loud hard drive needs to go!

[jesse_132]

I have an ibook G3 (dual usb) with a 10GB hd. I bought my first apple because it was quieter than any other laptop I could find.

fast forward 2 years, it is louder than my desktop! I need to replace it, but apple.com and macwarehouse.com both have no idea what ot get.

Most important is that it is quiet. I don't really care how big it is (at least 10GB, but hey, that is pretty standard). Money is an issue, but they way it is right now I cannot stand to use it... I end up using my old dell laptop which is a piece of crap, but quieter (I don't know how!) than the ibook.

Thanks for any advice... I don't mind upgrading it myself, I just don't know how to find what to buy.

Jesse

 

[3-22]

Noise...

If you dig through the detailed stats for the different drives they usually say the acoustic noise now a days. (in dB) Just look for the lowest number...

 

[Versello]

Hard drive bearings age, and thus will make noise... but 2 years is awefully short in your scenario.

In any case, practically any new notebook hard drive will be fairly quiet.

What you have to look for is 2.5" (NOT 3.5"!!!!) notebook hard drives. Notebook hard drives are all standard for the most part.

 

[sonofslim]

i don't know if this will help, but a lot of people like the Seagate Barracuda or the Samsung Spinpoint series for quiet 3.5" drives. you might want to see if either company has a comparable notebook line.

edit: after seeing versello's post, i should point out that some drives (or many? don't really know) are now using fluid dynamic bearings. that's the way to go if you really want a quiet drive. the 2 i mentioned above use fluid bearings, but again, they're 3.5". i couldn't tell you if there's a notebook line using FDB.

 

[Nuc]

FDB

I got Apple to replace (after 2 years) mine after it got really loud. However after a few more months it was loud again so I bought the IBM Hitachi Travelstar that has the FDB. I but the old HD in an enclosure and use it as a backup now.

Check out:
2.5" HD

You probably can find a better deal somewhere else however.

Nuc

 

[sonofslim]

just spotted this thread... makes mention of a quiet HD.

 

[iChan]

Originally posted by sonofslim
just spotted this thread... makes mention of a quiet HD.

that was my thread, the laptop drive i got may be too expensive for your needs and would probably be wasted in a dual usb ibook.

this HD would probably more suit your needs... the price is also about helf the price...

I have heard many favorable reports on this drive, ("absolutely silent", "didn't even know it was on")...