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A Silent Thunderbolt HDD...does it exist?

iMcLovin

iMcLovin

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 11, 2009
1,963
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I have a 2big 6tb Lacie HDD. It´s the last time I´ll buy a Lacie product ever again. They are expensive and usually not so good. My previous HDD d2 broke by a small tip to the side. My 2big thunderbolt drive has a loud noisy fan. I hate that my external drive makes so much noise that I don´t benefit anything from the Silence of my new iMac. I´ll gladly toss my 2big in the bin and buy a new HDD - Sadly none of those few thunderbolt HDD´s that exists give any info of fan and sound.
Does anyone here have any experience or know a good thunderbolt HDD that is silent ? I can´t buy a SSD, its not enough storage, so it needs to be a regular HDD.
 
iMcLovin said:
I have a 2big 6tb Lacie HDD. It´s the last time I´ll buy a Lacie product ever again. They are expensive and usually not so good. My previous HDD d2 broke by a small tip to the side. My 2big thunderbolt drive has a loud noisy fan. I hate that my external drive makes so much noise that I don´t benefit anything from the Silence of my new iMac. I´ll gladly toss my 2big in the bin and buy a new HDD - Sadly none of those few thunderbolt HDD´s that exists give any info of fan and sound.
Does anyone here have any experience or know a good thunderbolt HDD that is silent ? I can´t buy a SSD, its not enough storage, so it needs to be a regular HDD.
Click to expand...

2tb passports for max storage/quietness. True silence is only from ssds like you said, but personally the spinup lag you get from all mech drives is the main annoyance.
 
Another option, Thunderbolt cables are available in pretty long sizes - put the external HDD in a different room or in a closet.
 
FreakinEurekan said:
Another option, Thunderbolt cables are available in pretty long sizes - put the external HDD in a different room or in a closet.
Click to expand...

authentic thunderbolt cables are 2 meters. not sure how you plan on putting the other end in a different room or closet.
 
Outrigger said:
authentic thunderbolt cables are 2 meters. not sure how you plan on putting the other end in a different room or closet.
Click to expand...

I believe optical cables exist and can be run very long distances. I've seen them in demos. I'm not sure where they can be purchased.


Of course... they must be run to a self powered device.

/Jim
 
Sadly either ssd or a long cable would work so great for me. Anyone owning a thunderbolt western digital studio II ? Are those silent? I don't care if they are slower than the 2big.
 
flynz4 said:
I believe optical cables exist and can be run very long distances. I've seen them in demos. I'm not sure where they can be purchased.


Of course... they must be run to a self powered device.

/Jim
Click to expand...

They're currently being developed but cannot be purchased.
 
Outrigger said:
authentic thunderbolt cables are 2 meters. not sure how you plan on putting the other end in a different room or closet.
Click to expand...

Not very useful in terms of running a cable from another room, but I just got a 3m (not quite 10 ft) cable made by Kanex. I think that's the longest one currently available.
 
The only thing the wife and I hear from our LaCie 2Big 6TB units is a click of the relays when we wake them up in the morning.
 
MCAsan said:
The only thing the wife and I hear from our LaCie 2Big 6TB units is a click of the relays when we wake them up in the morning.
Click to expand...

It happens all the time for me.
Man I would throw this HDD in the bin if I only knew there was a SILENT thunderbolt hdd I could replace it with. It cant be a SSD, I can never get a about 4-6 tb SSD thunderbolt HDD that would cost more than my iMac :D
 
A Silent Thunderbolt HDD...does it exist?

Replacing the fan won't help I think. The LaCie 2big has a small fan, I guess there not room for any more than that... If not it would be silly of LaCie not adding a larger more silent fan.

I find it very strange no one is selling a nearly silent thunderbolt hdd ?!? What about USB 3 hdd's? There should be more options here? Though I would find it sad not using the thunderbolt when I got a plug for it and its suppose to be better than USB 3.

Does anyone have the western digital my book studio II. With thunderbolt ? Any good experiences here?
Or the G-Tech G-Raid Thunderbolt ? I would love to know the noise difference between these and the 2big.

A long thunderbolt cable through the house isn't an option either.

I really hope LaCie gets some sort of trouble for selling their crap stuff. It's all suppose to be top grade, with good design. But my 2big hdd makes both fan noises and the hdd itself makes stupid noises all the time, like if its getting electrocuted ( and its not faulty, I read its normal) every LaCie product I've owned is crap - ill never buy anything from them ever again.
 
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I am right there with you on sound. I just want a dB rating at 3 feet.

I have a place under my desk I can use that will shield me from the sound. I also want a dependable external drive system that will last.
 
A quiet JBOD Thunderbolt solution is what I require also for my late 2011 MBP desktop setup.

Still waiting for the Caldigit T2 and T3 to become available to see how they fair on price, reliability and quietness. What a farce that seems to be :roll eyes:
 
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d0nK said:
A quiet JBOD Thunderbolt solution is what I require also for my late 2011 MBP desktop setup.

Still waiting for the Caldigit T2 and T3 to become available to see how they fair on price, reliability and quietness. What a farce that seems to be :roll eyes:
Click to expand...

Wow they claim 16dB on T3, I'm sold. Gonna wait for that one.
 
Hadn't seen this one before...
I would buy a T3 (no drives) today if I could!

To OP -- apple store has various 1TB bus powered TB and USB3 spinning drives. 14day return. You could try a few out. Past that you need to research 2.5" drives for some dB rating and then maybe put one in a bus powered case.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1232-page6.html
 
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iMcLovin said:
It happens all the time for me.
Man I would throw this HDD in the bin if I only knew there was a SILENT thunderbolt hdd I could replace it with. It cant be a SSD, I can never get a about 4-6 tb SSD thunderbolt HDD that would cost more than my iMac :D
Click to expand...

IF the relays are clicking all the time....the unit needs to be replaced by LaCie. The drives are probably fine, it is the controller board that has a problem.
 
Rumour is that the T3 is coming at the end of this month, but I don't hold any hope up for that if past experience of their predicted release dates are anything to go by. Still... it would be good.

Why are Thunderbolt drives still so sparse?

I have a late 2011 MBP with TB and USB2.
I also use an external display on the TB so need to daisy chain and require backup.
ATM I use 5 drives in my hackintosh over ethernet just for backup, archives, windows xp/98 (for old software for very old music gear, etc), extra space as well as the SSD+1TB HD in my MBP.

This T3 can't come soon enough.
Hope it's not as expensive as the Promise products here in the UK.
I also hope that it's reliable and quiet.
 
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I have the WD Thundorbolt Duo drive(s) They are as silent as mech drives get. Almost no platter noise. Still its audiable when the surroundings is really quiet.

But unless you go SSD i don't think you can get around that.
 
I use a Promise Technology Pegasus J4 Thunderbolt enclosure which holds 4 HGST 1TB 7200rpm 2.5" hard disks with my SSD iMac. It is so quiet I can't hear it ... and the drives can be configured with Disk Utility however you wish. It achieves SSD speeds if configured as a 4TB RAID-0 system. I have been quite pleased with it so far. Note: it does require a driver which precludes using it as the "boot" device.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/903081-REG/Promise_Technology_Pegasus_J4_Thunderbolt_SSD.html

903081.jpg
 
bkar89 said:
I have the WD Thundorbolt Duo drive(s) They are as silent as mech drives get. Almost no platter noise. Still its audiable when the surroundings is really quiet.

But unless you go SSD i don't think you can get around that.
Click to expand...

portable mech drives are still quieter, but the 3.5" definitely has the higher bang for the buck
 
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