# Hard disk noise



## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

Hi folks. Despite posting a while ago about unsubbing my Tivo, I'm still equivocating and find myself reluctant to give up on it. The HD on mine is on the way out - had a nasty green screen a while ago and since then the video has been lurching and breaking up a bit on recordings. So if I keep the Tivo, I definitely need a new disk.

It's currently using the original 40GB drive it left the factory with, which is itself not completely silent. I can hear it seeking if the room is quiet, although thankfully there's no audible whine.

I see a lot of talk about getting quieter disks, but wondered about the sort of noise we're talking about. Is it whine from 7200rpm drives that's the problem? I gather the original drive is 5400rpm.

My concern is that I don't end up with a noiser Tivo than it already is - quieter might be nice, but isn't something i'm bothered about enough to spend extra money on.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Well, here I am to bang the drum for the Samsung HA250JC yet again 

Yes, 7200rpm drives do tend to vibrate a bit - definitely more than the old Quantum drives the TiVos were shipped with - so if your TiVo is on a resonant surface this can sometimes lead to "hum" issues. This is where the Samsung HA250JC really comes into its own, as it is a 5400rpm drive with almost zero rotational vibration. 

On the whole though, unless you are very sensitive to noise - particularly hum - then the chances are you will find any upgrade drive quieter, not noisier, than the old drives, as they chatter pretty loudly anyway and do tend to develop a bit of a squeal as they get older due to worn bearings.


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## mccg (Jun 18, 2002)

I've alwasy sung the praises of Samsungs.. have 2 Tivos with HA250JC.. but one has just died :-(
It started rumbling, and then started clicking, and sounding like it was doing a windows defrag all the time.
I ran a HUTIL against it, and it said it's fine, but I tried doing a backup to another disk (including recordings) and it gets to 54&#37; and then just stops.
I guess it's re-trying some dodgy sectors. I left it for 48 hours, and it moved on by 0.03%.
so I guess even Samsung's can die!


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

mccg said:


> I've alwasy sung the praises of Samsungs.. have 2 Tivos with HA250JC.. but one has just died :-(
> It started rumbling, and then started clicking, and sounding like it was doing a windows defrag all the time.
> I ran a HUTIL against it, and it said it's fine, but I tried doing a backup to another disk (including recordings) and it gets to 54% and then just stops.
> I guess it's re-trying some dodgy sectors. I left it for 48 hours, and it moved on by 0.03%.
> so I guess even Samsung's can die!


Well, all disks will fail eventually. I think the quantum in mine has done well to last six years to be honest!

Ta for the advice, blindlemon. I'm now working out whether to sort this machine out (and fit a cachecard at the same time) or try to get a second-hand box with a lifetime sub and all the trimmings already installed.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

mccg said:


> so I guess even Samsung's can die!


If it's less than 3 years old go to www.rexo.co.uk and fill out an RMA Request. They normally send out replacements within a couple of days :up:


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## mccg (Jun 18, 2002)

Thanks for the suggestion Blindlemon, but
1. it is 3 years and a few months old (of course!)
2. since the HUtils says no fault found, I don't know if it would be a valid return.
3. I have put it back in the TiVo, and it seems to be working with just the occasional stutter
4. I don't want to lose 250G of recordings, and a backup doesn't work. I will try and do a mfs_ftp/tytool extract of the whole lot, but I expect that will take ages!

I'll just keep my fingers crossed!

Sorry to Tim L for hijacking his thread.
I've lost 1 Maxtor, 1 IBM and 1 Samsung over the years, but I'll stick with Samsungs as they are the quietest.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Tim L said:


> Well, all disks will fail eventually. I think the quantum in mine has done well to last six years to be honest!
> 
> Ta for the advice, blindlemon. I'm now working out whether to sort this machine out (and fit a cachecard at the same time) or try to get a second-hand box with a lifetime sub and all the trimmings already installed.


Check out www.tivocentral.co.uk, www.tivoheaven.co.uk and www.tivoland.com if you want to buy a pre-prepared Tivo hard drive you can just drop in and that also comes with all the necessary drivers for a Cachecard as well (or at least in the case of tivocentral and tivoheaven it does).

Or if you want to DIY look at www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html

The Western Digital Green Power 1TB (1000GB) drive is now only just over £150 from Ebuyer and is a 5400rpm drive and is very cool and quiet according to those who have tried on in their Tivo. However it is an SATA drive so you you need to use an IDE to SATA converter (about £15 or so) in order to use one.

No modern drive is probably as noisy as the old Quantums but most people would tend to avoid Hitachi (formerly IBM) like the plague in a Tivo on heat, noise and longevity grounds.


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> Check out www.tivocentral.co.uk, www.tivoheaven.co.uk and www.tivoland.com if you want to buy a pre-prepared Tivo hard drive you can just drop in and that also comes with all the necessary drivers for a Cachecard as well (or at least in the case of tivocentral and tivoheaven it does).
> 
> Or if you want to DIY look at www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html
> 
> ...


Aye - I may not post here very often but I drop in now and then. At the moment I'm caught between buying a cachecard & new disk (which I'd get myself from conventional channels) or waiting until I can get a lifetime box with the same on ebay. The latter option has the potential to save a bit of money, I think.

I think I'll pass on the 1TB drive - I'll get some for my server when the price comes down a bit more, but it's overkill for Tivo, for me anyway. I dread to think how long it would take to page through Now Playing!


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

Tim L said:


> At the moment I'm caught between buying a ... new disk ... or waiting until I can get a lifetime box with the same on ebay.


I wouldn't assume that a secondhand box is going to have a long-lasting drive. At least I wouldn't pay a lot more for it than a non-upgraded machine.


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

iankb said:


> I wouldn't assume that a secondhand box is going to have a long-lasting drive. At least I wouldn't pay a lot more for it than a non-upgraded machine.


Fair point, although I'd expect to get some use out of it before it spins its last. It's the combination of cachecard and lifetime sub that I'm most interested in.


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