Soooo, HDDs nowadays, is samsung still the quietest?

[Marcos]

I've stuck to samsung ever since i looked into it a bit a couple of years ago and i heard they were the quietest and really reliable back then. (I wasnt looking for speed so much)

Have other manufacturers caught up? I cant stand a noisy HDD, must be silent

[scrandman]

Not sure if others have caught up, but Samsung have gotten worse. My Spinpoint 200Gb SATA II model is way noisier than my old Seagate drives. Mines is not an isolated case - check over at SPCR forums for more info.

[dave87]

My recommendation atm would be Seagate - their latest batch of 7200.10s have been brilliant

[chuckskull]

I can second the Seagate suggestion, bought myself a 500gig 7200.10 a week ago and it's whisper quiet. Nice and fast too.

[killie99]

I've bought two spinpoint 250Gb drives in the last month and they are both super quiet - they replaced a maxtor that sounded like a train.

[spooney]

i can third the Seagate vote here, got a 250 gb 7200.10. quiet and quick!!!

[Marcos]

Last seagate drive i got likes to go off on a light clicking frenzy (but not one that affects performance, dunno what was clicking)

[pollaxe]

I've also got two recent 250gb spinpoints and they're very quiet indeed.

[snedger]

a recent build with a 300Gb Samsung is my first noisy Samsung - talking comparitively noisy (compared to virtually no noise) , still well within acceptable irritation tolerance.
But, might be more to do with the barebones enclosure as others have reported similar with other HDDs.

[this_is_gav]

My recommendation atm would be Seagate - their latest batch of 7200.10s have been brilliant

My recommendation atm wouldn't be Seagate - 2 7200.10s (one 320gb, one 400gb), and both are now dead - the 320gb after after around 5 months, the 400gb around 8 months. It's also 50/50 whether you get an extremely loud 7200.10 or a next-to-silent one - they're built in 2 different countries with different motors. My 320gb was the silent one, my 400gb the loud.

Still awaiting a Western Digital failure, so I'd go that way, though Spinpoints are quieter if that really is important to you.

[EtheAv8r]

I just got 2 * Western Digital WD3200KS 320GB SATAII for my new build. Reviews are good; quiet, fast and WD are very reliable, and only £51 each delivered free (ebuyer).

[blueball]

I used 2 x Samsung 250Gb SATA II in a RAID build recently. They are still quiet but I do not think they are as quiet as the 120Gb SATA I drives were.

[htid]

I bought a spinpoint in September thinking that Samsung were the quietest but it's louder than I expected. Wish i'd chosen something else now tbh (althogh the spinpoint is in a scythe quiet drive now so it's pretty silent anyway)

[kalniel]

Size of drive has quite an impact. I've seen a samsung 160 and it really was inaudible.

Single platter seagates I expect would also be quiet (the new 160 for eg.) But when the size goes much above that then the noise probably increases.

Don't forget to enable acoustic management or even samsungs can be noisy.

[crazy_bob_uk]

take a look at www.silentpcreview.com
There are posts there saying the samsung T-series is ultra-quiet.

[amjedm]

take a look at www.silentpcreview.com
There are posts there saying the samsung T-series is ultra-quiet.

I second both comments.

The WD xxxKS (or Caviar SE 16 I think the're called) are supposed to be quiet as well.

I believe you can adjust AAM settings on the Samsungs (not sure about the T range) but not on the Seagates.

The Samsung 80GB I bought from Scan wasn't quiet and I didn't know about AAM at the time so I sold it. The next 80GB I got from them is quiet.