[SOLVED] Looking for large, silent storage

[charliepeee]

Hi all,

Recently been building my new pc and so far very happy with the way I've managed to optimise the hardware to be quite quiet.

One of the best things I did was swap out the 4tb Seagate Nas Ironwolf drive that came with the pc to a 240gb ssd, however this has left me with much less storage space.

Does anybody have a recommendation of a large storage device, which is also silent? Looking for between 4tb-8tb.

Happy for an external device. I did try an 8TB WD_black drive however this made lots of clicking and clunking due to being a mechanical drive.

Any advice welcome!

 

[charliepeee]

Hi all,

Recently been building my new pc and so far very happy with the way I've managed to optimise the hardware to be quite quiet.

One of the best things I did was swap out the 4tb Seagate Nas Ironwolf drive that came with the pc to a 240gb ssd, however this has left me with much less storage space.

Does anybody have a recommendation of a large storage device, which is also silent? Looking for between 4tb-8tb.

Happy for an external device. I did try an 8TB WD_black drive however this made lots of clicking and clunking due to being a mechanical drive.

Any advice welcome!

 

[kanewolf]

Hi all,

Recently been building my new pc and so far very happy with the way I've managed to optimise the hardware to be quite quiet.

One of the best things I did was swap out the 4tb Seagate Nas Ironwolf drive that came with the pc to a 240gb ssd, however this has left me with much less storage space.

Does anybody have a recommendation of a large storage device, which is also silent? Looking for between 4tb-8tb.

Happy for an external device. I did try an 8TB WD_black drive however this made lots of clicking and clunking due to being a mechanical drive.

Any advice welcome!

4TB SSDs are available -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089C5P5SX/
It gets expensive above 4TB ...

 

[charliepeee]

4TB SSDs are available -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089C5P5SX/
It gets expensive above 4TB ...

I see, a bit too expensive for my budget haha, if I have a budget of £200/$250, any more ideas?

 

[richiestang_78]

Pretty much any HDD will have noise, its unavoidable. Unless you go a pure SSD environment, which will cost a ton you will either have to live with noise or you could setup a NAS somewhere else for storage.

Personally I would still upgrade that 240GB SSD to atleast a 1TB since 240 is almost nothing these days in terms of storage.

 

[kanewolf]

I see, a bit too expensive for my budget haha, if I have a budget of £200/$250, any more ideas?

Are you using sound/vibration isolating mounts for the mechanical drive?

 

[charliepeee]

Pretty much any HDD will have noise, its unavoidable. Unless you go a pure SSD environment, which will cost a ton you will either have to live with noise or you could setup a NAS somewhere else for storage.

Personally I would still upgrade that 240GB SSD to atleast a 1TB since 240 is almost nothing these days in terms of storage.

Yeah, i see what youre saying. I think I will need to look further into the SSD side of things. The clicking and clunking noises the bigger mechanical drives make sends me loopy, just trying to look for best solution for optimum quietness while also not having to scrimp on storage space haha.

 

[neojack]

@charliepeee

i had the same question as you like 15 years go
at that time, i bought a HDD silencer. it's a padded alluminum box that eliminates most of the noise of the HDD. it uses a 5 1/4 slot
the model i bought is the Logisys blue aluminium.

over the years i used several HDDs inside. now i havw an archive 5000RPM HDD. Archive disks turns slower and are quieter. probably last longer too. and are cheaper. performance is ok for storage. still faster than a NAS for sure !
excellent for everything sequential like video server (plex) , store ISOs, store backups, etc

this silencer is maybe the oldest part inside my PC, along with a 120mm papst fan wich is immortal.

be sure to buy an hard drive with warranty. some of the cheaper options are OEM drives or drives removed from their enclosure and re-sold. no warranty from the manufacturer.

nowadays HDD silencers are rare but you can find some

https://www.performance-pcs.com/diy/quiet-pc/hdd-silencers.html

Scythe HIMURO Internal HDD Enclosure

Protect your data! Flexible mounting system compatible with either parallel or serial ATA 3.5 inch Hard Disk of RPM up to 10,000! Anti-vibration mounting stands are included to further contribute to silence!

www.performance-pcs.com

https://www.performance-pcs.com/diy...ve-cooler-and-silencing-solution-lx-hdss.html

PC 3 5 HDD Pro class HDD aluminium silencer anti vibration cage 5 25 bay KONIG for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for PC 3 5 HDD Pro class HDD aluminium silencer anti vibration cage 5 25 bay KONIG. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.ca

 

[keithdmitchell]

Are you looking to add the space to the PC in question or would an enclosure or NAS also be in the cards? I ask, since maybe adding a NAS would be better for you. More readily available storage and quiet.

 

[Leptir]

2.5" drives generally make very little noise. I have a bunch of 4 TB and 5 TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable drives, they are cheap and silent because they come in an USB enclosure. And even if you take then out of the USB enclosure and use them as regular (internal) SATA drives, they are still very, very quiet. Only drawback is they are SMR.

 

[cherry blossoms]

Would NOT recommend external storage drives as a primary usage drive.
They are better suited for light duty and backup purposes (at least if you value your data)

 

[Leptir]

Would NOT recommend external storage drives as a primary usage drive.
They are better suited for light duty and backup purposes (at least if you value your data)

Like I said, you can take them out of their USB enclosure. Inside is a standard Seagate Barracuda 2.5" SATA drive, 4 or 5 TB. I've had 11 of those for years, so far only one has failed. That hardly strikes me as unreliable for hard drives. Admittedly, they are SMR drives and therefore not ideal for every scenario, but they are silent and reliable.

BTW, the reason to go with USB is cost. The Seagate Backup Plus Portable 5 TB is $120. The Barracuda 2.5" 5 TB is $140.. Same drive and the USB enclosure is easy to open.