Was thinking about doing this over the weekend (hard drive is the most noticeable part of my machine at the moment), but I can't find any decent guides on how to do it. Anyone know of any guides (or have first-hand experience)?
Soft mounting a hard drive?
- Thread starter Tim Murray
- Start date
Totally off base. I want to suspend the drive within the case (using bungee cords? not sure--it's why I need help) to reduce vibration from the drive.Bludd said:
Suspending sounds a bit dangerous to me, I've never actually heard of such a method expect in computer horror stories where people have done it in their Dell's etc with duct tape.
If I'm going for silence I usually go with rubber mounts or a case that has them already, or look into a good 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 converter that includes noise dampening materials.
If I'm going for silence I usually go with rubber mounts or a case that has them already, or look into a good 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 converter that includes noise dampening materials.
I've heard of it done with short bungie cords, two criss-crossed above and below the drive.
Works well if you can find short enough bungies, or else if you have enough room/clever to figure out how to weave a longer one to support it.
Works well if you can find short enough bungies, or else if you have enough room/clever to figure out how to weave a longer one to support it.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
Check out the Antec P150 case. It comes with softmount drive bays where the drive is suspended in a sort of heavy elastic cradle. I don't know if you can get the mounts separately.
If you are interested on sofmounting your drives, i suggest searching in http://www.silentpcreview.com. There're lot of pics and a bunch of guides about silencing your system. I have my harddrive suspended, and it makes a lot of difference. And it's not dangerous, if you do it right.
[URL=http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suspension2sa.jpg]
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Here it's a pic of my system.
[URL=http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suspension2sa.jpg]
[/URL]Here it's a pic of my system.
Yeah SPCR is the place you want to go. Folks over there use all sorts of stuff, including knicker elastic, etc.
In my old rig I used some rubber cord, the same sort of stuff used to make O-ring seals for pipes, etc. (just don't let the temperature fall below zero
). It's pretty easy to work with, just cut with a craft knife and glue into hoops with superglue. I forget the name of the rubber, it's the same used to make wellie boots I think.
I've got a P150 now, so don't have to deal with home-grown solutions.
In my old rig I used some rubber cord, the same sort of stuff used to make O-ring seals for pipes, etc. (just don't let the temperature fall below zero
). It's pretty easy to work with, just cut with a craft knife and glue into hoops with superglue. I forget the name of the rubber, it's the same used to make wellie boots I think.I've got a P150 now, so don't have to deal with home-grown solutions.
I wouldn't use anything where there is still a rigid metal<=>metal coupling between the drive and the case. Waste of time if you really want noise reduction, though of course you need to be careful with drive temps etc as heat won't be transferred away from the drive as effectively.
The rubber band suspensions are probably the way to go for the best results. I've got my Raptor in a pair of these and it pretty much kills the seek noise altogether. I've also got a Molex SilentDrive, which does a similar job but gets frighteningly hot.
If it's the spindle whine which is bothering you then you are better off with an enclosure or some kind of acoustic treatment.
The rubber band suspensions are probably the way to go for the best results. I've got my Raptor in a pair of these and it pretty much kills the seek noise altogether. I've also got a Molex SilentDrive, which does a similar job but gets frighteningly hot.
If it's the spindle whine which is bothering you then you are better off with an enclosure or some kind of acoustic treatment.
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mjtdevries
Newcomer
Do you really want to mess around with diy solutions?
Antec's solution works very well, and their cases aren't all that expensive.
(I have the Sonata)
Antec's solution works very well, and their cases aren't all that expensive.
(I have the Sonata)
Hector said:
Yep, washers won't help much at all. It's either grommets or suspension although there have been some issues with overheating and grounding with the suspension approach. I was shopping around for cases recently and the Antec P180 would've been perfect if I was sure my PSU cable could reach the motherboard connector.
digi's suggestion is what I'd suggest first. Bungee suspension seems ideal with laptop drives in desktop cases, anyway, as you can suspend a 2.5" HD in a standard 3.5" bay. Suspending a 3.5" HD probably requires more space (5.25" bay?) or thought. Anyway, these two SPCR articles are probably most relevant: 1, 2. (You can see the range of homemade HD vibration suppression at SPCR, from foam to metal to the Magic Eraser and now to elastic suspension and rubber mounts in the rest of their early articles.)
Or, just get a case with rubber mounts, like one of the newer Antecs (the P150's swish in this dept).
Or just buy a quieter, smoother HD. SPCR's reviews include vibration estimates in addition to sound measurements. Apparently the new 500GB WD isn't bad, though laptop HDs reign supreme in the first category.
I've bought some bungees but haven't gotten around to trying them yet. Only experience I've had with HD decoupling was prompted by my noisy, older WD 800JB. I screwed it to a couple of 3.5->5.25" drive rails (to aid in heat dissipation) and then just rested it on some random erasers I had lying around (two square, soft art erasers that I halved to put on each corner). I'm not sure if it's still recommended (as in, if it's been proven to be nec'y), but I also ran a wire from the HD to the case for extra grounding, as it's no longer screwed into the case. I was surprised by the reduction idle whine. (I bought another 800JB a year later, and the new one was much quieter--so much so that I didn't bother with decoupling. The old one is in an external enclosure, used only for backup. It's even whinier up on the desk, but it's not on often enough to care.)
(Edit: This was composed a while ago and sat until now, so quite a few have already mentioned SPCR, etc.)
Or, just get a case with rubber mounts, like one of the newer Antecs (the P150's swish in this dept).
Or just buy a quieter, smoother HD.
SPCR's reviews include vibration estimates in addition to sound measurements. Apparently the new 500GB WD isn't bad, though laptop HDs reign supreme in the first category.I've bought some bungees but haven't gotten around to trying them yet. Only experience I've had with HD decoupling was prompted by my noisy, older WD 800JB. I screwed it to a couple of 3.5->5.25" drive rails (to aid in heat dissipation) and then just rested it on some random erasers I had lying around (two square, soft art erasers that I halved to put on each corner). I'm not sure if it's still recommended (as in, if it's been proven to be nec'y), but I also ran a wire from the HD to the case for extra grounding, as it's no longer screwed into the case. I was surprised by the reduction idle whine. (I bought another 800JB a year later, and the new one was much quieter--so much so that I didn't bother with decoupling. The old one is in an external enclosure, used only for backup. It's even whinier up on the desk, but it's not on often enough to care.)
(Edit: This was composed a while ago and sat until now, so quite a few have already mentioned SPCR, etc.)
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IIRC Basic did that (rubber suspension) some time ago. there is a thread somewhere with pics.
The idea is get a less vibration and more silence.
edit: found Basic page here http://hem.passagen.se/basic3/fora/beyond3d/cooling2.htm
The idea is get a less vibration and more silence.
edit: found Basic page here http://hem.passagen.se/basic3/fora/beyond3d/cooling2.htm
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