Yeah, it's more than I'd like to pay, but my 4 old drives (1TB, two 320GB, 160 GB) are all pretty much maxed out. That's why I was looking to get two 3TB as that capacity would last for a while. But if the drive is crap(!) Hopefully the two WD 2TB drives work better.
It might be worth noting that if you can hold out it's probably worth waiting. I bought a couple green WD 2TB drives for $75 a year ago. They're fine but don't work in RAID. Either way the prices you guys are paying for China made parts is just not something I would personally tolerate.
bryanW1995
Lifer
- May 22, 2007
- 11,144
- 32
- 91
AFAIK Green drives tend to "take a break" and the software drops them from the array.
Something like that. I could get a software array up but not a hardware array up. It just wouldn't work. They force you to buy the RE drives. Had I known this ahead of time I would have gotten another drive since iirc the F1 was about as cheap but you could raid it. I just heard it was noisy so got the green instead. Either way, for the price it was, it was a great deal. In the end I changed my strategy and simply did a backup of everything which was a safer way to protect my data and changes made.
At today's prices I wouldn't buy a hard drive. I'd burn DVD's. The prices will come down again. They always do.
I got the two W.D. Black 2TB drives in, but probably won't have time to install them until next week. Hopefully they work better than the 3TB Seagates.
bryanW1995
Lifer
- May 22, 2007
- 11,144
- 32
- 91
All this talk of spindle drives and raid has me pumped up. I think I'll go raid my 2 x caviar blue wd6400aaks drives. At least, I will if I can find my old xp pro disk...
I got both of the W.D. Black 2TB drives up and running with my old drives cloned to them.
Here's what I've noticed:
The build quality of the materials (at least what is visible) if better on the WD over the Seagate.
The WD Black makes the same high-pitch osolating frequency sound that my older WD RE3 1TB drive makes, but I did not hear it on the Seagate.
I am surprised by the lound read/wrights are on the WD Black. It sound like low-frequency rumble sound. My older WD RE3 1TB was much quieter on reads/wrights, while the Seagate 3TB would make lound "clicking" sounds two at a time.
I don't really mind the read/wright rumbling, but this high-frequency osolating noise is one of the things I was hoping to eliminate with new drives, but the new WD does it just like the older one. If it wasn't for the problems with the Seagate (lound ticking at random and eventually crashing) I would of kept them.
Now I have go decide if I would keep these WD Black, or try something else like the Hitachi Deskstar (as the Ultrastar is double the price).
Here's what I've noticed:
The build quality of the materials (at least what is visible) if better on the WD over the Seagate.
The WD Black makes the same high-pitch osolating frequency sound that my older WD RE3 1TB drive makes, but I did not hear it on the Seagate.
I am surprised by the lound read/wrights are on the WD Black. It sound like low-frequency rumble sound. My older WD RE3 1TB was much quieter on reads/wrights, while the Seagate 3TB would make lound "clicking" sounds two at a time.
I don't really mind the read/wright rumbling, but this high-frequency osolating noise is one of the things I was hoping to eliminate with new drives, but the new WD does it just like the older one. If it wasn't for the problems with the Seagate (lound ticking at random and eventually crashing) I would of kept them.
Now I have go decide if I would keep these WD Black, or try something else like the Hitachi Deskstar (as the Ultrastar is double the price).
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Dadofamunky
Platinum Member
- Jan 4, 2005
- 2,184
- 0
- 0
Heh... can't think of a more exciting topic!
If I were you I'd give them a chance for a couple weeks. The Blacks are supposed to be good drives overall. The thing that freaks me out, as always now, is how do you effectively back up a multi-TB array? Seems to me that RAID 10, striping plus mirroring, is really the only feasible method. But then you're still stuck with the JBOD method, which has its limits on the PC platform.
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Now that I've got all my data copied and Windows cloned over to the new drives, and with them installed in the case, I've took two cotton hand towels and placed them between the sides of the drives and the metal case sides. This did help to decrease the high-pitching whining sound a bit, but can still hear it some. The read/write seek noises also got quieter. I did try adding a hand towel on top of the drives, and it muffled the sound more, but after a few minutes the towel was pretty warm....probably insulating that drive, which isn't good.
Any other suggestions for sound dampening of hard drives? The PC is in my bedroom, so I like to have it as quiet as possible. All the fans are very quiet, but this high-pitch sound that is on W.D. drives is annoying.
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Heh... can't think of a more exciting topic!
If I were you I'd give them a chance for a couple weeks. The Blacks are supposed to be good drives overall. The thing that freaks me out, as always now, is how do you effectively back up a multi-TB array? Seems to me that RAID 10, striping plus mirroring, is really the only feasible method. But then you're still stuck with the JBOD method, which has its limits on the PC platform.
Raid 5 parity seems like it would be the easiest no? Probably worth getting a hardware device that can auto rebuild if you unplug one and plug a new one in rather than having to do it manually... Actually that would make a good thread topic I bet...
BFG10K
Lifer
- Aug 14, 2000
- 22,709
- 3,005
- 126
Just the usual - dont use aluminium cases or tool-less clips as they amplify the vibration. Use screws mounted into a sturdy steel case.
Also rubber/plastic pads on the screw-heads and rubber grommets around the drive help.
Elastic suspenders are also supposed to be really good at suppressing vibration (e.g Antec Solo II) as the drive sits in the air with minimal contact with the case.
On my Cooler Master CM Stacker case, it has a 4-in-3 removable drive bay, which means four 3.5" drives can fit in three 5.25" bays, and there are four blue rubber grommets on each side for dampening.
Still, the WD Black drives are noisy when data is read/write and also has that high-pitch oscillating sound that was on my WD RE3 1TB drive. I was able to dampen it some by placing a hand towel on both side of the 4-in-3 removable bay, so it not blocking the fans airflow, nor touching the drives. It helps some...but still noisier than I would prefer.
So I ordered two Hitachi 2GB Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 drives, since they are the same price as the WD Black 2GB. I've read that they are quiet and have good performance, but I'm wondering if they are equally reliable as the WD Black. Has anyone compared the Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 to the WD Black?
I got the two Hitachi 2TB Deskstar drives (HDS723020BLA64) and copied/cloned the data to them from the two WD Black 2TB that I've been using the past two week.
I've only been using the Hitachi for a few hours, but can tell they are much quieter than the WD Black. Also, the read/write speeds are averaging 130-150MB/s, while the WD Black was 110-140MB/s. If I don't have any problems with the Hitachi over the next two week, I'll keep them and return the WD Black to Amazon before my 30 days is up. Still, I wish the Hitachi had a longer warranty than 3 years, as WD seems to be the only ones with 5 years. Regardless, the Seagate 3TB that I tried last month was complete junk, and I don't recommend them at all.
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