160gb maxtor Diamond Plus 9

[Beirdo]

just wondering if any of u guys has such a drive
i recently bought one but when the drives reads it makes quite a noise :-?
all other maxtor drives i used to have were pretty much noiseless
is it just this one maybe or not?

thanx for any info

 

[Mercutio]

I think they're middle-of-the-pack from a noise standpoint. I have some 80GB DM9s and a couple of 200s. No 160s. Louder than my Samsung drives, not quite as loud as some of the WD "BB" drives I have. They do have a distinctive whine though.

Unlike current drives from Seagate and Samsung, they can be heard outside a computer case. Nowadays I suppose that makes them loud.

 

[blakerwry]

i bought a 80GB DM+9, I'm hoping it's as quiet as a 120/180gxp or 7200.7 when idle.

 

[Beirdo]

it should be
when it's idle is quiter than my 80gb wd
but when it reads it sounds like tha 40mb seagate i had 7 years ago...ok i may exaggerate a bit but u get the picture

 

[blakerwry]

Just turn on AAM if the seeks bother you. Even the ATA IV is audible seeking with AAM off.

 

[time]

Yeah, but I found Maxtor seek noises to be a lot more prominent than other brands. More like an older SCSI drive and completely unsuitable for a quiet PC. But then I only tried a couple.

 

[Jan Kivar]

My D740X's make a random louder click with heavy I/Os. I guess that's a feature...

Jan

 

[Beirdo]

i have a 30gb diamond 8 plus as well and it's noiseless both when idling and when reading, thats why i opted for maxtor again this time
seems like i should have asked first
anyway i use it mostly for storage so i dont mind much

btw how do i turn AAM on?i remember seeing it on sisofsandra but couldn't figure out how to enable/disable. we are talking about acoustic management right?

 

[zx]

My D740X's make a random louder click with heavy I/Os. I guess that's a feature...

Jan

Yep, mine does it too. D740X's make alot of weird noises .

 

[Mercutio]

Chalk it up to their Quantum heritage.

 

[blakerwry]

I'm very impressed with the DM+9 i just got (80GB model) Quiet, cool, works very well in the shuttle SS51G i built. Seeks are clearly audible, but not obtrusive to me...

 

[sechs]

I have a pair of 120GB DM+9s with the FDB motors in a RAID 1. They idle quiet (as expected), but sure are clacky on seeks.

They're hotter and noisier than my 180GXP.

 

[blakerwry]

maybe I don't think they're clacky because i've used computers 10+ years ago... Now those drives where whiners and clackety...

...especially when I hook them up now.

 

[sechs]

I used computers twenty years ago.... what's your point 8)

 

[blakerwry]

My point is that acoustics was not a major concern back then. There were alot more thingss to worry about than how clickety your drive was when runing xx aplication.

 

[sechs]

Noise sure was an issue back then. That's why they put the mainframes in their own rooms!

 

[zx]

They still put mainframes (and servers) in their own rooms today... Last summer, I had a server rack beside my desk for testing. Those were dual PII and PIII series with 10K and 7.2K SCSI disks. The main source of noise was the case fans. The noise level was very high. I did not mind that much, since I was not always in my office.

 

[Fushigi]

They still put mainframes (and servers) in their own rooms today... Last summer, I had a server rack beside my desk for testing. Those were dual PII and PIII series with 10K and 7.2K SCSI disks. The main source of noise was the case fans. The noise level was very high. I did not mind that much, since I was not always in my office.

Data center rooms are a good idea for a lot of reasons. With enough machines you need cooling all year around, including winter, so a dedicated room lets you control the environment (temp & humidity) without affecting your employee environment. Locked doors and firewalls enhance physical security. Easier to dedicate a UPS to a data center vs. lots of machines all over the place. Concentrates LAN equipment. Enables the use of electronics-safe, but not necessarily human-safe, fire suppression techniques (Halon in the old days). Cabling can be more organized with a raised floor. Vibration is isolated.

And the noise. Our data center has quite a bit of background noise and it's hard to truly isolate any major contributor. 3 HVAC units, 2 large UPSes, 100+ Wintel servers (many dual-processor), 1 AS/400, routers and other networking gear, corporate phone system, etc. Across those servers there will be hundreds, if not 1000+ hard drives. All SCSI, most 10K.

- Fushigi

 

[Handruin]

Our lab isn't a true datacenter because 95% of the equipment in this area is for testing so no live data is stored. The A/C runs 24x7/365 and at times it can be very cold in some of the corners of the room.

It's hard to describe the noise in the room. It's very lound and not a place where you could concentrate for any great length of time to do work. The A/C and fans are by far the loudest parts of the lab. Being there are probably over 1000 physical hard drives in the lab, they don't make the majority of the noise.

The floor is a raised floor tile system and even under the floor the A/C cools. There are also smoke detectors under there in case something bad happens with wires. (75% of the wires under the floor are fibre optic.) Almost all the servers in the lab are connect by cybex so that we can use KVM stations in a quiet section of the lab.

 

[Pradeep]

I got a 160GB DM9 the other day. Doesn't seem to make much noise, it's in an external FW/USB2 enclosure. Can't hear much over the dual Delta 7000rpms tho.

 

[time]

Can't hear much over the dual Delta 7000rpms tho.

:excl:

I take it your ears don't have anywhere near the same acuity as your eyes, then?

 

[Pradeep]

LOL, actually SR/SF look fine at UXGA on the Dell 2000FP (20"). I just use the laptop for email/IM etc when at home.