Utilities to reduce hard drive noise

[Funkstar]

I've heard people speaking abot small apps that change the performance characteristics of certain hard drives to reduce noice. I believe either Maxtor or WD do them, but for the life of me i can't find them.

Anyone know what i'm on about?

I've got 2x WD 400gig SATA drives and 2x Maxtor 250gig PATA drives that i'd like to make as quiet as possible. The WDs will be in my HTPC and i'll get a couple of cooler/silencer boxes for them too. Mot bothered about the speed of them, they are only going to be serving up media files etc.

thanks

[cotswoldcs]

I've just bought a Scythe Quiet Drive from QuietPC (Link). It hasn't arrived yet but looks great and I only bought after doing a lot of research. I'll let you know what I think of it.


I'm not sure about any software utilities that will work. Defragging a hard drive will reduce the amount of noise the drive heads make searching for data but that's about all I can think of. I think you need to look at hardware not software solutions.

For a really quiet drive have you tried the WinXP WinKey + U + U shortcut

[Max Tractor]

Acoustic management, maxtor I know do it, samsung hutil can also do it


-edit-

Just looking through my hard drive programs, AMSET - Acoustic Management Utility is what you are looking for, not sure if you can do it in powermax, this is for maxtor drives. Not sure if amset will work on sata, try it and see, and try powermax, there might be an option in there. These are manufacturers tools and can be dl from maxtors site

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/ma...ware+Downloads

WD have a look at the Data Lifeguard Tools see if there are any options

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1

WD dl page http://support.wdc.com/download/

[FatalSaviour]

Ooops, just realised I'd drafted out this reply and not clicked reply...30mins later...here we go

Automatic Acoustic management is the buzzword I believe (at least that's what I've always used):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat...tic_Management

I've always used the Hitachi software here:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/suppor...tm#FeatureTool

Having said that, I haven't had to use it for a few years (since getting Samsung SpinPoints, so they may have changed the Utility to work on Hitachi drives...doubt it though

HTH

[FatalSaviour]

The other obvious way to reduce HD seek noise, would be to buy more RAM, or a CF card and CF>IDE adapter, but I'm assuming that this is going to be used for films and such forth, that would be stored on/accessed from the HD anyway.

[Funkstar]

Automatic Accoustic Management is what i was looking for. I had no idea this was a standard feature, i'll take a look at the Hitachi tool

The WD tools don't have anything for this, at least not that i saw last night. I'll have a look again though.

Yeah, these drives are going to be streaming mainly MPEG-2 and xvid files so fragmenting shouldn't be an issue. If i can get drive enclosures to cut most of the spin noise and AAM to cut the seak noise it should me a big difference.....hopefully

[Funkstar]

I've just bought a Scythe Quiet Drive from QuietPC (Link). It hasn't arrived yet but looks great and I only bought after doing a lot of research. I'll let you know what I think of it.

That's one of the ones I've been looking at, along with the Silentmaxx, the Nexus Drive-A-Way, the SmartDrive 2002C and the mCubed Vertical Silence Drive Bay

decisions, decisions

[BigBry]

Systool is another one to consider. Amongst other things it includes acoustic management for some drives;

http://www.techpowerup.com/systool/

[Stephen B]

great advice, downloaded systool for my maxtor 400 meg sata 2 and works fine, bonus too in that it allows me to overclock my opteron 170 over 250 fsb in my Shuttle SN26P

[cotswoldcs]

That's one of the ones I've been looking at, along with the Silentmaxx, the Nexus Drive-A-Way, the SmartDrive 2002C and the mCubed Vertical Silence Drive Bay

decisions, decisions

I spent a LONG time deciding. Most reviews I have read don't compare one with another making choosing more difficult. I [tried] to read a decent German review comparing the Scythe, SilentMaxx and Smartdrive 2002. The Scythe IMHO is the best but all of the others will do the job very well. I'd also recommend that you place the box in the bottom of your case on some foam (or similar) - unless of course you need to move your rig around!

[chuckskull]

I'd recommend the Nexus or the Scythe. i'd buy some myself, but with 6 hard drives it's going to be a large bill

The nexus looks lik it's slightly better thought out, more dampening and heat sinks.

[zixiazhang]

On a laptop notbook hardware control does it

[cotswoldcs]

I'd recommend the Nexus or the Scythe. i'd buy some myself, but with 6 hard drives it's going to be a large bill

The nexus looks lik it's slightly better thought out, more dampening and heat sinks.

It looks to me like the Nexus, whilst a quality product, won't have the cooling characteristics of the Scythe. I wouldn't want my 150Gb Raptor might overheat in the Nexus!

[Funkstar]

thats for the recomendations cotswoldcs and chuckskull. I like the way the Nexus has the connectors on the back panel. Although i also like the way the Scyth doesn't make you put the heat transfer pads directly on the drive itself.

cotswoldcs, let me know if the Scyth lives up to its promise

[El Gordo]

I know you've not asked for AAM for Samsung drives but someone else may need it and this seems like the obvious thread to look in

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Hard...ties/hutil.htm

[Koolpc]

I have suspended my Hard drive in the CDrom bay with sewing elastic! Been like this now for a few years and i cannot hear my hard drive.