The quitest Notebook harddrives available....

[meditate2001]

I really dont want to have noise out of my notebook, so I tried out every harddisc in the 60bg area. (not the 7200upm versions, coz they are too loud anyway)
My results were that there were only 2 drives where the sound is so quit that it is acceptable.(which means nearly not hearable from a 30cm distance) All the others were MUCH too loud for me.
So if you wannt to have a quit drive get one of these:

Fujitsu MHT2060AT - 60GB - 4200UPM - The quitest.
Samsung MP0602H - 60GB - 5400UPM - a bit louder than the fujitsu, but also 5400 upm.

Both are also available in 40GB versions which should be probably also a bit quiter...

[jdhurst]

I have two Hitachi Travelstars (because one failed over the AirBag issue and I needed another before Hitachi replaced the first). I have the second hard drive in my T41, and I rarely hear it, even at night. I installed the replacement drive to image it and prepare for SP2. It is extremely quiet. The original drive that failed (long gone) was also very quiet. So I have had three (still have two) and they have all been quiet to the point of being unnoticeable.

So if you don't wish to use them, fine. But I think your statement that "they are too loud anyway" is a sweeping generalization that is not altogether true. Many of us here use and swear by the 7200-rpm drive (because they are so fast).

I had the Fujitsu 30Gb 4200-rpm drive in the T41 when I purchased it, and indeed it, too, is silky smooth and quiet. Just too slow for me.

... JDHurst

[awolfe63]

the 80GB 5400 RPM that came with my T42 is dead silent. My previous 60GB 5400RMP on my T23 was annoyying as can be - so things have gotten much better.

[ll357355]

MY 7200RPM Hitachi drive is very quiet on my t41....
don't know where u heard that they are loud..

[meditate2001]

Of course loudness is kind of subjective. And i dont want to generalize, i just tried all and the 2 of them are with distance the quitest. Also I compared the results with the datasheets of all drives and it was matching, the 2 drives i mentioned also were the quitest on the datasheets.
So the only thing I say is that these drives are the quitest. If xy hasnt problems with their drive, fine. But I use the t40 in a very quit environment and i DEF. hear the differences.

And of course the 7200rpm drives ARE faster, but also louder. so if you are cool with the noise, or are in a noisy environment go for a 7200rpm coz it makes everything faster.

Unfortunatly the case of the t4x is not so noise-resident as it were on the T2x -series.