silent external hard-drive ???

[sanzu3]

I'm going to get a new external hard-drive soon for backups etc (500gb - 1TB), this is going to be plugged into my airport extreme and is going to be in my bedroom so I need to be as close to silent as possible (will be backing up over night).

I was thinking of getting a G-tech drive, but I read that although they do not have fans they are very noise as the read and write.

Any suggestions for really REALLy quiet drives ?

 

[zephead]

I don't think you're gonna find an HD that's as quiet as you'd like. If you're in bed when it's pin-drop quiet, you're gonna notice any little noise that happens to occur. Hard drives make noise, and it'll especially break the pin-drop silence of your room at night.

 

[Sesshi]

Two 250Gb notebook drives. There's a major noise (and heat) difference between 3.5 and 2.5.

 

[~J~]

I have a Seagate FreeAgent Pro (750GB) that is very quiet... only drawback for your application is there is a big yellow light the length of the drive.

 

[Schtumple]

I'd go with Sesshis advice and get 2 250gb notebook drives, notebook drives are much much quieter.

 

[KJdanReuben]

I have a 500gb Newertechnology miniStack v2 from OWC, also available in 750gb and 1tb, and it is super quiet! And it was pretty cheap. It also doesn't have some obnoxious light on it, only a little blue indicator. Also, although i'm not sure it would be of use, but it functions as a USB and firewire hub at the same time. It's roughly about the size of Mac mini, just not as tall. I would highly recommend the v2, or the newer v3!

 

[Maccleduff]

Freecom drives are very quiet as they have no fans, the aluminium enclosure transfers all the heat away.

http://www.freecom.com/ecProducts.asp

 

[Coprolite]

Solid State Drives are REALLY quiet. Too bad that they are really expensive, too.

I couldn't resist throwing that one in.

On the serious side, do you have a closet that you could put the drive in? That would mitigate any noise and light issues...

 

[sanzu3]

I have a 500gb Newertechnology miniStack v2 from OWC, also available in 750gb and 1tb, and it is super quiet! And it was pretty cheap. It also doesn't have some obnoxious light on it, only a little blue indicator. Also, although i'm not sure it would be of use, but it functions as a USB and firewire hub at the same time. It's roughly about the size of Mac mini, just not as tall. I would highly recommend the v2, or the newer v3!

actually i was very interested in getting one of these because it would go well with my airport extreme and the usb would allow my to plug my printer in. But i had seen a post which said they were noisy.
Is the fan on all the time or only when there's heavy usage ???

 

[sanzu3]

Freecom drives are very quiet as they have no fans, the aluminium enclosure transfers all the heat away.

http://www.freecom.com/ecProducts.asp

I'm tempted by these - look smart and not a bad price.

 

[KJdanReuben]

actually i was very interested in getting one of these because it would go well with my airport extreme and the usb would allow my to plug my printer in. But i had seen a post which said they were noisy.
Is the fan on all the time or only when there's heavy usage ???

It's new to me and I haven't gotten to use it a whole lot. I did move a nice sized file and I didn't hear a thing. I even put my ear close to see if I could, but I still couldn't. I love the drive.

 

[Cybergypsy]

I love my G drive matches my MBP perfect...

 

[CRAZYBUBBA]

My LaCie drive is silent. Just the gentle whir of the drive spinning, very nice cases too.

 

[wordmunger]

My LaCie drive is silent. Just the gentle whir of the drive spinning, very nice cases too.

According to the reviews at buy.com, LaCie drives come in fanless and fan versions. Apparently there's no way to know what you're getting, and which version you get determines whether or not you're happy with it....