HDD Noise

brummie · 26 Jan 2010 at 09:48

Need some experienced help here if you can.
I have two new hard drives that emits a constant hum when running and i need to quieten them down. having looked at the plethera of products on offer i cant seem to find which is best. Has anyone got any experience with these products and could steer me in the right direction?

bought and tried these and 2 other similar products and they are not good enough

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-051-AK&groupid=1657&catid=1660&subcat=1670

bifday2k · 26 Jan 2010 at 10:06

Iv allways found simple rubber type grommets that can be bought from ur local hardware store does the job well.

Also something that might be worth considering, is running the hard drive/drives in AHCI mode insteade if IDE. Reason i say this is, then with my old install, it was IDE, and my drive was quiet but sometimes not, but since a fresh install i switch to AHCI and its seemed to have made my drive a lot quieter, maybe beucase it can now use all the advanced featers on it.

Worth a shot, but id deffinatly say rubber washers/grommets are by far cheaper to use to stop rattinling due to metal on metal.

brummie · 26 Jan 2010 at 10:35

I've tried the rubber washers and grommets with very little effect. Thats why i went and bought the bigger rubber bay converter types. This is why i'm asking for experiences as i wasting so much money trying so many different products out

Thanks for your input though. oh and all my drives run AHCI.

bifday2k · 26 Jan 2010 at 10:42

Ah then i'll hope others may be able to help out.

brummie · 26 Jan 2010 at 10:47

Me too as they are driving me mad. thought it may be just the case design but I've even tried them in another case and just loose with the same problem.

shadowscotland · 26 Jan 2010 at 11:47

What drive it is first?

Isolation is the first approach to HHD silenceing.
Personally I find a bungee mod (elastic cradle) the best approach - £2 well spent.
this will stop all vibration noise and is usually good enough.
Raptors need more

Bottom two are mine - top image was inspiration

Second is containment - and a HHD enclosure is required.
I've used a few and the GPU Smart Drive (grow up japan) is silly expensive but really good.
the NEO and NEO QQ are even better than my 2002C

GUP on left Silentmaxx on right

brummie · 26 Jan 2010 at 12:13

mmm good idea with the bungee. Know where it can be obtained from?

Drive is 3.5" sata x2 but will be adding another soon which puts me off the drive enclosure as it will work out really expensive. I didnt set a budget until i saw the price of them

shadowscotland · 26 Jan 2010 at 12:59

In a fanless or ultra quiet pc the GPU are perfect.
If you have 3 or more fans they are pointless (apart from raptors)

Haberdashery (department store) / sowing shop / camping shop (mini bungee)
the neoprene straps for glasses if you play sports also work well (opticians)
Good hardware store is also a possability, as is a bicycle shop

brummie · 26 Jan 2010 at 18:05

Gonna give it a go thanks.
Actually inspired me to try come up with a better design. (dragons den??)

Diggsy · 27 Jan 2010 at 10:31

I tried the bungee mod, but could still hear the drive too much, and it's a Samsung F1, which is pretty quiet too.

Ended up getting one of the GUP Smart Drives, just like the one to the left in ShadowScotland's pic above.

This is a cracking piece of kit. Yes it's expensive, but now I can barely hear my drive, and even fully enclosed it rarely goes above 30c or so.