Silent external HDD....

[b0redom]

Hi,
I'm after one for my MacMini - as big as possible, and it must be silent - it's being attached to a media centre PC. Preferably USB + Firewire....

Can anyone recommend anything?

[dave87]

Don't Lacie do the ones which sit under the Mac Mini? I wouldn't have thought they'd be too loud?

[MarcLister]

A mate of mine of another forum recommends a Samsung HDD with the IcyBox SATA2 USB2 enclosure. Its only USB2 but I've been told that pairing them together makes a wicked external HDD.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=420926

[b0redom]

Don't Lacie do the ones which sit under the Mac Mini? I wouldn't have thought they'd be too loud?

Yep - I've actually got one of the Iomega ones which does just this, but I've heard that the Lacie is a bit noisy. The Iomega one is good, but you can still hear it (just), and you can't hear the Macmini.

[burble]

Don't Lacie do the ones which sit under the Mac Mini? I wouldn't have thought they'd be too loud?

They're surprisingly loud actually, I've got one sitting under my Mini and it's far from silent. Most of the noise comes from teh fan but the drive itself is still pretty noisy.

[amjedm]

Are you after 2.5" drive or 3.5" drive? What capacity?

[b0redom]

I guess a 3.5 would be cheaper - but no real preference. Size - as large as possible - at least 500gb. Silence is the key - preferably fanless too - is that viable?

[amjedm]

I guess a 3.5 would be cheaper - but no real preference. Size - as large as possible - at least 500gb. Silence is the key - preferably fanless too - is that viable?

As I didn't know the capacity I was going to recommend an 80GB Samsung 2.5" drive

AFAIK the 2.5" drives don't come in 500GB

[peterb]

2.5 inch enclosures are cheaper and quieter as they don't have powersupplies or fans (which tend to be the noisiest buts) so you could get a cheap enclosure (Scan had one on Today ionly yesterday - still there this morning) for just over £4 - they also do a neat one with a transparent case for abouut £10. get a 120Gb Samsung 2.5" drive and you have a quiet external drive. Only thing to watch is that the 2.5" are powered through the USB port wich might cause problems with some drives/enclosures. However I have had no problems with thge Samsung drive and

this case (the transparent one - blue LED if that floats your boat )

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=163831

even on a laptop where power problems seem to be more likely (asnd where I have had the ovccasional problem withj some drive/enclosure combinations)

(I suppose if you don't like the clear case, you could spray paint the inside (yes - the insuide) with white paint to give a shiny white finish to match the Mac.