Samsung harddrives, not so quiet

[eldren]

So, having finally gotten a case big enough to take all 7 of my Samsungs (A CMStacker. The drives are all 7200rpm SpinPoints, SP1614N to be exact), I find that they make an incredibly annoying high-pitched whine.

This is rather heartbreaking for me, given that I imported the lot of them, and having found the first two to be very quiet, ordered the rest of them. On top of that, I've gone to rather great lengths to try silence my computer (I have to sleep with it on, for one thing).

I'm not sure if it's the concerted noise generated by the drives that's causing this whine, or if they're causing some part of the CMStacker to resonate; I'll experiment during the week.

Regardless, assuming that it's the drives that are causing this, what can I do to resolve it? Carrying on with this whine is simply not an option, and I'm rather desperate. Thanks

[Apex]

"wine" i find it hard to believe.

Doubt the hdds are making the noise more of a case that the case is making the noise.

[Steve]

Do Samsung have any downloadable utilities that allow you to alter the noise given out by the drives?

My IBM 60GXP has (yes, it is still alive) a tool that allows you to sacrifice a bit of performance for lower noise levels.

However, I fear it's not activity noise, but more the spindle and the harmonics from it.

[Purple]

you can get drive silencers from quiet pc - not cheap mind

http://www.quietpc.com/uk/harddrive.php

[joshwa]

my samsung is sitting on foam, and under foam in my case - the moment i connect it to the case - the case amplifies the sound - you may need to try and figure out a way of having the hard drives in the case, but not mounted / connected to the case...

[Steve]

My new case has grommets through which the screws to the drive go - dunno if you've got that already joshwa/eldren...

[eldren]

I believe it is indeed spindle whine, so I'm not sure a utility would help in this instance.

The CMStacker's harddrive module is grommetted, but it's between the drivecage and the case's chassis, not between the harddrives and the drive cage. I don't think there's any room for grommets between the cage and the drives either.
I'll see if I can find a way to rig it so that there is...

[joshwa]

is it any one drive in particular causing the noise?

[5cupa]

i decided to buy spinpoints a while back a 120gb and 2x 160gb , even though i had seagates.

the spinpoints they gave off a very high pitched whine. although seeking was v.v.quiet

i now only buy seagate if i am bothered about acoustics

[Marcos]

I have a samsung spinpoint 160GB and its usually silent

What are the quietest IDE drives? 7200RPM ones

[BenW]

quietest are either samsung or seagate

[eldren]

As 5cupa said, it's actually all of them that have this high-pitched whine. I removed them all from my case, and running them off the floor, they gave the exact same whine as before, so it's certainly not my case.

Mind you, though, the Seagates also aren't immune. Worked with a 200GB Seagate a few months back, and it also had a high-pitched whine, though if it's like this, I'm not sure - could have been just that specific drive (I hadn't noticed that each Samsung whines until I got this case - with just 3 drives in my previous case, I'd thought it was one of them).

So, sadly, it looks like I'm going the route of buying seven SilentDrives. That, or a number of Seagates to replace the Samsungs entirely. I'd only go for the latter only if someone could confirm that it wouldn't result in the exact same problem I'm having now (What with each additional drive reinforcing the specific sound characteristic of that model - I accept that 7 drives are going to make some noise, but I'm trying to avoid anything high-pitched. Gives me headaches. ).

Were I to go for the SilentDrives (Or a similar substitute), which would you guys recommend? Took a look at that QuietPC site, and the SilentDrives look rather, well, cheap. I like the look of those Silentmaxx enclosures, but for both those and the SilentDrives, the price is a bit steep for what you get, I think. Obviously, I'd like to try minimize the damage, otherwise I may as well have a little room built on to my house, buy VGA, keyboard and USB extension leads, and just move the machine out of my room completely.

[Marcos]

What ares SilentDrives?

Also, I found that i cant hear the samsung drive over the enclosure's fan, which itself isnt loud, but i can hear a slight whine when the top is off the enclosure.

You must have some crazy-quiet system to hear the drives

[eldren]

SilentDrives are enclosures designed to make harddrives quieter. You put the harddrive inside the thing, close up as many sides as possible, and presto, you have a quieter drive (Hopefully). It's not what you have in mind, which is a harddrive rack, with a fan and ventilation and everything - SilentDrives are pretty much ventilationless, which is why they recommend against using 10k or higher -rpm drives - they'd get dangerously hot if they were put in a SilentDrive. There are photos on that QuietPC site - just follow the link Purple gave further up in this thread.

[directhex]

odd, i have no whine from four spinpoints in my server machine

[Proplus]

I have 7 Spinpoints in various machines, and I don't notice any whine coming from them at all......I love these quiet drives.