Is there such thing as a "Quiet" Hard Drive?

[Chumprock]

I currently have a WD Caviar 15.3 7200 drive, and damn is it loud!
Maybe i didn't notice in the old room since it sat beside all my other machines, but now that it sits alone in a small room my skin crawls with that high pitched scream.

Are there any large eide 7200 drives that might be a little quieter? I know to expect some noise, but this just seems louder than any I'm used to.

 

[chuckieland]

Try Maxtor or IBM, and Quantum AS
WD is very loud

 

[bacillus]

the IBM 75 GXP 7200rpm drives are very quiet! 🙂

 

[forouza1]

My Diamond Max 60GB HD is so quiet it's barely audible in complete dead silence.

 

[GT1999]

Yeah, WD drives are usually loud 🙂 I like my 75GXP, it's quiet 😀

 

[SiliconVandal]

The IBM 75GXP's are quiet..especially if you put them on quiet mode, they are inaudible 🙂

SV

 

[SiliconVandal]

The IBM 75GXP's are quiet..especially if you put them on quiet mode, they are inaudible 🙂

SV

 

[Howard]

SSDs are silent. Solid-State Drives, that is.

 

[nortexoid]

solid state drives don't use mechanical parts....they also cost 2304234 dollars.

Fujitsu make the quietest drive...all their new drives use Fluid dyanmic bearings instead of ball bearing..

i can't hear my drive ever...

 

[Pete]

Most newer HDs are very quiet, including newer WD's. See Storage Review for more info. Check this thread there: http://198.76.30.88/jive/sr/thread.jsp?forum=1&thread=8242

I'm sure any current gen 40GB will be quiet enough for you, but the Quantum Firebal Plus AS with HDB will likely be the quietest. Read near the bottom of the above link to see the correct part numbers for this drive.

 

[Rand]

I seriously doubt SSD drives are a viable alternative for him.

I would say the Quantum Fireball LCT15 series of drives are the quietest 7200RPM HDD's available today. Decent performing and abolutely dead silent. They were made specifically to reduce noise.

On a manufacturer-wide basis I would say Fujitsu makes the quitest drives overall, most all of their drives are extremely quiet.

 

[divinemartyr]

Another vote for the Fujitsu drives, with fluid dynamic bearings. Those drives are near silent. If you can handle just a little bit of sound, and want a performance boost, the IBM Deskstar's are excellent drives for this.

dm

 

[marcio]

I have a WD, a Maxtor 7200, and a IBM 75GXP. The WD is loud. The Maxtor is quieter but you hear it easily even 10 ft away. The IBM is quiet but you have to pay close attention to hear it.

 

[Viperoni]

Fujitsu is indeed the quietest of drives.
They're made for home theatre comp applications, which basically mandates them to be silent.
Plus you still have half decent performance.

I have a 20gig Quantum AS WITHOUT The HDB bearings....OMG does it ever whine.