Seagate 7200.7 drive is LOUD. What should/can I do? HDD silencer, replacement, or ignore it?

[mb]

A while back I ordered a cheap refurb'd computer for my sister. Today is my first time I've actually got to use it, and the first thing I noticed was just how LOUD the hard drive was. Turns out it's a 250gb Seagate 7200.7 ide drive. I thought they were supposed to be quiet? It is silent at idle, but when anything at all is done on the comp, even clicking on the start menu, the hdd is noisy as hell.

So.. since it's a refurb and the 30 day limited warranty has more than passed, what should I do? Would a hdd silencer actually help in this situation? I know they work for the most part, but I don't know how well it would with such a noisy drive? Or should I replace it? I think pretty much anything would would have to be quieter..
Or should I just let her suffer? I don't know if it's supposed to be that loud since I've never used a 7200.7 before.. I'm afraid it might die in not too long if it's abnormal. I don't think I've heard such a loud drive since the Win 3.1 days.

 

[mechBgon]

What drive are you accustomed to, what does it seem loud in comparison to? Also, does she care at all?

 

[mb]

Yeah she said it is pretty annoying.
I've got a WD 120gb IDE drive, two 300GB Maxtors (diamondmax 10) and a 250GB Maxtor in my computer.. can't hear any of them but then again I have an insulated Antec Sonata.
I installed a 7200.8 in the my parents Shuttle SFF PC that is pretty silent too.

Should I be worrying about the longevity of the 7200.7 with the noise?

 

[PurdueRy]

I would be getting a new hard drive. I had a Seagate hard drive that started sounding like a vacuum(literally) and it died in a few minutes

 

[mb]

Hmm, that doesn't sound good.. I guess I can just get the cheapest quietest pata drive I can find. She doesn't use ANY of the 250gb!

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: supafly
Yeah she said it is pretty annoying.
I've got a WD 120gb IDE drive, two 300GB Maxtors (diamondmax 10) and a 250GB Maxtor in my computer.. can't hear any of them but then again I have an insulated Antec Sonata.
I installed a 7200.8 in the my parents Shuttle SFF PC that is pretty silent too.

Should I be worrying about the longevity of the 7200.7 with the noise?

apparantly your internet is having trouble too

 

[mechBgon]

See if you can switch it into maximum Acoustic Management mode using Hitachi's Feature Tool (scroll down 2/3 of that page). I heard of people using it in the past. Seagate's SeaTools Desktop might be able to adjust AAM level too: http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/ Good luck, sorry for the shotgun approach

Also, if it weren't for needing the Windows COA sticker on the case... Antec SLK3000-B with rubber-grommet HDD rack, $29 + s/h and that includes the 120mm exhaust fan. How cool is that? props to Howard for the deal.

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: supafly
Yeah she said it is pretty annoying.
I've got a WD 120gb IDE drive, two 300GB Maxtors (diamondmax 10) and a 250GB Maxtor in my computer.. can't hear any of them but then again I have an insulated Antec Sonata.
I installed a 7200.8 in the my parents Shuttle SFF PC that is pretty silent too.

Should I be worrying about the longevity of the 7200.7 with the noise?

apparantly your internet is having trouble too

Yeah apparently Comcast in CT sucks more than Comcast in VA.. I didn't think that could be possible!

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
See if you can switch it into maximum Acoustic Management mode using Hitachi's Feature Tool (scroll down 2/3 of that page). I heard of people using it in the past. Seagate's SeaTools Desktop might be able to adjust AAM level too: http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/ Good luck, sorry for the shotgun approach

Also, if it weren't for needing the Windows COA sticker on the case... Antec SLK3000-B with rubber-grommet HDD rack, $29 + s/h and that includes the 120mm exhaust fan. How cool is that? props to Howard for the deal.

Thanks for the link, I'll try it in the morning and report how it goes.

For now, I am too tired to try.. it's been a long day, driving from VA to CT with lots and lots of traffic!

That price for the case is HOT!

 

[LOUISSSSS]

mine was making noises too, then i remoutned it, and reformatted and the soudn went away, not its as quiet as ever

 

[F1shF4t]

Try remounting the hDD, if my raptor is any indication if i mount it in a specific way the noise level is more than halved.

 

[mb]

Well, I tried Hitachi's Feature Tool, but it didn't allow anything to be changed. Seagate's tools only ran tests and didn't offer the choice if changing anything. The drive did pass all tests, though.

So then I tried remounting it and no luck.. still just as loud.

So.. now it comes down to two things: replacement, or a 5.25" bay HDD silencer, something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817984002
The HDD silencer is roughly half the price of a replacement drive and I wouldn't have to bother reinstalling or copying stuff over.. but again I don't know how well it would work.

 

[Bobthelost]

Before you do anything expensive like a HDD silencer try suspending the drive, take a 5.25" bay, string some elastic across it and then put the HD in between. (Secure however you feel like, putting 4 screws into the HD and tying the elastic to them is an option, duct tape is simpler though)

That should reduce the vibration transmitted to the case to almost none. For a better description check out SPCR, there's a lot of info there on the concept.

Seagates used to be the quietest drives around, but after the 7200.4 line they started to lose thier silence crown. The 7200.7-9 ranges are a bit hit and miss from all accounts, some classic seagate silence, some banshee like monsters.