Quiet Hard Drives - Samsung or Seagate or Hitachi?

[TopGeezer]

I'm looking for two HDs for a large system build, I want them to be both
quiet and importantly, reliable, preferably SATAs but will go IDE for the
right product.

I've narrowed it down to Samsung, Seagate and Hitachi.

Best bet?

 

[cowboyz]

I'm looking for two HDs for a large system build, I want them to be
both quiet and importantly, reliable, preferably SATAs but will go
IDE for the right product.

I've narrowed it down to Samsung, Seagate and Hitachi.

Best bet?

a will say seagate because I am a seagate fan from wayback. Admittedly I
haven't even looked at another drive for years. When I need a new hard
drive I only get the current list for seagate models. The downside of this
I realise is that there may be better drives out there. The upside is I
have *never* had a hard drive fail on me - ever.

 

[Will Dormann]

I'm looking for two HDs for a large system build, I want them to be both
quiet and importantly, reliable, preferably SATAs but will go IDE for the
right product.

I've narrowed it down to Samsung, Seagate and Hitachi.

Seagate.
http://storagereview.com/comparison.html

Select "idle noise" from the list.
You'll notice Seagate drives taking the top 4 places


-WD

 

[Wooducoodu]

the samsung is the quietest drive available right now. there's no idle noise
at all and very little seek noise.

 

[BudMan]

Definitely not Hatachi. My new 120 GB Hatachi grinds everytime it seeks.
The 80 GB Seagate on my other system is as quiet as a mouse.

 

[Clint]

I just put in one of the Seagate 200GB IDE drives (7200.7 models), and I
can't hear it idling or seeking. Perhaps it's just so much different than
my old Maxtor drive that I can't hear it.

So far, I'm happy with it. 3 year warranty, quiet, and big. Who could ask
for anything more! Oh yeah, the $50 rebate that I haven't got back yet...

Clint

 

[DaveW]

The Seagate, hands down for quiet and reliability.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

The Seagate, hands down for quiet and reliability.

I like Seagate.

 

[Wooducoodu]

the only seagate that might be as quiet as the samsung is the barracuda IV
and it's a lot slower than the more recent drives.

 

[prvt101]

I'm looking for two HDs for a large system build, I want them to be both
quiet and importantly, reliable, preferably SATAs but will go IDE for the
right product.

I've narrowed it down to Samsung, Seagate and Hitachi.

Best bet?

Silentpcreview has a couple of relevent reviews.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/section14.html

 

[Bob Adkins]

I'm looking for two HDs for a large system build, I want them to be both
quiet and importantly, reliable, preferably SATAs but will go IDE for the
right product.

I've narrowed it down to Samsung, Seagate and Hitachi.

The WD SATA Raptors are about the fastest out there, and mine is very quiet.
Check the "Reader's Choice Awards" at
http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20031204/index.html

Bob

Remove "kins" from address to reply.

 

[Ed Medlin]

The WD SATA Raptors are about the fastest out there, and mine is very
quiet. Check the "Reader's Choice Awards" at
http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20031204/index.html

Bob

I have four of them in this system, only two sata and two SE WD drives.
All are very quiet. I have had only one WD HD failure out of probably 100.
Their customer service was great on the one failure. They RMA'd the drive
and had a new one out in just a couple of hours via UPS. That was
overnight service on my dime, their standard is 3-day (or was then). With
all the changes in their warranty policy, I am not sure that is the same
now.

Ed

 

[Bob Adkins]

I have four of them in this system, only two sata and two SE WD drives.
All are very quiet. I have had only one WD HD failure out of probably 100.
Their customer service was great on the one failure. They RMA'd the drive
and had a new one out in just a couple of hours via UPS. That was
overnight service on my dime, their standard is 3-day (or was then). With
all the changes in their warranty policy, I am not sure that is the same
now.

I have a WD customer number, and when I call WD, they can instantly look at
my account. I don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get an instant
cross ship.

That said, I have never had a WD drive failure since the old 13gb and 20gb
days, and that's out of perhaps 300 drives.

Bob

Remove "kins" from address to reply.

 

[tony]

Seagate 7200.7's have annoying idle seek noise (the drives follow a
preprogrammed seek pattern at idle and it can't be turned off like
other SMART drives). May be OK if your computer is far away from
you. But in a quiet room, it's worse than a loud clock because it's
irregular.

I'm gonna try Maxtor Diamonds next time.

Tony

 

[Clint]

It's not all of the 7200.7's that have this noise, then. I just put in one
of the 200GB models, and it's silent, as far as I can tell. I've had the
computer right on the desk next to my monitor, with and without the cover
off, and I've never heard a noise like you describe. Hopefully it's not
something that comes up later in the drives life, like after it's broken in
or something foolish.

BTW, I have the PATA version of the drive. Is this something that affects
only the SATA version?

Clint

 

[blackgold]

Avoid the maxtor especially the 40GB ATA 133. Until today (bought last year)
cannot get it to work with other HDDs!

 

[tony]

Mine is an 80 GB PATA drive. Every minute or two, it does it's weird
seeking stuff. The rest of my computer (fans etc) is very quiet, so I
can hear the drive when it exercises/seeks at idle. I wonder if you
are not noticing it because some other device in your box is drowning
out the sound (?). Seagate's website confirms this drive activity at
idle and considers it "normal".

Tony

 

[tony]

I've really never considered anything other than Seagate, Western Digital or
(just lately) Maxtor. I'm certainly not going back to WD because of the
problems
I've had with those and the extreme amount of whining that I've observed
with
those drives as they age. Seagate is out because of the idle seek noise. My
only other choice is now Maxtor because I haven't tried those yet. Hopefully
that will work out for me. I understand that Maxtor has a utility that
allows you
to adjust the drive's SMART settings whereas Seagate does not.

Tony

 

[Clint]

Can't really comment on how quiet my computer is, but I have taken steps to
reduce the noise; most recently, the installation of a Zalman 7000 HS/fan.
The only other fans in my system are in the Antec PSU, and they're set down
to minimum speed. So I think that my system is fairly quiet. It's also
fairly close to where I sit, in that I can reach over and install CD's in it
without really stretching, and I was running it with the cover off. All in
all, I think I'd know if it was making annoying noises.

Installing the Seagate drive made a HUGE difference to the sound levels of
my system, as I had a irritatingly noisy Maxtor drive that got replaced.
But that was a continous high-pitched noise on a 2 year old 7200 rpm drive.
In that drive, I could set the "Acoustic Management " something-or-other to
set for quiet or performance. Changing that made a difference in the seek
noise, but didn't do a thing for the high-pitched whine.

Clint

 

[We Live For The One We Die For The One]

Seagate Bara IV rules MATE.

I've really never considered anything other than Seagate, Western Digital or
(just lately) Maxtor. I'm certainly not going back to WD because of the
problems
I've had with those and the extreme amount of whining that I've observed
with
those drives as they age. Seagate is out because of the idle seek noise. My
only other choice is now Maxtor because I haven't tried those yet. Hopefully
that will work out for me. I understand that Maxtor has a utility that
allows you
to adjust the drive's SMART settings whereas Seagate does not.

Tony