So just how loud are these SCSI drives?

[Informant X]

The IBM 9.1 GIG 36XLZ
And the Atlas 10K 9.1 gig

Are they like very loud? Like a lot louder then IDE drives? If i'm like in a dorm room and i'm gaming late at night, will it keep my roomie up? I have some older scsi drives 97 and earlier and they were loud. But it's 2001, and i'd think they'd improve on this. Or no?

 

[Noriaki]

The first gen 10k rpm drives were very loud and very hot.

Newer 10k rpm SCSI drives aren't so bad, a bit hotter and a bit louder than 7200rpm IDEs, but not to crazy.

I'd worry more about fans in your case than your hard drive, I don't think it would keep him up.

 

[Hard_Boiled]

The Atlas 10K II is much quieter than the Atlas 10K I. Early Cheetah drives were quite loud, and as Noriaki said thats pretty much how it was with the early 10K drives. I can tell you though that the 10K II is pretty quiet and I hear the Cheetah 18XL is about the same. I can't comment on many of the others, but I've not heard much about IBM drives being terribly loud so those are probably good.

 

[Informant X]

So if i plan to keep my computer on a lot should i be conerned about heat? Do i need a cooler? Also why are scsi drives louder then IDE?

 

[Hard_Boiled]

They are louder simply because they spin faster. I'm sure a current 7200 RPM SCSI drive would be the same as a current 7200 RPM IDE drive in terms of noise and heat. And as far as a fan goes, some people use them and some don't. They can get pretty hot. Where I live it gets pretty cold in the Winter but still breaks 100 degrees F in the Summer, so in the Summer I put the hard drive cooling fan back onto my case.

 

[Sundog]

I was pleasantly surprised at how quite my Quantum 10K II is, my Fortron PS fan is louder that the SCSI HDD.

 

[Informant X]

Cool, so all Atlas 10K II's are the same? I'm thinking about gettin one. I saw a OEM one for 150. Are they all the same. The fit in the 3.5 slot right? I'd also pickup a Adaptec U160 card. Is that what you guys use?

 

[esung]

I'd put some fans to cool off those 10K rpm drives.. although current generation drives should be able to operate without dedicate cooling, it's just some insurance.

 

[BuckNaked]

Hey Informant,
Where did you see the drive for $150? I am looking around for one myself. Thanks!

Dave

 

[Sundog]

Yes, the Atlas 10K II will fit into a 3.5" bay. I use a 29160 controller, but a 19160 will work just fine.

The 10K II also has 8MB of cache

 

[Pariah]

All SCSI drives are OEM. I haven't seen a retail drive in years. Outpost has the 9GB for $190 after rebate, 18GB for $260. That's probably the cheapest place that is on Quantum's authorized reseller list for their rebate that ends at the end of the month.

 

[Smbu]

I have a 9.1GB IBM Ultrastar 36LZX and it's not very loud. Only when I run a hd benchmark like hd tach, atto, or the one in ez scsi 5 random, do I notice the sound. I use a Tekram DC-390U3W U160 controller. It's similar in performance to the Adaptec 29160, but costs less and is able to handle 30 devices total instead of the 15 devices of the 29160.

 

[rlism]

Hehe, random seeks from my Atlas 10k woke me up at night. 10k II much bettah.