2. pc-audio
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Best Hard Drive and Enclosure for Music Server

I'm going through the muck dealing with a faulty OWC miniStack. It's a great idea since it fits perfectly under a Mac Mini. But I had lots of problems with its connection to the computer dropping. I returned it for repair, they said the controller board failed its tests, replaced it and sent it back. Now the thing is giving me trouble again. The drive just disconnects.

Also just bought a Western Digital 1.5TB Green Caviar drive that's supposed to be really quiet. So far it's so-so. On idle it sometimes has a high pitch that goes away once it's accessing the disc.

Looking for a relatively rock solid solution that's not too noisy. Any suggestions or experiences to share?
cutterfilm
cutterfilm OP
59 posts
 
I've read a lot over at computeraudiophile but there's nothing about measured noise and little anecdotal info about quiet Firewire drives. there is a website that fastidiously rates computer equipment for noise, but they don't test external enclosures.

this morning i was looking at Caldigit and EZQuest. both market their products to audio/video production. EZQuest has two tempting single drive products. One is the Thunder Pro with no fan and the other is the simply named Pro with a ball bearing fan.

I have a Fantom Drive that works great with no fan but it's front grill exposes the drive and the drive noise echos outward.

Macworld and MacNN both gave nice reviews to the Thunder so I might give it a shot and report back.
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blindjim
3,092 posts
 
Lots of great ideas here already... for more I'd look to computer based mags or websites for just such info. PC & Mac World, PC Magazine, etc. I just began Googling for best rated encloseures, servers, NAS drives, etc... found reviews and went shopping for my picks from those which best suited my budget and needs. I bought a NAS drive instead of a server. For me, it works great enough... and I've found the support for it exceptionally good too. Iomega 1TB NAS w/2 ext. USB slots. $235.00.
cutterfilm OP
59 posts
 
So I installed a WD Green Caviar 1.5TB drive in an EZQuest enclosure. The enclosure doesn't have a fan so it doesn't contribute to noise, but doesn't do much to absorb noise from the drive. During operation it's O.K. and the drive makes too much noise when it's idle. Might be a dud. Not happy. So I'm back to using a Fantom enclosure with a Seagate 1TB. My conclusion is that there aren't any quiet enclosures. For now solid state is too expensive and NAS wireless is too slow for video (at least in my place). I've decided to try to stow the drive away. I wonder if I could build a foam padded box to put the enclosure in.
srwooten's avatar
srwooten
694 posts
 
Perhaps a new case. I use the Antec Sonata III with excellent results.
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