Returning OWC drive need new suggestions

[PicnicTutorials]

OWC drive mounts well enough but is too loud for my taste.

(1) So my external hard drive needs to mount, stay mounted, and not eject. (2) Be quiet. (3) And not have software issues that may delete my data. Pretty is a plus but not a requirement as it's going in a cupboard below my mac.

My Last WD drive never made a sound. However others had past software issues with WD drives. This one looks nice though. All the reviews are positive but one that says it unmounts. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090A8TY0...UTF8&colid=2FYWWMVNBA1Z4&coliid=IDPIKTSGZ9R4Q

Apple has a few on its site that look ok. LaCie 3TB USB 3.0 Porsche Design P'9233 Desktop Hard Drive http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...sche-design-p9233-desktop-hard-drive?fnode=5f

I'm basically stuck. For the life of me I can't find a drive that fulfills all three requirements. Based on others reviews at least.

 

[xraydoc]

Hard drives should not be up mounting themselves. If they're repeatedly unmounting on your machine and not others, there's a software/OS problem.

Some drives (usually the chipsets in the enclosures), admittedly, don't like Apple's implementation of "spin down when idle." Personally I leave this option off.

Out of curiosity, which OWC drive are you returning? The only one I'm aware of (and I'm familiar with their product line) that makes more than a whisper is the Qx2 4-drive enclosure (four drives making noise is to be expected). Their two-drive units are, in my experience, have a quiet fan (unless they've changed suppliers in the last 18 months or so). And their single drive 2.5" models do not have fans.

I have two OWC Qx2's (one old FW800/USB2.0/eSATA and one new USB3.0/eSATA) and two mini USB3.0 2.5" enclosures and not one has unmounted itself inappropriately. I also have (no longer in use) a FireWire dual-drive IDE enclosure. I don't recall it ever being unusually loud.

 

[PicnicTutorials]

OWC mercury pro elite. Its fanless. But hums to loud for me. My work station is dead silent. Aim to keep it that way.

 

[xraydoc]

OWC mercury pro elite. Its fanless. But hums to loud for me. My work station is dead silent. Aim to keep it that way.

If it's fanless, then it's the drive mechanism itself that's making the noise. Not sure what you can do other than go SSD. You can always buy the empty case and put the HDD mechanism of your choice inside if you can find one that's quiet enough for you (like one of the WD Green series).

 

[BESLC]

I have two OWC mercury pro elite drives. One I have been running for a few years, the other a month. Noise has never been an issue on either drive.Any conventional HD is going to spin up, perhaps a flash external drive is the solution.

I have read that Lacie drives have a high failure rate. I personally have not used one so I can not speak directly on that report.

 

[PicnicTutorials]

I have two OWC mercury pro elite drives. One I have been running for a few years, the other a month. Noise has never been an issue on either drive.Any conventional HD is going to spin up, perhaps a flash external drive is the solution.

I have read that Lacie drives have a high failure rate. I personally have not used one so I can not speak directly on that report.

My light (on/off) didn't work so I returned it for another. I thought I would get a new one. So I'd be able to tell if I just had a faulty loud one. Unfortunately they just fixed the light and sent me back the same one. They said they checked the sound and it was fine. Maybe my desk has a bit to do with it. It's like a wood subwoofer for it. Makes it this loud low mumming sound. Like I said the WD drive makes no sound at all. I can't even tell if it's on or not. I would just keep it but I have to reformat it for mac and have nowhere to put one terabyte of data while I do.

 

[BESLC]

It is possible you are getting some feedback between your desk and the aluminum enclosure. Something that might work is an isolation pad between the HD and your desk. They make isolation pads for audio speakers ,which sit on wood floors. The pad would eliminate any feedback between the HD enclosure and your desk. You can find them online or an audio store should have them....just a thought??

 

[PicnicTutorials]

It is possible you are getting some feedback between your desk and the aluminum enclosure. Something that might work is an isolation pad between the HD and your desk. They make isolation pads for audio speakers ,which sit on wood floors. The pad would eliminate any feedback between the HD enclosure and your desk. You can find them online or an audio store should have them....just a thought??

Yes that did help. It came with rubber feet that I put on. It lessened the sound but did not eliminate it. I'm not bad mouthing owc drives. They are very nice and function perfect. I'm sure I'm just more noise sensitive than the average.

 

[xraydoc]

Yes that did help. It came with rubber feet that I put on. It lessened the sound but did not eliminate it. I'm not bad mouthing owc drives. They are very nice and function perfect. I'm sure I'm just more noise sensitive than the average.

Then it sounds like an SSD might be a good choice for you. No moving parts. Should be completely silent.

 

[PicnicTutorials]

Received the owc drive. In its defense it seems a bit more quiet now. Maybe that loose wire they fixed was rateling about. I have been testing it. My computers screen was off for awhile but not asleep. Touching the trackpad turned on the screen and was presented with my login. Logged in and still the drive didn't fire up. Stayed mounted but was not spinning. I clicked it a few times and a couple seconds later I heard it start spinning and it came responsive. Is this normal behavior? I thought it wasn't supposed to sleep unless my mac was? And it wasn't sleeping only the screen was off.

Still thinking about returning. Looking at the WD My Studio drives. With the metal casing and preformated for mac. Price is cheap though. However one reviewer said he got a "green drive" that tries to save power and shuts off on its own. Again not good. Haven't found one that has all good reviews. OWC customer service is top notch though. WD Customer service have zero knowledge about their products and English is not their native language. I called a few times and each was the same.

Well so much for the WD drive. Amazon review...

"I have always leaned toward choosing WD drive for there reliability, and had great luck until last my two purchases of ‘My Studio’ USB drives.

This drive worked perfectly with an older iMac running Snow Leopard for about 6 months, then upgraded to a new iMac (OS X 10.9.1) and it has been problems ever since.

I have two of these My Studios connected (2 TB and this 3TB), they constantly dismount and then the iMac tries to reconnect with a restart and throws errors messages. This happens after a period of inactivity….. or like when time machine attempts to start….. very frustrating.

Contacted AppleCare, they diagnosed problems with the drives, contacted WD tech support. They admitted they have compatibility problems with Mavericks (then why sell it as a mac drive?), first they said I should change the USB hub I am using (did…. no change), then as a last resort, go through a tedious process of updating the firmware on the drive…………. which they warned may destroy your data. REALLY!!!

I have not attempted the firmware update yet; am considering just replacing these drives. I would have given 5 stars for the way it functioned with Snow Leopard, but only deserves one star for working with the most current mac OS.

Before purchasing these, you may want to google some combination of ‘WD Mavericks spindown spinup incompatible’."

 

[PicnicTutorials]

Here is a professional review agreeing with my noise issue. What I think is the issue is that it is a 7200 rpm. My old WD was prob a low performance 5400 rpm. I may just use the foam packing pads as he suggests.

http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-OWC_MercuryElitePro-USB3.html

"Noise and vibration

The only noise you’ll hear is the drive itself, but high performance 7200 rpm drives do make some noise and vibration, this is unavoidable.

Even with the small rubber feet installed, I found that if the drive is placed on a desktop, the vibration from the hard drive mechanism can propagate into my desk, and I am quite sensitive to noise, so Iwanted this to go away.

It turns out that the foam packing material on each end that the drive is packed in makes a superb vibration isolation system; just place the drive on top of the two foam blocks— all vibration is then cut off and only a faint drive noise remains."

 

[PicnicTutorials]

turns out after all that I am keeping the OWC drive. It mounts and stays mounted. Sleeps when computer sleeps and wakes when it wakes. Every other drive I can find reviewers say that mounting was a issue. I guess a little noise is better than a self ejecting drive. Plus like i said I think its just a little more noise than i am used too because its a 7200 rpm vs my old 5400 rpm. Plus the drive sleeps by it self even when my mac is in use, and it has not been in use in a while. So while it sleeps it is silent of course. And the bulk of the stuff i have on it is my pics/vids so basically it won't even fire up that often.