Samsung AAM?

[Richard Forester]

Hi. I just got a Samsung SP1614C and although the seek noises aren't *that*
bad they are far from quiet as some reviews have suggested. Is there any
way to adjust the AAM on this drive?

Thanks,
Richard

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi.
Lo.

I just got a Samsung SP1614C and although the seek noises
aren't *that* bad they are far from quiet as some reviews have
suggested. Is there any way to adjust the AAM on this drive?

Yep, use
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/hutil.htm

 

[Richard Forester]

Thanks, but I guess I should have been more specific. The tool you
suggested is only for PATA drives. The drive I have is SATA.

Does anyone know if there is an AAM tool for Samsung SATA drives?

Richard

 

[Rod Speed]

Thanks, but I guess I should have been more specific. The tool
you suggested is only for PATA drives. The drive I have is SATA.

Does anyone know if there is an AAM tool for Samsung SATA drives?

Have you actually tried it on the drive ? It may be that
some things arent supported but changing the AAM is.

If it doesnt even see the drive tho, try Hitachi's Feature Tool.

 

[Richard Forester]

Yup. I tried the HUTIL thinking there may be support for newer drives but
it didn't work. I also tried the Hitachi Feature tool as you suggested and
it also didn't recognize my drive (it only works with PATA drive as well).

Maybe this is a problem industry wide since I cannot find an AAM tool for
any SATA drives (although they all claim that the drives have AAM
abilities). I am really surprised that this hasn't shaken out yet. If you
know something to the contrary please pass it along.

I am loath to buy another PATA drive at this point but it looks like it's my
only option for something truely quiet.

Thanks again,
Richard

 

[Rod Speed]

Yup. I tried the HUTIL thinking there may be support for newer drives but
it didn't work. I also tried the Hitachi Feature tool as you suggested and
it also didn't recognize my drive (it only works with PATA drive as well).

That last isnt correct,
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/dual-sata-roundup_4.html
says that it works with SATA drives with the Highpoint controller at least. And
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/seagate-barracuda-sata5_5.html
doesnt say anything about the specific SATA controller. Try the link in that
second url to the feature tool to check that you are using the same version.

Maybe this is a problem industry wide

Doesnt look like it.

since I cannot find an AAM tool for any SATA drives
(although they all claim that the drives have AAM abilities).
I am really surprised that this hasn't shaken out yet.

I'm not. It generally takes a bit of time before utes catch
up with the basics changing. You'll likely find that SMART
utes are similarly limited with little support for SATA currently.

If you know something to the contrary please pass it along.

Couldnt see anything obvious using google apart from the two
listed at the top. Didnt go thru them all religiously tho just looked
at the more obvious hits with just AAM SATA as the keywords.

I am loath to buy another PATA drive at this point but
it looks like it's my only option for something truely quiet.

Yeah, if you cant get FT to work that may be so. All you
need is a system that FT will see the SATA drive in tho,
just to change the AAM value. You can then use it in
any system you like with the AAM setting you prefer.

 

[Richard Forester]

Luckily I have a Silicon Image controller in another one of my machines
similar to the one that x-bit labs used. The Hitachi Feature Tool worked
using that controller (although not perfectly). I have to wonder why it
didn't work with my Promise controller in my main machine. Anyway, I was
able to turn on AAM on the Samsung drive as well as a Seagate Barracuda V
drive I also had in that machine. This quieted down the Samsung drive to
lower levels but the biggest improvement came from the Seagate drive which I
had banished to the other machine (it's in another room) when I got it. If
I only had the HFT a year ago I could have been enjoying the Seagate drive
all along.

At any rate, thanks for not giving up on me. Your help on this is much
appreciated!

Thanks again,
Richard

 

[Eric Gisin]

Luckily I have a Silicon Image controller in another one of my machines
similar to the one that x-bit labs used. The Hitachi Feature Tool worked
using that controller (although not perfectly). I have to wonder why it
didn't work with my Promise controller in my main machine. Anyway, I was

Because Promise makes shit that is not PCI IDE compatible. Intel and SiL are
OK.