Seagate Barracuda noisy...Western Digital Black OR Green??

[gmattey]

Hi,

I have a 1TB seagate barracuda 7200.12, this is my second seagate hard drive, the first barracuda was really noisy, i was hoping the new 7200.12 versions would improve but they haven't. They seem to make a rattling/rumbling noise even when not doing anything. Searched on the internet and its a very very common problem.

I'm thinking of changing to a western digital, there is the caviar black and caviar green.

Anybody who has owned these drives know if the green versions are actually any quieter and is the performance better on the black version or is it just a load of rubbish and they're basically the same?

Just wondering whether it's worthwhile swapping.

Many thanks.

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[tf1]

I recommend checking out the Desktop Drive charts at Tomshardware and see their results for sound levels.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/Sound-Level,1033.html

Personally, I don't see that you are going to save the world going for a 'green' version of a drive in a desktop PC except maybe if you are using five drives in a RAID array. Power consumption in a notebook may be significant, but in a desktop the difference after taking into account the inefficiencies of the PSU and the loss of performance is going to be almost negligible. Go for the best noise/perfomance/cost and ignore the greenness.


Regards: Terry

 

[gmattey]

well my drive is apparently the "quietest" at 36.07 but mines really noisy, dont know if the majority or these drives are faulty but a lot of people have problems with noise and my seagate.

It's constantly making a loud click and then rattle.

It's made me wonder if it's really worth swapping, the western digitals could be the same if they're meant to be louder than mine.

many thanks

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[tf1]

My personal preference has always been for Samsung drives, but temptation got in the way and I have a Velociraptor as my OS drive. It may be fast but the penalty is noise.

My next upgrade will either be back to a quiet Samsung or a forward march to a silent SSD!


Regards: Terry

 

[gmattey]

Yeah that sounds a good plan.

Well i've been meaning to get a zalman hd501 case for months now but not had the money, once get that see if the noise improves at all as the cases have tool free hard drive bays.

hopefully won't vibrate as much on the casing then.

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[kjv1611]

Both the WD Blacks and Greens are quiet in my experience. And the latest Samsung drives as well. If your drive is making lots of clicks, etc, though, it may just be failing. MOST modern drives I've ever messed with have been fairly quiet unless something was wrong.

For a system drive, the WD Velociraptor will be the quickest, as far as access time. Otherwise, the Samsung F3 may be the very fastest overall, and it's cheaper than the Velociraptor by far. IF you can still find one at a decent price - I guess they didn't make enough of them for the demand - I'd go with a 500GB Samsung F3 drive for my system boot drive, and "short stroke" it to say 100GB. It' makes for a might nice fast drive. It's already got the transfer rates through the roof, but when you short stroke it, it brings that end a little closer to the velociraptor speeds.. .and for MUCH less money (for now). I imagine that if they don't start spitting more of those drives out, though, that the costs are going to go up. For a while, you could get the 500GB drive at NewEgg for $40 or $45, I forget which.... and the 1TB drive for $80 or $85 I believe it was. However, they've not had them in stock for a while, and every week, it seems harder to find.

The reason the F3 is so stinking fast, quiet, cool, compared to many drives, is that it's a single platter drive. So one disk, all it's gotta do is spin, and let the arm seek it's data.. I've got a few of the 500GB and the 1TB drives at my house right now, and I can say they are nice. I've got a new system (for someone else) sitting there now with a 500GB F3 for their system, and a 1TB F3 for data.

Also, from at least one review/mention I saw on TomsHardware, I believe it was, the F3 even uses less electricity, or about the same perhaps, as the WD Green drives, while matching performance more closely with the WD Blacks.

The only real drawback I've seen from these Samsung drives to date (this depends upon your situation) is that they are not hot swappable. For some of my applications, that's a must. But for a basic system/data drive, the F3 is a no brainer, I think... ESPECIALLY in the bang for your buck area.

I do know (unless they're also sold out) that NewEgg has the 250GB model of the same drive now for about $45 or $50... and I have seen the 1TB drive at a couple other sites, and maybe the 500GB drive... though they cost a fair amount more than what I originally paid for them... kinda makes me wish I bought like 10 of each! No, no, I'd probably be dead now if I did. "Uh, but honey, they're WORTH it!" - last words.
[ROFL2]

 

[kjv1611]

I spoke too soon, man! The F3 1TB is once again avaialble at NewEgg!

It costs more than the 500GB, but for ultimate performance, you could always short stroke one of those as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52185&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

If $200 isn't too much to spend, I'd get 2 of those.... 1 for system, short-stroked, and one for data. They are quiet, cool, fast, and use very little energy.. though if you put it all together, it all makes sense... higher density - the mechanics don't have to work as hard with 1 or 2 platters vs higher #s...

Also worth mentioning the 1TB drive has 32MB cache, whereas the smaller 2 have 16MB cache.

I REALLY didn't need to see that being available again!

 

[kmcferrin]

For a system drive, the WD Velociraptor will be the quickest, as far as access time. Otherwise, the Samsung F3 may be the very fastest overall,

**cough** SSD **cough**

You'll get the fastest drive around, and one that is dead silent on top of that. I'm using an OCZ Summit 60GB as my OS drive, and my apps are on a WD Caviar Black 1TB.

The Caviar Black is definitely much faster than the Caviar Green, if those are your choices. Power-wise the green is more efficient (but not tremendously so).

Personally, I don't see that you are going to save the world going for a 'green' version of a drive in a desktop PC except maybe if you are using five drives in a RAID array.

Something to keep in mind, WD has specific RAID edition drives that are designed to work in arrays. There is some setting that isn't available on their normal drives, and without it there is a tendency for one of the drives to continually fall out of the array. I wish I could recall the name of the feature...



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[kjv1611]

I suppose I should have spelled out "mechanical hard drive" instead of just "drive", but that was what I was referring to, given the context. Yes, SSDs are much faster, but at what price? They're still too expensive for most of us to consider. I keep WANTING to find an excuse, but really it's just too expensive. Maybe another couple years, with the rate of technology change there, and with the way the prices have come down - at times, at least... then maybe I'll be able to buy one myself.

 

[gmattey]

SSD's are out of the question, the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB is available at Scan, 500GB etc sold out.

Not sure if any point buying a 1TB just to short stroke it, kind of a waste of money, it's probably available online cheaper too.

Could always get 2 Samsungs, the 500GB and 1TB, short stroke the 500GB and use the 1TB for apps/data.

Just wondering what people think of the Sata III 6GB/s hard drives? I know theres a 1TB WD Black with 64mb cache and 6GB/s..??

My board only supports Sata II 3GB/s but just wondered!

Thanks

ASUS M4A785G HTPC/RC MOTHERBOARD
AMD PHENOM X4 II 955 BE 3.2GHZ
8GB DDR2 800MHZ KINGSTON LOW PROFILE RAM
1TB SEAGATE BARACCUDA SATA HARD DRIVE
DVD/RW DRIVE
ZALMAN HD501 CASE
LOGITECH DINOVO EDGE WIRELESS KEYBOARD
TOSHIBA 32RV635DB FULL HD TV

 

[kjv1611]

So far, the SATA3 drives haven't gotten fast enough to make a difference compared to SATA2. The SSDs are close, but standard mechanical hard drives probably won't make a difference SATA 2 or 3 for the near future, at least.

If you'd rather a smaller system drive, the 250GB F3 is avaialble at NewEgg for $45 or thereabout:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152226&cm_re=f3-_-22-152-226-_-Product

Of course, if your in the UK, then what NewEgg caries may not be of interest to you. I've no idea if/how NewEgg ships out of the US.

 

[goombawaho]

I can't even hear my (no laughing) dual, RAID 1 WD 40GB IDE drives over the power supply fan, CPU fan and 4 case fans.

The fans are about to suck my pants off, but it sure reduces that hard drive noise effectively.

But seriously, I've never really heard what I would call a hard drive noisy enough to agitate me. Now, ones that are dieing give off some nasty clunking/clicking sounds that are disturbing, yet NOT annoying - if you understand the difference.