RRRRRG!!!!!! Maxtor DM+9 is NOT QUIET!!!

[dpopiz]

what's wrong with my drive? I thought everybody said it was as quiet as a barracuda IV! the seeks on mine are outrageously noisy!!!!!!!!!

 

[oldfart]

Every Quantum/Maxtor drive I have seen in recent years has noisy seeks. Not surprised.

 

[pillage2001]

I can barely hear mine. Your drive obviously has a problem.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: pillage2001
I can barely hear mine.

Same here

And I am running a 40gb and 60gb, both Maxtor

 

[cmdrdredd]

i never quite get the "I want quiet" stuff...if it works and it's fast then what's the problem. With gaming and music and movies don't you use headphones or a set of speakers? It's unlikely that ANY comp is louder than even a cheapo set of speakers

 

[JBT]

My 40 Gig is unbelivabnle quite. Don't think I have ever heard it.

 

[lorlabnew]

My Maxtor (60GB) is perfectly quiet in idle, and can hear it in seek - it's definitely louder then Barracuda IV. Also depends on the used case; I had in different (very tight-closed) case before, and it was muffled much better there, in bigger Antec tower I can hear it more, also thx to Antec's case front air intakes (lower front half of the case is pretty much open)...

 

[dpopiz]

wow those were some quick responses...
that's reassuring, I guess I'll call maxtor tomorrow and just put the phone near the computer for them to hear (it's really in a completely different league than any 'cuda IV I've heard)
I'm noticing though, everbody who has responded has a 40/60gb. I have an 80gb. could that possibly make a difference? does anybody out there have a quiet 80gb DM+9?
Also, doesn't the drive have some sort of acoustic managment? could it be disabled? if so, how can I enable it?

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: oldfart
Every Quantum/Maxtor drive I have seen in recent years has noisy seeks. Not surprised.

I find they have noisy seeks too.

800JB now that's quiet under pressure!!!

 

[Tdavis5432]

Maxtor does not make a DiamondMax 9 series drive in 40GB size, the smallest is 60GB, fyi...

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: Tdavis5432
Maxtor does not make a DiamondMax 9 series drive in 40GB size, the smallest is 60GB, fyi...

THey have a 30gb version and 40gb version. I have the 30gb and 120Gb version. The 120Gb version is the one with 8mb buffer. Both of them are VERY quiet. Almost as good as the Seagate.

 

[WebDude]

Originally posted by: pillage2001
I can barely hear mine.

Same here. I have the 120gig w/ 8meg and can't hear it over the cooling fan noise (and my fans are not that loud).

WebDude

 

[dpopiz]

remember, I'm talking about the seek noise. yes, mine has pretty quiet idle noise, but the seeks sound like a jackhammer

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
remember, I'm talking about the seek noise. yes, mine has pretty quiet idle noise, but the seeks sound like a jackhammer

I'm talking about both seek noise and idle noise.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
i never quite get the "I want quiet" stuff...if it works and it's fast then what's the problem. With gaming and music and movies don't you use headphones or a set of speakers? It's unlikely that ANY comp is louder than even a cheapo set of speakers

most people do more things with their computers than just watch movies, listen to music, and play games. many people also live and/or sleep in the same room as their computers too

 

[DigitalXtreme]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
wow those were some quick responses...
that's reassuring, I guess I'll call maxtor tomorrow and just put the phone near the computer for them to hear (it's really in a completely different league than any 'cuda IV I've heard)
I'm noticing though, everbody who has responded has a 40/60gb. I have an 80gb. could that possibly make a difference? does anybody out there have a quiet 80gb DM+9?
Also, doesn't the drive have some sort of acoustic managment? could it be disabled? if so, how can I enable it?

Hey there,
I have 2 DiamondMax Plus D740X 80 GB HDDS and 1 DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB HDD and never had any probs with noises from em. I would definately call Maxtor and talk to them about a replacement. The drives also have S.M.A.R.T. technology built-in so U can try to analyse the drive that way to see if it has any defects.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

Go download the utility from that link and run it on the HDD to make sure.
And yes ... the Maxtors have accoustic noise management enabled which help em to run quieter. I dunno how to disable it , but if U find out please post here.

Hope this helped

DX

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: DigitalXtreme

Originally posted by: dpopiz
wow those were some quick responses...
that's reassuring, I guess I'll call maxtor tomorrow and just put the phone near the computer for them to hear (it's really in a completely different league than any 'cuda IV I've heard)
I'm noticing though, everbody who has responded has a 40/60gb. I have an 80gb. could that possibly make a difference? does anybody out there have a quiet 80gb DM+9?
Also, doesn't the drive have some sort of acoustic managment? could it be disabled? if so, how can I enable it?

Hey there,
I have 2 DiamondMax Plus D740X 80 GB HDDS and 1 DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB HDD and never had any probs with noises from em. I would definately call Maxtor and talk to them about a replacement. The drives also have S.M.A.R.T. technology built-in so U can try to analyse the drive that way to see if it has any defects.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

Go download the utility from that link and run it on the HDD to make sure.
And yes ... the Maxtors have accoustic noise management enabled which help em to run quieter. I dunno how to disable it , but if U find out please post here.

Hope this helped

DX

To disable the Acoustic management, you need teh MAxblast disk which comes with the retail package. There's a program in there which you disable the acoustic management in DOS mode.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
i never quite get the "I want quiet" stuff...if it works and it's fast then what's the problem. With gaming and music and movies don't you use headphones or a set of speakers? It's unlikely that ANY comp is louder than even a cheapo set of speakers

most people do more things with their computers than just watch movies, listen to music, and play games. many people also live and/or sleep in the same room as their computers too

i sleep in the same room as my computer and it's probably LOUD to you...yet I sleep fine

 

[Tdavis5432]

pillage2001,

Below I have pasted links to Maxtors website where it shows the Diamondmax 9 series hard disks. These drives are a new model, with 80GB per platter density and FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearings). XBoxLPU didn't really specify but he did mention that he had a 40gb and a 60gb and they were both quiet, like you... My whole point was that the DiamondMax 9 series drives do not come in the 40GB variety and mine is infact very quiet, I have two of the 6Y060L0 60GB drives and I love them, they are faster than any HD I've tested before and the single drive speed matches some of the raid setups in sisoft sandra and beats just about everyone in pcmark, I love this drive and I recommend this series for anyone...

HTTP Specs from Maxtor


PDF Spec Sheet

 

[lorlabnew]

I just checked in Intel Application Accelerator my Maxtor HDD setting; to my surprise I found out that I can easily change the acoustics from there.... I did it (min.acoustics) and the rattle read/write rattle is gone. Now I'll check the performance in sandra and see....

 

[AbRASiON]

I can vouch that frequently hard disk seek noise varies from within the same model / series and even batch

also sometimes you get ones with dead bearings (I have a 20gb seagate with dead bearings) and it's working FINE - spins up down no problem - doesn't seem warmer than normal BUT the IDLE spin is at LEAST 4x louder than other ones- definately bad stuff but nothing I can be bothered addressing

It's luck of the draw much like lucky cpu's for o/c'ing

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: Tdavis5432
pillage2001,

Below I have pasted links to Maxtors website where it shows the Diamondmax 9 series hard disks. These drives are a new model, with 80GB per platter density and FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearings). XBoxLPU didn't really specify but he did mention that he had a 40gb and a 60gb and they were both quiet, like you... My whole point was that the DiamondMax 9 series drives do not come in the 40GB variety and mine is infact very quiet, I have two of the 6Y060L0 60GB drives and I love them, they are faster than any HD I've tested before and the single drive speed matches some of the raid setups in sisoft sandra and beats just about everyone in pcmark, I love this drive and I recommend this series for anyone...

HTTP Specs from Maxtor


PDF Spec Sheet

Oh crap. I just checked my second pc and it was the DM+ 8. I'm sorry for the confusion. Anyhow, the DM+ 9 is a VERY FAST hdd and I would personally recommend it to anyone too.

 

[BD231]

I think what maxtor shot for was getting rid of the idle noise, their drives have always had pretty noisy for me, but that nise never bothers me. The whine is what gets to me.

 

[AbRASiON]

Originally posted by: BD231
I think what maxtor shot for was getting rid of the idle noise, their drives have always had pretty noisy for me, but that nise never bothers me. The whine is what gets to me.

I don't think you understand hard disk terminology.

idle noise and "whine" are the same thing - the whine is a constant sound caused by the rotational motor / platters moving.

The seek noise is caused by head movement - traditionally this is the noisy stuff that causes vibrations.