I'm thinking of buying a 500GB Samsung T166 SATA Hard Drive, but I didnt really listen in science so Im not sure if its hearable to the human ear :P
I think it is quiet, but I dont want to buy it if its the equivelent to a hair dryer :/
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I'm thinking of buying a 500GB Samsung T166 SATA Hard Drive, but I didnt really listen in science so Im not sure if its hearable to the human ear :P
I think it is quiet, but I dont want to buy it if its the equivelent to a hair dryer :/
Will be nothing like a hear drier, but it will be audible in a silent room...
They are in fact the some of the quietest drives around...
People generally recommend the Samsung's or the Western Digital AAKS series as being the quietest drives.
Chimp
Yes its not as high as a hair dryer...but are there drives loud as hair dryers? :P
Lots of things affect noise and loudness, so at the risk of being picky...
Firstly, no such thing as silence. Well, there is, but not in a place where living people exist. It's all about degrees of quietness.
Secondly, a measure such as 27 db depends on how far away the object is from the human ear, and what is in between. If you put your ear right up close, it is louder. If you move to half a room away, it is quieter. So you want to know how 27 db was measured, with what, in what room, and from what distance. Of course, you won't be told that by any manufacturers.
Thirdly, it's really all about pitch. A quieter high pitch sound annoys more people than a louder lower pitch sound. Also whether or not the sound is 'buzy', and if it comes and goes it's more noticeable than a continuous noise.
Fourthly, we measure sound in a relative environment. If you are a sound engineer in a recording studio, you want something very quiet. If you want a PC in a kitchen/living room (like me at the moment :() that has fridge in the corner, then any hard drive will be quieter than that so you wont hear it.
Lastly, you will affect the noise by what you put it in. Put it in a concrete bunker, and no worries. Balance it delicately on a glass-top table, and those vibrations will get to you.
Check out Silent PC Review.
PS The Samsung T series are good and quiet. Buy it without worry. :)
Thanks for putting me straight guys :)
you didn't mention that sound is logarithmic - 30dBA is twice as noisy as 20dBA. 40dBA is twice as noisy as 30, and four times noisier than 20
I'm no expert, but i thought that there were two different scales, and on one of them 3 db was double? Or have i got it wrong?
Double the power to gain 3dB, and it takes 10dB for double the volume from what I've understood.
You could always place it on some type of foam or suspend it with sewing elastic! I have done this with great success.
Elastic breaks and you have a new meaning to the words "hard drive crash"... :D
Elastic bands break, the sewing (round or flat) is much much stronger. I've used round elastic in the past without problems (thank God). My current preferred method to cut out HD vibrations is mount the HD in a HD cage (pulled from old case) and rest this on foam.
I've got a T166, only 160GB though, it's sitting in a Scythe Quiet Drive.
I'm sure they'll still suffer fatigue, and hot cases aren't the best place for them.
silicon grommets have made them quieter than any other component in my case. Out of everything you should be worrying about fans first I think. GPUs can be pretty noisy too.
Too nice , I love all this crap about elastic bands :):) true amateurs to be sure , just the type that don't use ESP etc . :).
Directhex is correct in what he says, listen to the man .
Lots of pics and advice in the following thread if you want to suspend hard disks
silentpcreview.com | View topic - HDD Elastic Suspension... Show your pics!