Hitachi 7K250, If someone doesn't mind...

S

SuperG

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Messages
198
Hi all,

I would like to make a little request. Could anyone who has this drive, record the "whining/meowing" sound that I keep reading about. If you could, record it from outside the case. Also, someone who has 2+ case fans running at the same time with that noise would be great. Basically, since my computer is on 24/7 and I sleep near it, I want to really get an idea of how loud it is, before I purchase it. I would really appreciate it, thanks.

SuperG
 
I had the previous version of the drive, the 180GXP. It made a horrible whining/churning noise every now and then like a dying animal that can't shut up. Access was also terribly loud. Idle whine was minimum.

I have my case filled with Panaflo L1A's at 5-7v.... and liquid cooling. Very quiet.

Anyway, I have since switched over to the seagate 7200.7 sata drives, and I don't perceive any performance loss. In fact, it seems to be slightly zippier loading BF1942 and starting windows. It also has negligible idle noise, and a noticeable, but tolerable, seek noise.
 
Originally posted by kleptophobiac
I had the previous version of the drive, the 180GXP. It made a horrible whining/churning noise every now and then like a dying animal that can't shut up. Access was also terribly loud. Idle whine was minimum.

I have my case filled with Panaflo L1A's at 5-7v.... and liquid cooling. Very quiet.

Anyway, I have since switched over to the seagate 7200.7 sata drives, and I don't perceive any performance loss. In fact, it seems to be slightly zippier loading BF1942 and starting windows. It also has negligible idle noise, and a noticeable, but tolerable, seek noise.
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Isn't the Segate 7200.7 only SATA? I was actually going to get the Hitachi 7K250 IDE (parallel) ATA.



Can anyone please help me out here with the noise recording? Thanks.

SuperG
 
unfortunately, I have moved the drive where it would be very difficult to record.

Image two uneven pieces of metal rubbing together, with uneven volume. The most annoying sound ever. I even RMAed the drive twice, and then concluded it was a characteristic of the model.

I haven't heard of similar complaints over the 7K250, so you'd probably be all right.
 
I've got two of the 7200.7's, one PATA, the other SATA. They perform much better than my older Barracudas and are still dead silent at all times. The 7K250 is a great drive but if noise bothers you then you may want to look into the 7200.7's.
 
Good luck on getting your recording... but it won't work. It's just not possible to get an accurate depiction of what you're looking for in a recording.

Maybe this will help

41dB/A @ 18mm is pretty good, but according to this, seek noise is a bit louder than the competition.

I'd get the drive anyway :cool:
 
Originally posted by Benny Blanco
Good luck on getting your recording... but it won't work. It's just not possible to get an accurate depiction of what you're looking for in a recording.

Maybe this will help

41dB/A @ 18mm is pretty good, but according to this, seek noise is a bit louder than the competition.

I'd get the drive anyway :cool:
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Yeah I read the articles on storagereview. The 41dB is not bad at all, BUT that is for IDLE noise, which is just the constant value. I heard this meowing noise thing comes once every 10 or so mins. I mean that could be 56dB (arbitrary number) or whatever.
 
Originally posted by SuperG
Yeah I read the articles on storagereview. The 41dB is not bad at all, BUT that is for IDLE noise, which is just the constant value. I heard this meowing noise thing comes once every 10 or so mins. I mean that could be 56dB (arbitrary number) or whatever.
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well.. mine doesn't come every ten minutes or so. It seems a ton more random than that.

When it was in my main box, it was loud enough to wake me up.
 
I'm just going to quote what I posted in another thread. I think it would be difficult to record an accurate representation of the sound, at least in my case.


This has been commented on a couple of times recently, but as the search is fubared I don't remember what threads it was in...

Anyway, I've got 2 of the Hitachi's in my box. They are easily the quietest and fastest drives I've owned yet. When the drives are idle I can barely tell they are running. The 'meow' maintenance noise occurs roughly every 10 minutes. My box is a P4 3.2 Dell server that I got when they had their super deals going on; typical of most Dell's it is extremely quiet. I can hear the 'meow' sound if I'm right next to the case, but imo it is nothing compared to the sound of the case fans. I myself do not find it objectionable in any way, and I really don't understand all the fuss about it.

The Hitachi is probably the top performing 7200 drive atm. As such, I would consider it a performance part. Given that enthusiasts have been known to subject themselves to nearly painful decibels of Delta fans and the like in the name of performance, in my view the 'meow' sound is a non-issue because it is exceptionally quiet for the performance it offers. If you would even consider a Raptor in your box and would be willing to have that noise, then imo you should be more than satisfied with the Hitachi.

Now if you're going the silent pc route, yes you will hear the noise (barely). But that is another niche, and I understand the Samsung is supposed to be marginally quieter. Still, I think the Hitachi could be a good candidate here as well.
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Man, how is it possible that half the people say the noise is nothing, and I should definately get it, while others say it is soo loud that it wakes them up and that they can hear it down the hall. Am I missing something? That is a large range their. Weird.

SuperG
 
Originally posted by SuperG
Man, how is it possible that half the people say the noise is nothing, and I should definately get it, while others say it is soo loud that it wakes them up and that they can hear it down the hall. Am I missing something? That is a large range their. Weird.

SuperG
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Some people are more tolerant to noise than others. For example: some people have 8+ case fans and a huge HSF and are not bothered, while others spend countless amounts of time building the quietest PC possible (silentpcreview.com).

It just depends on the person. Get one, if it bothers you, then sell it on here.
 
I might have to pull it out of the rack and do that...

I think mine may be a particularly bad case though. This is not my original drive, and I could've sworn the first one meowed much less viciously.

Except for the god damn meow noise, it has been a wonderful drive.

I'd suggest you get one from the egg, see if it works out for you, and return it if something goes awry.
 
Originally posted by kleptophobiac
I might have to pull it out of the rack and do that...

I think mine may be a particularly bad case though. This is not my original drive, and I could've sworn the first one meowed much less viciously.
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The sound out of the rack would demonstrate the type of noise, but I think a recording of the sound with the drive mounted in the case would be more realistic of actual use.

Of course, the case plays a part as well; a cheap steel case might actually resonate and increase the percieved volume of the meow, while a higher quality case might serve to dampen the sound. For all their faults, Dell actually makes some good cases from a noise pov. The Dell server box I'm using is very quiet with this drive.

I'll try to make some recordings as well. I'll do 6", 6' and 12'. Unfortunately, my mics are over at our bands jam room in another town, so I can't get to it until Monday. On the upside, I've got some good high quality Sennheiser mics and my EgoSys WaveTerminal 2496 audio card has high quality 24bit adc's, so I'm optimistic that it should be a good recording.
 
Also, I still stand by my opinion that the 7K250 is a high performance part. Although it is very quiet imo, if are more concerned about noise, you should probably be looking at another drive like the Samsung.
 
Yes, that's the sound.

I think the problem is putting the level of the sound in perspective. In my case (pun intended) I would have to stick my head inside the case right next to the drive to have the sound be as upfront as that sound clip. If adjust the volume of that clip so that the background noise of the fans is just below being heard, the level of the drive sound is almost what it sounds like when I'm sitting at my desk. Depending on the level you play that clip back, I could also say that the fan noise rivals a vacuuum cleaner in your room.

I am thinking that the case makes a big difference... perhaps I'm just lucky and my case is containing the noise better than most?
 
that's definitely the sound, but mine is louder.

Quality case?

It was mounted in my main rig (Antec SX835II) using elastic bands and aluminum plates. Now it is in an old Antec AT rackmount. Both cases weigh ~20 pounds empty.
 
I have to concede that there must be something to all this for so many people to have such strong opinions on the subject.

FWIW I'll post my recordings Mon for comparison purposes.

I don't want to come across as pimping the 7K250's. They work well for me, and honestly I didn't think the sound was that bad in my setup. I'm not a fanboy of any manufacturer, I purchase the parts that fit my needs/budget. I have no loyalty to Amd, Intel, Ati, Nvidia or anyone else; I'm just a consumer.
 
Originally posted by ullyeus
wow........


that sounds bad
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now imagine it loud enough to wake you up at night.

Mine seemed to be louder than my pump, even when it was hard mounted to the case.
 
One of my old 36LZX's makes a sound similar to it, though higher pitched and much shorter in duration (~800ms). Never has bothered me.
 
That's the sound but mine is a bit less "whiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" ... more like "whuuuuuuuuu" ...

You really need a very silent system to hear that ...
 
whoa... what happened to make him go poof? I don't see anything wrong with the sound he posted. Sounds just like mine, but quieter.
 
i wonder why some guys are making the sound of the 7k250 very terrible, maybe they have really bad product? maybe they have super ears?

however i have dell 4600 with wd360 and 7k250 and the sound of the raptor when seeks bothers more than the meow of the 7k250, but i can handle both because of their speed and i am not sensetive to the voices the computer makes and for me the sound of the fan bother me more than the hard disks sound, so if anybody knows he can not handle the voice of the fans or hard disk seeking and get angry he should not buy any raptor or 7k250 but if you can handle it and want performance then go for it.
 
wow.... puncuation is nice.

anyway, I'm rather noise sensitive, but I honestly shouldn't be able to hear it down the hall. The fact that my comp is under my desk has a "sound board" around it probably doesn't help.
 
I read on another forum that people with 7K250 drives manufactured starting Jan. 2004 (with firmware V330A60A) have NOT heard the whinning/meowing noise. Can anyone confirm this? If that is true, then it changes everything. Then I will for sure get this drive. So if anyone out there has a drive manuf. on or after Jan. 2004 please let us know if your drive does or does not make the noise in question. Thanks.

SuperG
 
Originally posted by SuperG
I read on another forum that people with 7K250 drives manufactured starting Jan. 2004 (with firmware V330A60A) have NOT heard the whinning/meowing noise. Can anyone confirm this? If that is true, then it changes everything. Then I will for sure get this drive. So if anyone out there has a drive manuf. on or after Jan. 2004 please let us know if your drive does or does not make the noise in question. Thanks.

SuperG
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Hmmm ... dunno bout the firmware but i have 4 * 160GB SATA drives in my RAID5 ... all built JAN/2004 - i'll check if that sound is still there tomorrow ...

*goestobed*
 
I don't know what to tell you, but I have two 7K250's (both purchased before Jan), and I've never heard the sound. My computer is right next to my bed on the floor, and I sometimes leave the case open.

Edit: The second 7K250 was purchased from Newegg on Jan 7, but I doubt it is a new model.
 
Originally posted by VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVI
I don't know what to tell you, but I have two 7K250's (both purchased before Jan), and I've never heard the sound. My computer is right next to my bed on the floor, and I sometimes leave the case open.

Edit: The second 7K250 was purchased from Newegg on Jan 7, but I doubt it is a new model.
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Maybe it has to do with the firmware? I don't know. Could you tell us what firmware you have on both the drives? Thanks

SuperG
 
I had the Server running for bout an hour and didn't notice anything ... but i didn't really try to ...

The RAID5 comp isn't finisched yet so it'll be mostly offline till my second SLK800 is here (Dually AMD)
 
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