8MB vs 16MB cache

[NIM]

Hi guys,

I need a 2.5" drive for my Popcorn Hour Media Player.

This drive will be used for ext3 (Linux) file system and only for watching my backed-up Blu-ray movies (.mkv)

I currently have Seagate Green at 5900 (16MB or 32MB cache), I'm not sure..

This disk is too loud when watching movies with low volume, so I need a quiet and cool disk. The speed shouldn't make a difference for my needs, but I'm wondering is there a huge difference between 8MB and 16MB cache sizes, especially for this purpose?

HDD Mobile SEAGATE Momentus 5400.6 (2.5",500GB,8MB,Serial ATA II-300)

HDD Mobile SEAGATE Momentus 7200.4 (2.5",500GB,16MB,Serial ATA II-300)

According to this review, Seagate Momentus 7200.4 is more silent than his slower brother at 5400.6 ???

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article992-page1.html

The price difference between these two models is around $7.

[Mr_Smartepants]

If you mount either using a soft rubber isolator, I doubt you'd hear anything. A 7200 RPM notebook drive would give a higher pitched "whine" than one of a slower spindle speed.

Also, considering you'd be streaming content, the cache wouldn't make much difference since the cache would only speed up access to the same block of data and streaming is by definition; constantly changing data.

Although, a larger cache would benefit in the speed of the menus (paging back and forth).

My dad loves his Popcorn Hour A110!

For pure silence you could remove the drive altogether and stream from a remote NAS box or other server. The most expensive (but silent) route would be a SSD.

[NIM]

Thanks Mr_Smartepants,

that spin "whine" is driving me crazy on my current 3.5" Seagate Green drive that I currently have installed in PCH-A110, although 2.5" drive will me very silent compared to 3.5" drive.

I almost decided to go with the slower one, but one user said that he often hears clicking on it and that silentpc review also said that 7200rpm is more silent than 5400, but they can't tell why..

Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB - We're at a loss to explain how this 7200rpm drive can be quieter than the 5400rpm Momentus 500GB with the same number of platters that we reviewed in the spring. Perhaps one or both of our samples are atypical

[Mr_Smartepants]

Their test sample might have been a fluke. But if there's little difference in cost, go with the faster one. You would see a difference in speed in menu refresh and no media stuttering.

Both would be vastly superior to your existing drive in terms of quietness.

I'm looking into buying their new A-210 for myself. Maybe as a birthday present to myself.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Mr_Smartepants

[NIM]

Their test sample might have been a fluke. But if there's little difference in cost, go with the faster one. You would see a difference in speed in menu refresh and no media stuttering.

Both would be vastly superior to your existing drive in terms of quietness.

I'm looking into buying their new A-210 for myself. Maybe as a birthday present to myself.

Media stuttering, that shouldn't be happening on a 5400rpm drive, at least according to the PCH forums.

You're telling me??? I want the A-210 !!! ))

A-200 was a miss with the plastic case and a fan. This is the same model but in aluminium case and a passive cooler. If I manage to sell the A-110, I'll surely go for the A-210!

[NIM]

After reading a bit more reviews, I've decided to go with the slower one (5400.6).

I hope that it will be ok

[Mr_Smartepants]

That should be more than OK. To isolate it from the case and eliminate any resonant hum, you could use "blue tack", the soft sticky rubbery stuff you use to stick posters to walls. Works great to put between the drives and their mounts and don't tighten the screws down tight.

[NIM]

Well, I ain't satisfied with the disk. Although I've bought 5400rpm, I hear it whining which is very irritant. This disk is NOT quiet as I thought. It is more quiet than 3.5", but far from the silence that I need.

One other thing, when you connect the 3.5" disk in the Popcorn Hour it will be recognized out of the box, but that is not the situation with the 2.5" drive/s, well, at least this one. I had to format it in Windows and then place it in the Popcorn so it can be formated to EXT3.

Also, when I was connecting the HDMI to the POPCORN, that was already connected with the TV, I've accidentally touched the Popcorn screw when small sparks showed up. I was scared to shit as I've seen on the net that you can easily fry your HDMI port.

Luckily, as I can see, nothing bad happened. Maybe that was just a static or a very small voltage, although I doubt that TV was jeopardized here as IT was the one sending that voltage. In worst scenario, Popcorn could get a nasty shock

[ccl0]

how is the hard drive attached to the device? if its metal on metal, try to set up some vibration isolator for the hard drive. i've never heard of using that tack stuff before but hey it might just work

[Mr_Smartepants]

Ouch. Bad luck. It could have been a bad sample from the factory. It may quiet down once the bearings break-in. Does it make the same whine when it's powered on in your hand?

[NIM]

how is the hard drive attached to the device? if its metal on metal, try to set up some vibration isolator for the hard drive. i've never heard of using that tack stuff before but hey it might just work

Yes, I've put some silicone stoppers similar to this:

http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00FeWQpsAykgol/Silicone-Vial-Stoppers-Plugs-and-Pieces-Using-in-Oral-Agents-calt006-.jpg

No matter that, disk is not quiet.

[NIM]

Ouch. Bad luck. It could have been a bad sample from the factory. It may quiet down once the bearings break-in. Does it make the same whine when it's powered on in your hand?

I haven't tried that, but I could try it. For instance we've watched the movie yesterday and that sound is pretty irritating.

[NIM]

Well, I think it was about time to replace my Seagate 1.5TB Green 5900rpm since for the last couple of months I hear it clicking.

I have now connected it to my PC where I'm using Ext2Explore so I can access the Linux partition on Windows OS.

Today, it is click much more than before, but I can still download data. I am worried that it is starting to malfunction.

What should I do with it once I move the data? Format and scan it with some third party software?

Update:

I am copying data to my 2.5" disk now and this whining can't be heard during the copy/write process, but only while watching the movie/read process.

Any ideas?

[NIM]

I've just made some tests with Seagate Tools and long and short DST tests FAILED.

What I've seen on the net, I should backup the data and replace the drive. Maybe that was the reason of whine sound while reading the disk.

[NIM]

The disk was faulty and I got it replaced with a 7200rpm one. I don't know why they gave me almost 20$ more expensive disk. I've also replaced another 3.5" 1.5TB disk from Seagate that started clicking. That drive was at 5900 (green) and I also got it replaced for a faster 7200rpm, 1.5TB Seagate drive.

I'm guessing that Seagate has problems with 5400 or 5900 rpm drives.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

I had the same thing happen with a WD drive!

Bought a 640gig "Green" drive and it failed.

RTM'ed and they sent me a 640 "Black" (Performance model)

[Mr_Smartepants]

I also recently had a 1TB WD green drive fail in my server. They replaced it with the same model # but it had an OEM label on it.

This is the first WD drive that I've personally had fail on me. Their support was easy and fast though.

Edited December 24, 2010 by Mr_Smartepants

[ccl0]

this might not be helpful if you've solved the problem already, but i just saw that these got announced and it looked interesting: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/hitachi-gst-releases-cinemastar-hard-drives-aimed-for-a-dvr-near/