Seagate 7200.7 SATA 160GB and seek noise

K

Kostas K.

Hello!

I recently came across a 7200.7 80GB PATA and its seeks are amazingly quiet.
I know that there is a patent problem and quiet seek mode is disabled on the
7200.7 series but why does the 160GB SATA sounds so much louder than that
80GB PATA ?. (Idle noise is absolutely fine on both of them)

I am really curious if the seeks are more quiet on other 160GB drives
because I bought mine when they first came out and Im suspecting an early
firmware or something like that.

Firmware version on mine is 3.0.

Thanks
 
R

Rod Speed

I recently came across a 7200.7 80GB PATA and its seeks are amazingly
quiet. I know that there is a patent problem and quiet seek mode is disabled
on the 7200.7 series but why does the 160GB SATA sounds so much louder
than that 80GB PATA ?. (Idle noise is absolutely fine on both of them)
I am really curious if the seeks are more quiet on other 160GB drives

Yep, completely inaudible on Samsung P80 drives.
 
K

Kostas K.

Rod Speed said:
Yep, completely inaudible on Samsung P80 drives.

I am terribly sorry about that, I forgot to mention that I meant about other
160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA drives like mine.


I have read carefully your various posts about the Samsung drives, you seem
to be one of the most experienced people in this group and I respect your
views very much. And to be honest you have made me start thinking seriously
about trying one, although they are not that popular here in Greece and I
don't know if and at what price I can find one.

I'd like to mention to you one thing though, and you might tell me if it is
important or not. On the specs on samsung's website, I cant remember exactly
where, it says that Samsung drives are using a Marvell bridge, and if I
understand right, this means that it is a previously PATA drive with a
bridge added to make it connect to a SATA interface. Does this have any
impact on performance? Or is it just pure marketing stuff if it a drive is a
"Native SATA" or a "Bridged SATA"?

I am 100% sure that only the Seagate drives are at the moment "Native SATA".
Thats one reason why I originally choose a Seagate 7200.7 (and its very
quiet idle noise). I know of course that any difference of this kind will
only be measurable through benchmarking programs. But I can't hide my
curiosity..

:)
 
F

Folkert Rienstra

Kostas K. said:
Hello!

I recently came across a 7200.7 80GB PATA and its seeks are amazingly quiet.
I know that there is a patent problem
and quiet seek mode is disabled on the 7200.7 series

What makes you think that?
but why does the 160GB SATA sounds so much louder than that 80GB PATA ?

Perhaps because it is on all the time?
 
F

Folkert Rienstra

Kostas K. said:
I am terribly sorry about that, I forgot to mention that I meant about other
160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA drives like mine.



I have read carefully your various posts about the Samsung drives,
you seem to be one of the most experienced people in this group and
I respect your views very much.
Sucker!

And to be honest you have made me start thinking seriously
about trying one, although they are not that popular here in Greece and I
don't know if and at what price I can find one.

I'd like to mention to you one thing though, and you might tell me if it is
important or not. On the specs on samsung's website, I cant remember
exactly where, it says that Samsung drives are using a Marvell bridge,
and if I understand right, this means that it is a previously PATA drive
with a bridge added to make it connect to a SATA interface. Does this
have any impact on performance? Or is it just pure marketing stuff if
it a drive is a "Native SATA" or a "Bridged SATA"?

Actually, just noticing that and knowing what it means shows that you know
the answer already.
 
R

Rod Speed

I am terribly sorry about that, I forgot to mention that I meant
about other 160GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA drives like mine.

Yeah, thought that might have been
what you meant when I did the first reply.

Particularly with that bit, I should have realised thats what you were asking.
I have read carefully your various posts about the Samsung drives,
you seem to be one of the most experienced people in this group and
I respect your views very much. And to be honest you have made me
start thinking seriously about trying one, although they are not that
popular here in Greece and I don't know if and at what price I can find one.

Yeah, its the main downside with Samsungs, not as easy to find.
I'd like to mention to you one thing though, and you might tell me if it is
important or not. On the specs on samsung's website, I cant remember
exactly where, it says that Samsung drives are using a Marvell bridge,
and if I understand right, this means that it is a previously PATA
drive with a bridge added to make it connect to a SATA interface.
Correct.

Does this have any impact on performance?

Not really, because the interface is quite a bit faster
than the drive can do physically, with either approach.
Or is it just pure marketing stuff if it a drive
is a "Native SATA" or a "Bridged SATA"?

Not pure marketing, native sata is a bit
more desirable, but its also got a higher
risk of warts currently, because its so new.
I am 100% sure that only the Seagate drives are at the
moment "Native SATA". Thats one reason why I originally
choose a Seagate 7200.7 (and its very quiet idle noise).
I know of course that any difference of this kind will
only be measurable through benchmarking programs.
But I can't hide my curiosity..

You know what that did to the cat, dont you ?
 
K

Kostas K.

Folkert Rienstra said:
What makes you think that?

There is a patent infrigement and Seagate have disabled on the 7200.7 (PATA
and SATA) and on Barracuda V SATA only (not PATA) the silent seek mode, you
cannot change it anymore. Unless someone has found a way around it, which I
would be very interested to find out!
Perhaps because it is on all the time?

OK, but why would they have it set differently on PATA vs SATA ? I mean why
would it be turned on on PATA drives and turned off on SATA drives? Im
fairly sure it is turned off on mine because the random access benchmarking
is around 13ms, which cant be with silent seeking enabled.

On the PATA drive I tested it was a bit higher, around 14ms but I thought it
was only a matter of interface, usually silent seek costs at least a 3-4 ms.
Right?

I still think it has something to do with an early model or firmware of my
drive, or the fact that 160GB (80GB/platter) moves 4 heads instead of 2
heads on the smaller drive. Could this make so big difference in seek noise?
 
F

Folkert Rienstra

Kostas K. said:
There is a patent infrigement and Seagate have disabled on the 7200.7 (PATA
and SATA) and on Barracuda V SATA only (not PATA) the silent seek mode,
you cannot change it anymore.

Right, cannot 'change'.
Unless someone has found a way around it, which I would be very interested to find out!

OK, but why would they have it set differently on PATA vs SATA ?

Could be as simple as that SATA is perceived as having an edge over PATA.
I mean why
would it be turned on on PATA drives and turned off on SATA drives? Im
fairly sure it is turned off on mine because the random access benchmarking
is around 13ms, which cant be with silent seeking enabled.

Some makes achieve silence at very little expense to access time.
On the PATA drive I tested it was a bit higher, around 14ms but I thought it
was only a matter of interface, usually silent seek costs at least a 3-4 ms.
Right?

Not with barracudas at ~1 ms difference.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top