can you hear your harddisk in idle mode?

[_naldo_]

Hi!

After years of using C64, switching to Amiga, switching to Linux X86 -- i am finaly going to switch to mac. In fact i am going to buy an ibook 12" or an 15" powerbook.

Last week i already bought an ibook 1Ghz 12" ibook with 60Gb Harddisk for my girlfriend. Indeed a nice machine!! There was only one thing that i didn't like that much: The noise of the harddisk.

When the harddisk is in idle mode (no head movements) i am able to hear it (it is not that loud -- but i would prefer an absolutely quiet notebook).

So my question is:
Is the harddisk in the 1.33 Ghz Powerbook (60 GB) the same type as in the ibook ?
Will i also hear the drive spinning in the Powerbook ?

Maybe i am wrong, but i read in an article, that the smaller HDs in ibooks are more quiet than the 60 GB HD. However i think that i will need at least 60 GB.

Anyone out there with a 1.33 Ghz Powerbook (60 GB)??

regards,
naldo

 

[IJ Reilly]

No, but I'm not bothered at all by the sound level of the 30gb drive in my 12" PB and it's hard to image that the larger capacity drives could generate much more sound. You can always set the drive to spin down whenever possible in the Energy Saver control panel. Also, the sound of the fan, when it kicks in, is going to be much louder than any drive mechanism.

 

[_naldo_]

No, but I'm not bothered at all by the sound level of the 30gb drive in my 12" PB and it's hard to image that the larger capacity drives could generate much more sound. You can always set the drive to spin down whenever possible in the Energy Saver control panel. Also, the sound of the fan, when it kicks in, is going to be much louder than any drive mechanism.

Thanks for your reply. I think the larger drive can generate more sound -- maybe it is from a different manufacturer.

Spinning the drive down is not that helpfull i think. Since you will have long waiting times when it has to spin up again. I heard to often spin up and down is also not good for the drive.

Untill now the fan in the ibook didn't kick in - so i don't know how loud it is.