Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

In my efforts to make quieter PCs (and daily drivers out of SGIs) the most common enemy is fan noise (the O2 has the loudest 170w PSU fan in the world). That's fairly simple to mitigate. Just replace the aging fans with newer more modern ones. Replace aluminum heatsinks with copper ones and use real thermal grease instead instead of the basic ceramic crap SGI uses so you can use lower RPM fans. Maybe put in some acoustic padding.

Harddrives are the next major enemy to combat. I haven't yet come across a SCSI harddrive that wasn't noisy as all-get-out. I want to use SCSI->IDE converters so I can use quiet laptop drives, but I'm just not confident in the converters. I'd much rather use SCSI drives that are relatively quiet. Can anyone recommend any?

My fujitsu 73GB 10k u160 80-pin drives are quite quiet. When you're doing a lot of disk thrashing they can be noisy because of the head jumping all over but other than that they're no louder than my 7200rpm sata/ide drives.

I have a pair of 15k 146GB Seagates in my main workstation that are only slightly louder than the nearly silent 750GB 7200RPM disk that's being used as a storage tank. The only catch is, they're sorta expensive - I got lucky and got a steal on eBay, which doesn't pop up all that often.

Cheetah, 15 kRPM. Quietest drive I've ever heard, or did not hear in fact

p.s. This buy was also a steal. Got it for equiv. of 20$, and normally they sell for around 150$

Arabski wrote: Cheetah, 15 kRPM. Quietest drive I've ever heard, or did not hear in fact

Confirmed, but use the 15K.3 or newer. Those are the ones with the quiet FD bearings.

I forgot I got a photo It's even newer...

I'll confirm that. I've two SAS 15k5 Seagate Cheetah, they're almost silent. They make an SCA version, you check it.

I will also look for a quieter drive, because I sit next to my Fuel all day, and my head starts to spin half way through the day. Speaking of this, though, you mention SCSI->IDE converters; where the heck can these be found?!? I've been looking for a long time, as I would like to finally be able to install a nice DVD/CDRW drive in my Fuel.

You can find them on ebay, but they aren't cheap, and they aren't guaranteed to work correctly in an SGI. Otherwise I'd certainly go for a super-quiet IDE drive for my system.

I've got a compaq 251872-001 15k 18g drive in my octane and a second as a spare. Not the quietest drives out there but barely audible over the fan, which I suppose is about the same noise level as a pc. So not too bad.

nekobean wrote: I will also look for a quieter drive, because I sit next to my Fuel all day, and my head starts to spin half way through the day.

Between the power supply and the drives, the best investment might be a good set of noise canceling headphones! I love my Fuel, but it is definitely not a quiet box.

josehill wrote: I love my Fuel, but it is definitely not a quiet box.

I can barely hear mine over the tinnitus ... silver cloud ?

The quantum atlas 10KII in my onyx is by far the loudest part of the system.

It makes a quite pleasurable vvvveeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE when it spins up. Take a dremel tool and put a slightly off-balance bit on and crank that up to full speed. That's what the quantum atlas sounds like.

I'm not too fond of the Atlas series either. We used to have Quantum Atlas disks at work -- they all died and were replaced within warranty, many of them more than once. I had a Maxtor Atlas in my O2 -- too noisy. I bought it new, btw.

IMHO the biggest problem with most UW SCSI drives is that by now they're all at least 5 years old. A 5 year old disk that was used occasionally may be fine, but one that has been spinning in an array for 5 years: forget it. Bearings wear out and get noisy.

The FD bearings are more quiet and more durable, so I feel more confident to buy them second hand.

Quantum disk is always loud - Quantum Fireballs were the standard for low-end workstations with SCSI for years, and they're some of the most notoriously obnoxious drives ever manufactured. I'd go with a new Seagate - they're quite quiet. Pretty much the newer the drive is the quieter it will be, with a few exceptions.

Loud you say? Check this out:



This is one loudest bastard I've ever heard. It whines so bad, and so high that I can't stand it for more than 5 minutes (and I'm quite used to any computer generated noise). Maybe it's worn out so badly, or just maybe it's a family matter

Arabski wrote: Loud you say? Check this out:

Ahh yes, the ST32171N. I had one in my Indy. All noise generating machines in the room bowed before its might.

directedition wrote: Ahh yes, the ST32171N. I had one in my Indy. All noise generating machines in the room bowed before its might.

And don't forget Seagate Hawks, almost like good old JT8D

Fujitsu MAM3367MC 36GB 15K U160 80pin
Fujitsu MAP3367NC 36GB SCSI Ultra320

Are these drives quiet? I'm looking for a quiet drive for my I2. I've already found a Seagate Cheetah 15K.4 36GB but it's too expensive

Indyboy wrote: Fujitsu MAM3367MC 36GB 15K U160 80pin
Fujitsu MAP3367NC 36GB SCSI Ultra320

Are these drives quiet? I'm looking for a quiet drive for my I2. I've already found a Seagate Cheetah 15K.4 36GB but it's too expensive

Make sure the MAP3367NC U320 will work on a narrow bus - many disks will, but the U320 standard doesn't require it. Looks like it might not -

8-bit data bus is available only with NP model