Quiet, fast hard drives
- Thread starter nolovenohope
- Start date
How fast do you want? I can't recommend Seagate Barracuda drives enough for someone who wants quiet, but they're not the top performers of other brands high-end models. Good performance, but not top.
Yes, the DiamondMax Plus 9 series are fast drives.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/storage/seagate-barracuda-ata5/
I just got one of these drives and i have to say i'm very impressed..the thing is almost perfectly silent...especially in comparison to my old 7200 rpm maxtor drive..definetly worth it
...that is until it starts seeking. I have a 60GB DM+ 9 in here an didle is quiet, but the seeks aren't. The D70x is quieter.
You can adjust seek noise level of these drives (in Windows for instance in IAA if you have it installed, probably with some Maxtor utility as well); but decreased seek noise decreases performance a bit as well....
Still, these drives are great; I have currently two with 2MB buffer, but wanna upgrade to the new drives with 8MB buffer after I installed one last week on friend's rig and saw the performance.
dave
I'm w/ Lord Evermore re the Seagate Barracuda IV drives. They're virtually silent, regardless of the the drive's activity. And, I'll challenge anyone to see a visual difference between how a BIV drive performs compared to a Maxtor FBD.
Markfw
Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
- May 16, 2002
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I can't find the new Maxtor Fluid bearing 8 meg cache version anywhere. I even did a google search. Anybody know where to get one ? I have been told also they are very quiet, and Maxtor was one of the fastest, even without the 8 meg cache. With it, they should be the champs.
Newegg and googlegear carry them.
http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/data_sheets/diamondmax_plus_9_data_sheet.pdf
Funny that you mention that...
The other day when I installed the IAA 2.3's, I tried the acoustic mgmt tool and was amazed at the noticable noise reduction on the DM+9, but performace dropped like a rock.
For some reason I was thinking that the Maxtor drives had reliability/longevity problems. Can't remember where I heard that 
but I remember it for some reason. I personally went with the WD 800JB, all we use at my workplace are WD drives and they have been rocksolid reliable.
but I remember it for some reason. I personally went with the WD 800JB, all we use at my workplace are WD drives and they have been rocksolid reliable.People post horror stories here about every drive vendor, so you can find someone to tell you to stay away from every brand.Originally posted by: Feldenak
For some reason I was thinking that the Maxtor drives had reliability/longevity problems. Can't remember where I heard that
Regarding noise, do stay away from IBM / Hitachi. Their fix for the 75-series deaths was to add a periodic extra seek to prevent head sticking, and this seek is very loud. The "cricket chirp" description is appropriate -- the first few times I heard the 120 GB in my server box doing this I was spooked, thinking it was some weird power supply or fan failure. It's the weirdest drive noise I've heard in working with drives since the MFM / RLL days.
Originally posted by: Feldenak
For some reason I was thinking that the Maxtor drives had reliability/longevity problems. Can't remember where I heard that
All HDD mfg's experience drive failures, and what you read on message boards is definitely going to be an opinion about what's "best".
I am building a computer for a friend. and he wants the quietest, i mean quetest rig! he's a guitar player and wants to use software on it to record his songs and then burn them onto a CD. i have already calculated the amount of room that he will need, and a 20GB is even enough. i know, i forgot they made them this small also. anyways, im lookin at that Maxtor with fluid bearings that was linked a few messages up, and i see it only goes down to 60GB. does anyone know of a super quiet, fast(dosent need to be top of the line persay), and about 20GB-40GB, oh yea, and not for too much moolah too? if you know of any i would appreciate a link along with your opinion. once again, thanks in advance.
Originally posted by: John
Originally posted by: Feldenak
For some reason I was thinking that the Maxtor drives had reliability/longevity problems. Can't remember where I heard that
All HDD mfg's experience drive failures, and what you read on message boards is definitely going to be an opinion about what's "best".
Granted people on message boards can provide horror stories about nearly every manufacturer of every component. I don't think it was here that I read it. For some reason I think it was a magazine or other "traditional" publication. I wasn't necessarily disparaging Maxtor drives, just that based on my experiences at my workplace I'll be going with WD drives.
KuRnUp, get the Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB @ Newegg.com for $77, shipped. Absolutely the quietest drive out there.
FWIW I recently had to RMA a BIV 40GB back to Newegg (heh, happens to the best of drives) and Newegg was a model of customer service.
FWIW I recently had to RMA a BIV 40GB back to Newegg (heh, happens to the best of drives) and Newegg was a model of customer service.
The Seagate Baracuda IV/V drives are dead-silent according to all that I have read. However, my 1200JB from Western Digital isn't noisy at all. I can't even notice it. The Maxtor drive probably has comparable noise levels to the WD drive, and it performs better. Go with the Maxtor 8MB drives if you don't mind the slight increase in cost.
- the old 'cuda IV's are very close to silent regardless of seeks but the performance isn't great
- cuda V is 100% silent all the time, no other drive can touch it with regard to noise. it's speed is quiet good too. <-- this is the best drive for almost everybody
- IBM 180GXP is very good all around: about like a cuda IV as far as noise when AM is enabled, and the speed is *excellent*
- Maxtor DM+9 has silent idle noise, but noisy seeks. performance is very good though
- cuda V is 100% silent all the time, no other drive can touch it with regard to noise. it's speed is quiet good too. <-- this is the best drive for almost everybody
- IBM 180GXP is very good all around: about like a cuda IV as far as noise when AM is enabled, and the speed is *excellent*
- Maxtor DM+9 has silent idle noise, but noisy seeks. performance is very good though
BIV's kick ass! The only time you will _EVER_ hear it, is if there is zero background noise, and the rest of your computer is silent. Even then, it depends on how much noise is able to resonate through your case from the little seek ticks. If you have even one "pretty quiet" fan, you won't hear the drive. Under any normal conditions you won't hear it. I heard it once, when it was running outside of the case. Built like a tank too
Martians.
Actually, Seagate has been doing this on their enterprise storage solutions. STIR or Seek To Improve Reliability. I don't think this is necessary on a 7200 RPM disk. 15,000 RPM is another matter altogether though.
STIR is much louder on first genny x15's. On second and third genny X15's the only people that notice the drives STIRring shouldn't have them in the first place! Their drives aren't working hard enough! We push arrays so hard here that the drive activity monitors glow all the time from a dim glow to bright pulsing up and down like some spaceship in a sci-fi movie.
Cheers!
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