll need to stack many of them?

Amicalement

 

[MikoLayer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genetic Does the fact that Samsungs have so much little storage capacity, they wont go past the 250GB, http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/h...es/sp2014n.asp, represent a problem since you'll need to stack many of them? Amicalement

dunno, I bought my spinpoint80 (80gb) as that was the best option available back then. I can vouch it is quiter than my two 7200.7s. I mostly go for best bang for buck when it comes to computer parts, and havnt seen any good deals on 300+ drives as of yet. Currently I am with 200gb + 160gb + 200gb, and it does raise a bit of concern since they are all PATA and I will definitely need more space sooner or later

 

[Oga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikoLayer havnt seen any good deals on 300+ drives as of yet.

Western Digital 320 Gb is on sale at the moment. I got one. Not as supremely quiet as the Samsung or Seagate, but close actually. I'm quite happy with it. But its just a backup drive for me. Still, its well priced at the moment for something in this size range.

 

[shlomomofo]

i had 2 of the seagate 7200.7 200gb drives. when soft mounted in a tower case (with very quiet case fan and power supply), they were not audible unless i would put my ear to the case. when i moved these drives out of the case into external enclosures, a specific seagate "feature" drove me crazy. about every minute, seagate STIR (Seek To Increase Reliability) technology would kick in. this moves the read/write head back and forth a bunch of times (or something like that), and it is MUCH louder than the normal seek noise. it's got a rhythm somewhat like a train coming down the tracks and it last about 2-3 seconds. this happens every 60 seconds. in the end, i replaced the seagates with a 250gb samsung.

moral of the story... if you are sensitive to computer component noise, beware of STIR in seagate drives if you plan to use the drive externally in a quiet environment. many folks would likely not be bothered, but it is something to consider and i hardly ever see it mentioned.

 

[MikoLayer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oga Western Digital 320 Gb is on sale at the moment. I got one. Not as supremely quiet as the Samsung or Seagate, but close actually. I'm quite happy with it. But its just a backup drive for me. Still, its well priced at the moment for something in this size range.

can you fill me in on the details of the deal? my idea of a good deal is up to two <reliable> rebates max, and $0.25 and lower. Speed isnt of much concern to me, I dont do any time ciritical stuff as far as media goes, and the vast majority of the space gets used storing mkv files and ISO files anyway. So having a newer drive with denser (and thus faster) platters is a plus, only when it is available for just as much or less.

 

[Oga]

www.froogle.com

 

[granodemostasa]

I'm wondering, does samsung make external hard drives? i'm looking into a quieter solution for my music playback. Thanks.

 

[shlomomofo]

you can get fanless external usb enclosures at newegg...