Any advice for a quiet HD manufacturer/model for a SageTV box?

[justme]

I ask this because I just read a thread here that mentioned two good deals on harddrives. A 250GB and a 160GB, both Western Digital. However the 160 is soldout and reviews of the 250 say it's pretty loud.

I'm slowly collecting the parts for my new Sage Box. Sound is a major concern. I've already bought a Antec Sonata to help with this so I don't want a loud harddrive making my $100 purchase nearly useless. I'm looking for a 160GB or larger drive and don't too much care about brand, as long as it is reliable. I don't mind wanting for mail in rebates to come back and I'm not in that much of a hurry as all the parts aren't here yet. So I'm willing to wait for a good deal.

PS:Could someone point me to a site/forum that gives reviews of drives with noise taken into account. I'm also looking for advice on which of the current major 8x dual format DVD writers is the most quiet. ie Pioneer DVR-107, Plextor PX-708A, Sony DRU-530A or even a LITEON 811S

So that's it, if anyone has any deals, links, advice, suggestions, etc. Please post or PM. TIA

[batorok]

www.storagereview.com
they list performance figures, and at the end of every review, list noise as measured. I just got a Seagate drive, typically one of if not the most quiet drive (7200rpm ide) around, and it's great, though I do notice a small seek noise that I think would be less audible in your sonata with it's rubber grommet mounts for the hard drive.

I also have western digital "SE" drives, and they are relatively quiet, I believe on rubber mounts you'd be pretty happy, but if you're really picky check out the link above.

http://storagereview.com/articles/20...160023A_6.html
is a pretty recent list, the only model not there is the latest hitachi/ibm, which most people would avoid due to ibm's "deathstar" line of hard drives a few years ago. The older seagate's are a little tiny bit quieter than the latest 7200.7 model I have, but mine's 200gb, the older one's topped out at 160gb.

[JJarmoc]

Here's the drive I have;
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/...iethdplus.html

It manages to be quieter by being 7200rpm, running on fluid bearings, etc.. It claims 33db during seek, and 25 decibels at idle. I've never measured mine, but the whole PC (built largely with components from endpcnoise.com) is so quiet when I first booted it I wasn't sure it was on until I saw the video output. Even with the top off sitting a foot or two away, it's pretty difficult to hear.

[justme]

Huge thanks.

The Seagate 7200.7 was one of the drives I was looking at. I guess it's off to do some reading(thanks for the link). Right now, I'm leaning towards Seagate over WD because of the cyrrent price to size ratio. Also there's multiple rebates involved in the WD's final price and that's leaves more room for rebates to go wrong. I've got a bubget and if i go out of it my wife will kill me.

Edit:JJarmoc, thanks for the info. Your post wasn't there when I started my reply. I hate being a slow typist.

[trevorst]

I have had such bad luck with Western Digital Drives that I will never buy another one. Every one I have ever owned has failed. On the other hand I have never had a Maxtor fail, still have a couple of 10 gig Maxtor Drives around. I never hear the Maxtor drives (Over the fans) on my server. Just my 2 cents.....

[justme]

All opinions wanted. I'm not only after specs/links. I want first hand experience and peoples opinions. Please keep them coming.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by trevorst
I have had such bad luck with Western Digital Drives that I will never buy another one. Every one I have ever owned has failed. On the other hand I have never had a Maxtor fail, still have a couple of 10 gig Maxtor Drives around.

heh... this is really funny. Every Maxtor drive I purchased within the last few years has gone bad, with some of the replacements being replaced immediately upon arrival. My latest was a 200GB drive for SageTV that failed within 2 months. On the plus side, they replaced that one with a 250GB enterprise level model... maybe they felt sorry for me when I told them of my Maxtor experiences!?

My WD drives, on the other hand, have been extremely stable. (Until now?) I did have one start going bad recently, but that is the first one in a long time. Then, as luck would have it, its replacement vibrated so badly (shook the whole case) that I insisted they replace it too. The new one seems to work fine w/o a high level of vibration.

My Seagate SCSI drives have never failed (maybe I shouldn't have said that...). Of course, I couldn't imagine trying to afford SCSI drives for Sage!

Now I'm wondering if Seagate ATA drives are any better than those from Maxtor or WD. It seems like each mfr has someone who has had absolutely no luck with their drives. Magnetic personalities that are tuned to affect only one type of drives?

I don't hear the WD or Maxtor drives in my Sage PC, but it isn't the quietest case possible. I have no idea about the drive noise in my office PC, since that's a dual-AMD MP machine & sounds a bit like a jet anyway.

Oh, and I'll certainly have to add www.endpcnoise.com to my list of online stores.

- Andy

[itscool]

samsung spinpoints.


i have a 160GB one and you can barely hear it at all.

[phenixdragon]

I hear Seagate and Samsung are the best for noise and Seagate generally has the fastest seek time. I think Samsung is using Seagate but rebranded. I would have to look that up again so I may be wrong. Also look for fluid dynamic bearing which will lower the noise.

Also you might want to check for some case and HDD dampering. I haven't tried them myself but they are suppose to help and should be more then maybe $20.

I would say never go with IBM drives, at least the Deskstar models. I have had everyone fail and those things are feaking loud. They use to make my gaming machine sound like a mini jet engine. But IBM has an awesome RMA process.

[justme]

I'm very much leaning towards the Seagate drives now. Both because of the general opinions expressed here and the noise specs I've read at some of the review sites. I really want to thank eveyone for all the great info, opinions and links.
Anyone have any suggestions on the dual DVD burner question too? Specifically the models I mentioned in my first post, but any other models/brands someone feels are quiter/better would be appriated too. On the DVD burner I'm mainly interested in the sound made while playing DVD/CD. I understand that burner at high speed is almost always a noisy thing.

Also you might want to check for some case and HDD dampering.

Are there some specific containers that enclose a HD is that what you mean HDD dampering?
As for the case dampening, that's why I bought a Antec Sonata case. It uses a large(but quiet 120mm fan) and has rubber mounting gromets for the fans and drives. I hope I won't need anymore case vibration dampening than this but, if I do are you refering to something like the heavy acoutic dampening material used in cars with loud bass speakers. It is usually sticky on one side and is very heavy matte type material that's ~.20 inches thick. It almost looks like a very thick refrigerator magnet.

[phenixdragon]

I haven’t really looked into burners (CD or DVD) for a few years but just looking at general specs most look pretty much the same with features such as burn protecting and such. I am going to pick up the MS-8408AB burner. From what I can tell it is just as good as Plextor, who has for a long time leaded the way for burners. But this MSI burner looks the same as Plextor’s highest model. You can pick the MSI burner up for about $140 and that includes shipping.

For the dampening, here is a link to what I am referring to.

http://www.whispertec.com/PCCaseSoundDampeningKits.html

There are many different sites for the case and HDD, but this is just one. The sound for me has never been with vibrating except in cases that have been moved around a lot so the case becomes weak/deformed ever so slightly. So I wouldn’t expect the rubber mounts to do much for you. With me it always has been the sound coming from the actually sound of the disk and heads moving around.

[Myro]

Check this website, under "recommended"

http://www.silentpcreview.com

Personnally, I'v used Seagate Barracuda IV (not sold anymore), Seagate 7200.7, Samsung Spinpoint (P series) and Maxtor.

Hands down, Samsung is the quiestest of the bunch. And the coolest also, meaning you need less fans in your box.

[Myro]

Check this website, under "recommended"

http://www.silentpcreview.com

Personnally, I'v used Seagate Barracuda IV (not sold anymore), Seagate 7200.7, Samsung Spinpoint (P series) and Maxtor.

Hands down, Samsung is the quiestest of the bunch. And the coolest also, meaning you need less fans in your box.