MK4004GAH vs other HDD Spinup Noise?

[johnnyhaggis]

Hi - I have a fully loaded, rockbox'd h140 that I've loved tenderly for the past few years that I'm going to be selling soon, but I find that the hard drive is rather noisy when it's spinning. I don't want to sell it and have the buyer be upset, though this may just be the normal amount of noise. It works perfectly in every way, but I can't remember if it was always this loud or not. I'm wondering what you guys think.

It's just a spinning noise and not an "about to enter HDD valhalla" noise, and it may be normal but I find it to be louder than it should be. I have a 20G drive from an h120 and I tried switiching and the 20G is way quieter.

You can definitely hear it at arms length indoors, but you don't hear it when you're outside. When it's plugged into the computer it constantly makes the spinning noise.

I'm wondering if I should replace the drive with another one before selling it, but if they're all loud I don't want to waste money! Is the MK4006GAH quieter than the MK4004GAH? Are the 60G and 80G versions quieter? Are they all similar? Are some random drives just noisier than others?

Unfortunately I don't know anyone with an iriver to compare. All I know is that the slimmer 20G drive is much quieter.

What are your experiences with HDD noise on h140s with different disk drives?

[adam917]

My MK6006GAH is much quieter than that old MK4004GAH. You don't hear nearly as much 'whirring' even when you hold the unit near your ear. I 3would recommend getting thia model even if you think you might not need the extra 20 GB of space as they are cheap now (heck, when I got mine in early October 2006, it was around 120 USD on eBay). I would expect them to be even cheaper now.

PS: The MK4004GAH is a few years old, I think.

[johnnyhaggis]

Ah thanks! That's exactly what I needed to know! I want to make sure I'm not selling something that will fall apart!

[adam917]

Originally Posted by johnnyhaggis

Ah thanks! That's exactly what I needed to know! I want to make sure I'm not selling something that will fall apart!

Well I still am keeping my 40-GB MK4004GAH drive, just in case the MK6006GAH fails in the future, for some reason.

[saints]

Once you open your player the seal breaks, so you can hear more noise, nothing to be worried about, i like it actually

[caramelsoul]

I find the hard disc in my H140 to be a lot noisier than the ones in my H320 and H10. Even noisier than the 60GB drive i have. I think it may be down to age.

[adam917]

Originally Posted by saints

Once you open your player the seal breaks, so you can hear more noise, nothing to be worried about, i like it actually

Uh, what seal? Mine doesn't have any 'VOID'-type sticker (this what you mean by 'seal'?) like I saw on my old (and far out-of-warranty) CD burner.

[adam917]

Originally Posted by caramelsoul

I find the hard disc in my H140 to be a lot noisier than the ones in my H320 and H10. Even noisier than the 60GB drive i have. I think it may be down to age.

Well, the one that comes with the H140 is a 2-platter drive from 2004 or earlier. I'm guessing that the drives have gotten quieter (this is a word?) over the years, as my MK6006GAH is much quieter than the noisy whirring MK4004GAH that was in my device (new-old stock from eBay).

[caramelsoul]

Yeah, i agree with you adam.