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HDD & Optical Recommendations

  • 18-09-2008 2:12pm
    #1
    subway
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,131 ✭✭✭


    as per title really!

    i've just finished seting up my new HTPC and its virtually silent - without the HDD or optical drives in :(
    cpu fan, psu fan, gfx card, none so much as make a whisper.

    im going to have to replace the optical and HDDs as they are ridciluos.
    some of it comes down to dell using plastic caddies that the drives sit in, but a lot if it is down to them just being plain old noisy drives.
    should i go down the route of 2.5" drives (i cant afford SSDs) or is there a really queiet 3.5" i should consider.
    there are no options for noise dampening (at least i dont think there are) as there are no screws or mounts for the drives.

    the optical drive isnt so bad, but it likes to spin up when watching a dvd.
    i used to have a 3520 with the slow speed firmware instlaled, but thats ide and this system is sata. can anyone recommend a suitable sata drive? bluray is not needed at this time, but if you have a recommendation that includes it i would be happy to hear it...


    thanks for reading


Comments

  • #2
    Rsaeire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,888 ✭✭✭Rsaeire


    The Samsung SpinPoint drives are very quiet. I myself have 2x1TB and 2x400GB drives and they are noticeably quieter than other drives I have had.

    2.5" drives may be quieter but I don't have much experience with them.


  • #3
    subway
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,131 ✭✭✭subway


    thanks for the reply.
    what ive actually done is removed the 2 full size drives and replaced them with 1 2.5" external drive.
    ive removed the usb-sata adapter from the external drive and hooked it directly into a sata port o the motherboard.
    the hdd case is acting as a damper and the machine is virtually silent now.
    gonna see if i can order a few more of these drives and stack them up internally.
    should end up with lots of space a silent machine.

    all thats left is the optical drive, any receommendations?


  • #4
    BigEejit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭BigEejit


    The 2.5" drives will be quieter, but the Samsungs will perform quite a bit better (higher rotational speed, larger cache usually) ... but saying that I am investigating a fanless home NAS box that contains two x 2.5" drives in raid-1


  • #5
    subway
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,131 ✭✭✭subway


    i dont think hdd performance is really of the essence for a htpc.
    its never really doing more than one thing at once as i only have one tv tuner.

    playing mp3s and mkvs should cause too much of a strain either (hopefully:))


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