noise - Good way to isolate hard drive sound

08
2014-07
  • Laurence

    What is the best method to isolate hard drive sound (almost) completely?

    I’m thinking about creating a hard drive case with isolation material.

    • What material is the best for isolating a hard drive
    • How thick does the isolation need to be?
    • Do I need to keep a part of the case open so that heat can get out? Or does this let a lot of sound out?

    I did some more research, there is a solution for this. You can put your hard drive in a special case which will cancel sounds. The product is called: Smart Drive Neo. But I can't find a reseller for this product in my country.

    • Answers
  • Shevek

    If you completely encase the HDD then heat will become an issue.

    If you leave ventilation then sound will escape

    Catch 22.

    Your best solution is SSD - completely silent.

  • jana

    A few possibilities:

    • Use an anti-vibration mounting frame (it will isolate the vibrations from the case) for best results, you will need a 5.25-slot for a 3.5 harddrive.
    • Use anti-vibration pins, not the "normal screws" for mounting the hdd.
    • You can isolate the whole case.
    • Buy a new case. (reviews out there will help you to find a good one)
    • Find out if your hdd supports silent mode. (but , then it will be a little slower)
  • Synetech

    user3107377 has some great suggestions. I’ll mention the steps I used for my system. I did a few simple (and cheap) things to cut down the vibrations and sound from my system (which came mostly from the hard-drive and fans), and sometimes I forget it’s even on (at least until it heats up and the CPU fan kicks in or I defrag my older, worn out drive).

    • Insert rubber washers between the drive and drive case
    • Don’t tighten screws all the way (which only helps to conduct the vibrations to the case). Of course you need rubber washers for this to work well, per the previous point
    • Mount a 3.5" drive in a 5.25" bracket to have more control
    • Use rubber feet on the bottom of the case instead of the hard-plastic feet that come with cheaper cases
    • Place the case on a soft surface instead of a hard wood desk (free under-padding remnants from a carpet store works great)

    And yes, you’ll probably need to leave some ventilation holes for airflow for proper cooling, unless you opt to use water-cooling, in which case you can not only completely close up the case, but you can forgo fans altogether which reduces system noise even further. As others have mentioned, you can also engage your hard-drive’s AAM (automatic acoustic management) function if it supports it (though be aware that while it reduces noise, it also reduces performance slightly), or just use an SSD which is completely silent.


    • Related Question

    Idle hard disk makes noise
  • ULTRA_POROV

    Like a fan or something. I checked it. I stopped all fans (cpu, video, psu) and the noise was still there.

    I read online that it might be a motor or something. I have put a great deal of effort making my pc quiet. Installed a quiet psu and cpu fan, reduced the fan speed of my video card, bought a ssd... But my drive for data makes this noise. I would never have expected that.

    Do all hard disks make this kind of noise? I guess most people won't notice it because of the other fans they have in the system, I however can hear it quite clearly because all my other fans are almost silent.

    So should i get a new one or should i just live with it, considering that i might end up with a drive that also makes this noise.


    • Related Answers
  • sblair

    Some hard drives are quieter than others. Silent PC Review covers this quite thoroughly:

    Until about two or three years ago, the majority of hard drives on the market used ball-bearing motors, which had a characteristic high pitched whine and other objectionable airborne noise. Since then, the industry has shifted to much quieter FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) motors, with the result that most recent drives are significantly quieter than older drives ... All major drive manufacturers now use FDB motors in their current lineups. If you have a typical non-FDB drive that's more than a year or two old, the simplest way to achieve lower noise (and improved performance) is to swap it for a new drive, almost any new drive.

    There are three other factors that affect drive noise:

    • The number of platters in the drive
    • The difference between idle and seek
    • Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM)

    They also recommend some drives, and strongly recommend 2.5" notebook drives for the best reduction in sound (other than switching to an SSD). There are also several techniques for dampening hard drive noise, many of which are listed here.