Soooo, HDDs nowadays, is samsung still the quietest?

[dancingmatt]

Funnily enough I spent a few hours on Friday researching this and came to the conclusion, based on lots of website reviews and forums readings, that the best bet is either a Seagate 7200.10 or a Western Digital Caviar xx00KS. The Seagate ES versions are server editions and has compatibility problems with some home RAID setups.

So go for one of those. The old Spinpoint P series was meant to be great, current ones not so good, the next T series drives are meant to be very good though...

DM

[Papa Lazarou]

I recently bought a Seagate 160gb 7200.9 SATA and it was really quite. Pretty much silent in all honesty.

My WD 320Gb SE16 is pretty noisy.

I saw the recent PC Pro group test where the WD drive was described as the quietest so perhaps they have changed it.

[amjedm]

YMMV to be honest with most if not all of these drives.

One person will post they have the quietest drive around and another person will post their drive (same model) is noisy.

[chuckskull]

If you really want silence spend £30 on a scytche quiet drive.

Worth the money if you want silence.

[Mad-Max]

I would have to recommend Western Digital or Seagate, both are good makes and always been quiet for me

[abeacock]

Another bump for the Samsung Spinpoint P120 series, mine is super quiet.

[dannyboy83]

200Gb spinpoint I got a year ago is very quiet.

[frazered]

i have 6 hdd's atm

- hitachi old boy 20gig that is a loud chap
- old seagate that is super quiet although is a bit dodgy
- 80gb samsung that is normal and not too quiet (older p series)
- 200gb p series that is very quiet (approx 2 years old)
- 2 x 250gb p series - one makes a slight high frequency noise which is hard to detect but I switched to the other now as primary drive, this other I can hear the seeks even with all the acoustic management on

so in summary the 2 yr old 200gb is the most silent samsung I have and I have not been as impressed with the more recent offerings

the old old seagate was good too, but it not reliable

I was considering a western digital drive next, due to reliability and apparent quietness

[amjedm]

the old old seagate was good too, but it not reliable

I was considering a western digital drive next, due to reliability and apparent quietness

Is the old Seagate a Barracuda IV or V? What's dodgy about it?

People are having mixed results with the Western Digital SE16 xxxKS drives as well

[frazered]

Is the old Seagate a Barracuda IV or V? What's dodgy about it?

People are having mixed results with the Western Digital SE16 xxxKS drives as well

don't remember i got it in 2004 and it is in the loft unused

[Nigelz]

Not had any problems with my WD 250Gb KS, seems pretty quiet and runs around 32', I looked at Maxtor but we've had a high failure rate with those at work in our latest boxes, seems that they run a bit too hot.

[bee]

another vote for seagate here the 7200.10's really are awesome drives both in terms of quietness and speed.

[Nigelz]

might want to have a look at this post before deciding

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=97742

[Waka]

Don't forget the seagates have FIVE year warranties.

W.

[dancingmatt]

Remember that people have differing setups and so whether or not their drive seems loud normally is all relative. Obviously some drives do make loud seek noises though.

I got it wrong above (edited it now): it's not the SE versions of WD Caviar drives that have problems but the ES versons of the Seagate drives if you're running them at home.

[this_is_gav]

The problems with the Seagate 7200.10s is that they're made in 2 different factories (one in China, the other in Taiwan IIRC), using 2 completely different motors. One is has a constantly loud motor (the Chinese one I think it is), the other a very quiet one (though mine did make a quietish high-pitched 'squeak' when NCQing).

I've had one drive of each, and the difference is staggering - without looking at them you couldn't even guess they were from the same generation, let alone manufacturer or family. They are quick mind.