homemade dynamat solution? Somewhat long rant. *SOLVED*

[amdhunter]

OK, here is some background.

I started quiet'ing my case a bit, which is VERY hard to manage with an overclocked Prescott CPU. I bought a nice fan controller, and a passive Northbridge heatsink and some quieter fans. Everything is within manageable limits now, except for one really irritating thing.

Now I can hear the audible whirrs of my scsi drives, which is OK but, my hitachi drive has this annoying squeal that happens every 30 seconds or so. Its irritating me to the point that I turn ALL the fans up to drown out the squeal, defeating the purpose of quieting my case. It is barely audible, but it sounds like someones nail going across a chalkboard.

It has gotten so irritating to me that I can hear the squeal echo even when I am not around the PC, such as when I walk my dogs, or even when I wear headphones. I have already reached the point where I bang my fists on the keyboard when I hear it.

I thought about RMA'ing the drive, but I received it from hitachi as a result of a BBB complaint, and don't want to bother with them anymore. Not only that, I cannot afford the loss of space for another month waiting for an RMA, nor do I have the funds to ship the drive.

I can probably drown out the noise by blocking the front of my case [which is where the sound leaks out the most] with some sort of "dynamat" type padding, but dont have money to get some.

So my question after this whole big rant is...

Anyone know of any homemade material I can use to block the front of my case so that it will kill out high pitched sounds? Please, if anyone can spare some material, I would appreciate it. Unfortunately, I do have a problem with my temper with such things and I do fear I will take the drive out and throw it into a wall. Its a brand new u320 drive, but its driving me literally crazy. Just a note, I dont mind the whirr, or the seek sounds, just that repetitive whine. Anything that can drop just that high pitch will make me happy.

I know it sounds stupid, but just imagine sitting and hearing the most irritating sound you can imagine every 30 seconds and be powerless against it. Thanks.

 

[Nessism]

If you block the front the temps are likely to go up. Sure you want to do that? If so, have you considered tape?

 

[amdhunter]

The temps dont bother me too much, when I game or do anything stressful, I just turn my 92mm Vantec Tornado up, otherwise most of the time the PC is idling.

I am confused in your tape recommendation, do you mean like tape the vents? I may give it a try, I have loads of duct tape around.

BTW, after googling a bit, Hitachi drives are known for the Cat-Meowing screeching, so RMA wouldn't help either. Arrgh. Type Meow + Hitachi and you will see that I am not the only one.

 

[akira34]

Yet another reason I'm glad I don't use hitachi hard drives...

 

[amdhunter]

I will most likely never get another in my life either. The pitch is some sort of self calibration routine...

 

[akira34]

I've never had such a thing come from any Seagate or WD drives I've owned/used... I'll continue to use those two brands, since I know they'll hold up for me...

 

[TRUMPHENT]

I think you are going to need a new piece of furniture. Something made out of wood that will "enclose" cpu case. Impact printers used be housed in sound deadening enclosures.

The right hand end of this desk from Office Depot is a good illustration.Office Depot computer desk with computer enclosed in wood cabinet.

 

[akira34]

Just make sure you have enough air coming into, and exhausting out of, the area where the computer will go. Otherwise, you risk overheating the rig.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: TRUMPHENT
I think you are going to need a new piece of furniture. Something made out of wood that will "enclose" cpu case. Impact printers used be housed in sound deadening enclosures.

The right hand end of this desk from Office Depot is a good illustration.Office Depot computer desk with computer enclosed in wood cabinet.

I got a nice lighting/uv scheme going. Would be a shame to hide it. I am thinking about stuffing the innard of a comforter blanket combined with duct tape, but there may be static/fire issues...

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: akira34
Just make sure you have enough air coming into, and exhausting out of, the area where the computer will go. Otherwise, you risk overheating the rig.

It's in the back of my mind.

 

[akira34]

How about just chucking the hitachi drive and get either a Seagate or WD to replace it?? You should be able to use the latest version of Ghost to clone your drive over to the replacement, and not lose anything.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: akira34
How about just chucking the hitachi drive and get either a Seagate or WD to replace it?? You should be able to use the latest version of Ghost to clone your drive over to the replacement, and not lose anything.

LOL, no money. I do have a spare atx power supply, I am thinking about getting a small ATX case, pad it, putting my scsi drives in there and using the external LVD/SE connctor on my scsi card. But that in itself may be too much $$$.

 

[akira34]

You'll need to bridge the internal to external connection by going that way. It will cost you more, most likely, then just getting a new hard drive to replace the hitachi.

 

[IlllI]

yeah, just replace the noisy hd. thats the easiest thing to do

 

[Spike]

I also say go for replacement as soon as the funds are available. Anything in the high-pitch range coming out of your comp is destined to make you go insane.

I myself will stick with WD and Seagate, though my 250GB Maxtor has worked beautifully since I got it (a year ago). The only issue with the maxtor is it's actualyl audible, dumb seek noise can be heard unlike me WD's and Seagates.

 

[pelikan]

My Raptor makes a high-pitched whine that was driving me crazy. Someone suggested that I put in on a bed of foam. I had some 1/4" foam lying around so I put it on that, at the bottom of my case in front of my 120mm intake fan. The high-pitched whine is gone and it runs cool (25-30C). Another thing that's better now is I can't hear the loud seek/write noises any more.
The problem was that having the hdd connected to the case caused the case to amplify the noises. The case vibrates with the sound, acting like a big speaker. The rubber grommets in my hdd cage didn't help. So it was necessary to de-couple the hdd from the case. The foam was super easy. Another way to do it is suspend the drive in a 5.25" bay with surgical tubing.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: pelikan
My Raptor makes a high-pitched whine that was driving me crazy. Someone suggested that I put in on a bed of foam. I had some 1/4" foam lying around so I put it on that, at the bottom of my case in front of my 120mm intake fan. The high-pitched whine is gone and it runs cool (25-30C). Another thing that's better now is I can't hear the loud seek/write noises any more.
The problem was that having the hdd connected to the case caused the case to amplify the noises. The case vibrates with the sound, acting like a big speaker. The rubber grommets in my hdd cage didn't help. So it was necessary to de-couple the hdd from the case. The foam was super easy. Another way to do it is suspend the drive in a 5.25" bay with surgical tubing.

That seems like a good idea, I am about to take apart the case and try some foam that came with one of my drives. Hopefully all will go well.

BTW, most people around me dont even hear the pitch, it is in the lower volume range, but I can hear it plain as day. If I had to compare the volume to something, I would put it in the range of a pencil moving across paper, just higher. I am sure I can drown it out somehow.

 

[Kitrax]

My Dell laptop has a Hitachi HDD, and I know EXACTLY what amdhunter is talking about...unfourtunatly for me, I can't do anything about it since there is no way to sound-proof a laptop. I don't know why it makes that sound, or what the HDD is doing when it does...I just know it buggs the hell out of me! All I can do is turn up the volume, but I have neighboors living under me now, so I can't crank it up very loud after 10pm. :frown:

 

[Zepper]

I think Hitachi has a solution for the cat's meow - go look on http://www.hitachigst.com .
.bh.

 

[amdhunter]

HEHEHEH, Shut the bastard up by stuffing a crapload of Bounty Napkins in the space between the front cover and the metal of the case itself. Although this *may* cause some more heat, I didn't notice any difference from the sensors on the motherboard.

It actually muffled the seek noises to a certain degree also. I am going to further attempt my sound proofing later tomorrow with some foam pieces, but I am happy for now.

Who would have thunk that Bounty would make a good sound-dampening solution?

 

[amdhunter]

double post

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: Zepper
I think Hitachi has a solution for the cat's meow - go look on http://www.hitachigst.com .
.bh.

I have read that also but cannot find it anywhere on their site. It is some sort of firmware fix. I am burning their DFT utility now in hopes it may be there.

 

[Zepper]

I think that of any of the tools that Hitachi offers, Feature Tool would be more likely to have what you need. It's a bit farther down the page from the DFT... Which model of Hitachi drive do you have? Apparently there is a firmware fix for that. Just use DFT to determine the firmware rev that you already have and contact Hitachi support (per Hitachi drive FAQs).

You can get the firmware fix for the 7K250 here: Link

Threre are also links for the PATA firmware. I didn't see a link for SCSI firmware but Hitachi support people will send it to you as above.
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: Zepper
I think that of any of the tools that Hitachi offers, Feature Tool would be more likely to have what you need. It's a bit farther down the page from the DFT... Which model of Hitachi drive do you have? Apparently there is a firmware fix for that. Just use DFT to determine the firmware rev that you already have and contact Hitachi support (per Hitachi drive FAQs).

You can get the firmware fix for the 7K250 here: Link

Threre are also links for the PATA firmware. I didn't see a link for SCSI firmware but Hitachi support people will send it to you as above.
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?

Will give it a shot later today, thanks~!