7200rpm vibration

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Troels · #1 Post by **Troels** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:42 am

Hi,

There's something that i have been wondering that i thought i should ask about - how much hard drive noise is normal?

I have the 7K60 Hitachi drive, and while the laptop is placed on a wooden table top it makes a "hummm" sound, like the slight vibrations are transfered through the feet of the T42 to the table.

No matter where i use it, i can always clearly hear the drive spinning, but that is mostly "whoosh" sounds which are nowhere as bad.

the harddrive fitness test from Hitachi reported no problems, and it runs fine - no clicks, only "spinning drive" noise.

Did any of you encounter this on a T4X with a 7200 rpm drive ? I have searched, but haven't found a solution, it was mostly turning into discussions about whether 7200 rpm drives are noisy or not.

TIA.

raabjerg · #2 Post by **raabjerg** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 1:07 pm

I've tried the 7k60 in both my old T42 and my new T41p.

In both cases, the problems described by you (the vibration and the high-pitch "whoosh"), were dealbreakers for me.

Have just installed a Seagate Momentus 5400.3 drive, which in some tests score as high on performance as the 7k60 even though it's on lower RPM.

I'm very happy with this drive, as it's virtually silent, has much lower heat, and creates no vibration.

In response to your question, from my experience, there is nothing wrong with your drive. 7200RPM drives will simply provide more noise and vibration due to the high rotation speed, and there's nothing to do about it. (My experience is from having tried 2 different 7k60 disks, a Seagate Momentus 7200.1, a 5k40 and a Seagate Momentus 5400.3)

My experience (from placing some of my friends in front of my computer) is also that it is very individual whether or not you are annoyed by these factors. If you can't live with it, get another disk

Troels · #3 Post by **Troels** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:09 pm

Thanks, that's what i was afraid of. It's a good thing that it is not about to break though

The Seagate you mentioned looks like a good drive, and it also scores very well. Will buy that next time, if i need more hdd space.

For the past hour i have been busy modifying the drive tray to be silent. I shut down the laptop, removed the HDD. I used rubber bands on the hdd's sides, before the caddy/tray and the screws. I placed a sheet of foam rubber on the top and bottom of the harddrive. On the bottom, the foam rubber was placed between the harddrive and the metal tray. The vibration is gone, only the sound of rotating platters is left.

brentpresley · #4 Post by **brentpresley** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:23 pm

Go for the newer 7k100.

Hitachi improved these drives SIGNIFICANTLY over the 1st generation 7k60. I have one in my t42 and there are none of the vibration problems mentioned.

Also, the new 7k100 is FASTER, quieter, and cheaper than the Seagate momentus (check out this review: http://www.storagereview.com/articles/2 ... ook_1.html)

w0qj · #5 Post by **w0qj** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:13 am

brentpresley wrote:Go for the newer 7k100.

Hitachi improved these drives SIGNIFICANTLY over the 1st generation 7k60. I have one in my t42 and there are none of the vibration problems mentioned.

Also, the new 7k100 is FASTER, quieter, and cheaper than the Seagate momentus (check out this review: http://www.storagereview.com/articles/2 ... ook_1.html)

***Seagate is 5 years warranty, vs. Hitachi's 3 years.
From my experience, notebook HDD's (being more portable) die at around 3 yrs, so extending to Seagate's 5 yrs would probably bring you benefit.

The Seagate's 7K100 is also very quiet, and only just a little slower than Hitachi's 7K100 (not really noticeable in real life).

And yes, I can also confirm the Hitachi 7K100 has greatly reduced the vibration over the 7K60 on my T42. (Personally I thought the slight vibration of 7K60 on my T42 was acceptable... but i've heard some X-series users complaining--probably their notebook computer was lighter...)

brentpresley · #6 Post by **brentpresley** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:39 am

Yeah, and from MY EXPERIENCE, I have NEVER kept a hard drive 3 years. Much less 5.

In 3 years, no one will care about these drives.

simms · #7 Post by **simms** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:56 pm

brentpresley wrote:Yeah, and from MY EXPERIENCE, I have NEVER kept a hard drive 3 years. Much less 5.

In 3 years, no one will care about these drives.

Although you bought your Hitachi, I think we can all agree that Seagate has better warranty and quieter perforamance.

brentpresley · #8 Post by **brentpresley** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:19 pm

I will agree about the warranty.

But this detailed review disagrees w/ you about the quietness.

http://www.storagereview.com/articles/2 ... ook_1.html

It's is so small, but the Hitachi 7K100 does appear to be quieter.

And FYI, I've owned both the Seagate and Hitachi. I would still stick with the Hitachi. Someone can have my 7k100 when they pry my T42 from my cold, dead hands.

JHEM · #9 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:15 pm

brentpresley wrote:Yeah, and from MY EXPERIENCE, I have NEVER kept a hard drive 3 years. Much less 5.

Yep, I'm averaging right around 18 months for HD upgrades.

With the exception of the hangar queens on my antique row, I don't think I've got any HDs older than ~4 years.

Regards,

James

JHEM · #10 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:21 pm

Troels wrote:No matter where i use it, i can always clearly hear the drive spinning, but that is mostly "whoosh" sounds which are nowhere as bad.

Sure it's not the FAN you hear?

I can't hear the 7K60 in my T40 unless I put my ear to the palmrest, nor can I hear it running in any of the other Thinkpads I have with a 7K60 installed.

The 7K100s in my T41p machines are completely silent and vibration free. But I can distinctly hear the fan right now and it's only idling.

Regards,

James

#11 Post by **draco2527** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:54 pm

Troels wrote:Hi,

No matter where i use it, i can always clearly hear the drive spinning, but that is mostly "whoosh" sounds which are nowhere as bad.

Did any of you encounter this on a T4X with a 7200 rpm drive ? I have searched, but haven't found a solution, it was mostly turning into discussions about whether 7200 rpm drives are noisy or not.

TIA.

I have that on the T42p, NO ISSUES with HD noise! The FAN makes more noise then the HD!!

ONE problem I did encounter, is HEAT BUILDUP, the PALM REST gets warm (right hand side). Nothing like a D600 (Dell) with a standard 5K HD (this thing get HOT) but it is just as annoying on the ThinkPad as it is on the Dell, even if the temperature is not as extreme! I am considering a 5400RPM HD, due to this issue.

Look for this on your TP:

If you pull the HD out, on the inside of the palmrest (top) there is a black circle of black foam make sure this is installed in your palm rest. I think this is a DUAL purpose item! It helps in removing the heat from the HD as well as LOWERING vibrations!!! Maybe you are missing it, that is why you are having the vibration problem.....

#12 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:57 pm

Got the 7k60 in both my machines and can't hear anything, like mentioned before the fan is louder when it does turn on.

Troels · #13 Post by **Troels** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:57 pm

JHEM, No, the fan is very silent - the HDD is still the louder part. Insulating it eliminated much of this noise slight vibration. I'm in a dead silent room, so i hear anything that happens here, so maybe i'm just really over reacting

Draco, Never noticed that... will check tomorrow to see if the foam is in place.

These are the kind of replies which somewhere tells me that something is wrong - i.e. fan is louder... oh well, if it fails, it fails. I'll probably buy something slightly larger at that point. 80 gig is the sweet spot imo

thx for the link to the very in-depth review, Brentpresley, didn't know storagereview.. but they have been around for long now it seems.

JHEM · #14 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:18 pm

Troels wrote:JHEM, No, the fan is very silent - the HDD is still the louder part. Insulating it eliminated much of this noise slight vibration. I'm in a dead silent room, so i hear anything that happens here, so maybe i'm just really over reacting

Which therefore begs the question, why not turn it OFF!

Set it to go to sleep in 5 minutes or whatever you're comfortable with.

Regards,

James

raabjerg · #15 Post by **raabjerg** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:20 pm

I still believe some of us are more sensitive to the high-pitch noise the 7k60 emits, than others. Maybe it's an age-issue?

(i.e. the younger ones of us might better hear the higher-pitch sound ranges - of course, I could be wrong)

I agree with Troels - the sound is definately there, if you are sensitive to it. (as is a similar sound on the Seagates Momentus 7200.1. Haven't tried the 7k100 - yet)

If you're really troubled by noises from your computer, you might find some useful reviews at www.silentpcreview.com - it helped point me in the right direction.

lithium726 · #16 Post by **lithium726** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:36 pm

my 7k60 bugs me when im an absolutly silent room... since that rarely happens, it doesnt bother me much. i dont have vibrations, i can just hear a slight high pitched whine (which i ABHOR) and whoosh of platters when the room is silent.

i'm 19...

w0qj · #17 Post by **w0qj** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:47 pm

You can put your older (smaller) HDD's into external USB casing for:

1. data backkup
2. Move your Thinkpad Rescue & Recovery image(s) onto your external USB HDD to save space on your notebook's HDD (note: this process will format your external USB HDD).

In fact, I have a 20 GB notebook HDD dedicated for above (2) purpose, with 3 R&R images for good measure.

Jiro · #18 Post by **Jiro** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:16 am

Well I used to have a Toshiba 4200 rpm 60 gig drive, and that was super quiet... I just upgraded to a seagate momentus 7200.1 80gig after my old one died and man everything loads fast. Though I can't make a very helpful comparason with sound with both my drives I can say its really really fast like as fast as my desktop fast... and there is a hum but Im not bothered by it and my ears are very sensitive.

thinkie · #19 Post by **thinkie** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:28 pm

Currently have a 60Gb 7200rpm Hitachi HTS726060N9AT00 in my i1400; it is completely silent. The previous drive was a 30Gb Hitachi, which was audible, but much quieter than the factory 6Gb, which had a nasty whine.

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