# Tivo HD, upgraded to 1TB, but new drive is SUPER LOUD. Please help.



## chrisf707

Hey guys, Im new here and have a few questions. 

I recently purchased a HITACHI Deskstar 1TB HD, used winMSF to copy my original drive, and installed the new one in the tivo. Everything went perfect and works great, HOWEVER this new drive is Extremely loud, even if im not recording a show it is still making tons of noise. Im looking for suggestions on how to make this drive quieter.

I saw a few posts suggesting using HDD scan to change the AAM settings, but after downloading HDD scan, i was unable to change those settings. When the drive was connected, the AAM settings box was grayed out, and i could not select it. Does anyone know if maybe you cant change these settings on this drive?

So any suggestions on how to shut the drive up would be great. 

PS I cant post the newegg link because I dont have enough posts yet, but if you go to newegg.com just put in "HD31000".

THANKS,
-Chris


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## bkdtv

Did you right-click on Hddscan and select "Run as administrator?"

Windows Vista and Windows 7 require that to perform virtually any operation on a piece of hardware.


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## chrisf707

bkdtv said:


> Did you right-click on Hddscan and select "Run as administrator?"
> 
> Windows Vista and Windows 7 require that to perform virtually any operation on a piece of hardware.


Im running windows XP. Could I be doing anything else wrong that wouldnt allow me to change those options?


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## chrisf707

any hard drive gurus have any ideas?


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## justen_m

I hope you get an answer. I just ordered this hard drive today, so might be facing the same problem soon. However, My Tivos are next to a computer that has a hard drive that sounds like a jet engine, so that might mask it.


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## Efranzen

Did you make sure you selected the Hitachi drive? I just upgraded my TivoHD tonight with the Hitachi HD31000. When you run HDDScan it selects the main drive in your computer by default. You need to select the Hitachi drive from the drop down box and then follow the rest of the directions.

With that drive set at 128, I can only hear it if I put my ear right next to the Tivo. While recording 2 HD channels and the volume on my TV turned off, I can not hear the hard drive unless I get very close to the Tivo.


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## jamesweber

chrisf707 said:


> Extremely loud, even if im not recording a show it is still making tons of noise.


The drive is always recording, 24/7.

I know alot of people use that drive without alot of noise, perhaps you should get it replaced.


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## richsadams

First, not all Hitachi Deskstar hard drives are created equal. The standard Deskstar 7K1000 series acoustics average 2.9bels to 3.2bels (and can be higher). By A/V standards that is very loud. The drives most folks are using for their Tivo's, the Deskstar 7K1000.C HD31000 IDK/7K, is considerably quieter at an average of 2.4bels to 2.5bels.

To reduce the AAM (auto acoustic management) to 128 HDDScan should work (if you're logged on as administrator) but if not you could try the Hitachi Feature Tool. Be sure to use v2.11.

Everything you need to know and links to the tools can be found on the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ sticky thread. Have a look at Section IV, #32 in particular:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784


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## chrisf707

Efranzen said:


> Did you make sure you selected the Hitachi drive? I just upgraded my TivoHD tonight with the Hitachi HD31000. When you run HDDScan it selects the main drive in your computer by default. You need to select the Hitachi drive from the drop down box and then follow the rest of the directions.
> 
> With that drive set at 128, I can only hear it if I put my ear right next to the Tivo. While recording 2 HD channels and the volume on my TV turned off, I can not hear the hard drive unless I get very close to the Tivo.


Yes, I changed the drive to the hitachi drive... I was logged in as an administrator on windows XP, but for some reason i could not select tab for AAM settings... WEIRD.

I did find a solution... I burned Hitachi Feature Tool v2.11 to a disc, and booted from it. Through that I was able to change the AAM settings. Now the drive is 10x quieter, even when its recording.

Thanks for everyone helping out.


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## richsadams

chrisf707 said:


> Yes, I changed the drive to the hitachi drive... I was logged in as an administrator on windows XP, but for some reason i could not select tab for AAM settings... WEIRD.
> 
> I did find a solution... I burned Hitachi Feature Tool v2.11 to a disc, and booted from it. Through that I was able to change the AAM settings. Now the drive is 10x quieter, even when its recording.
> 
> Thanks for everyone helping out.


When you get a moment can you post the full model number? It will be valuable to bkdtv's FAQ and for the folks that follow. TIA.


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## chrisf707

richsadams said:


> When you get a moment can you post the full model number? It will be valuable to bkdtv's FAQ and for the folks that follow. TIA.


the model number of my tivo or the drive?


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## richsadams

chrisf707 said:


> the model number of my tivo or the drive?


Sorry, the drive.


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## plasticorange

justen_m said:


> I hope you get an answer. I just ordered this hard drive today, so might be facing the same problem soon. However, My Tivos are next to a computer that has a hard drive that sounds like a jet engine, so that might mask it.


I just ordered this today too! Very excited.


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## justen_m

I just finished the upgrade. HDDScan worked fine for me.

My Hitatchi (Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332 (0F10383) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive, newegg $85) didn't seem loud, but I ran HDDScan anyway. I had no problem setting the AAM slider to 128. This was on a Windows XP machine, using a USB->Sata bridge (SYBA SY-U2SAIDE USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter with Power Adapter - Retail, newegg $19).

The backup and restore took longer than I thought it should, but the overall process still took just 50 minutes. Maybe because I was using my netbook which has a relatively slow drive and Intel Atom CPU.

I already had a torx T10, and that worked fine on all 14 screws, even the 4 torx T15 holding the drive to the enclosure. No real need to buy a T15 just for this upgrade.

WinMFS worked fine, the dialog display about expanding the drive popped up fine, and I ran MfsSuperSize, and my drive now reports 157 hours of HD recording available.


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## richsadams

justen_m said:


> I just finished the upgrade. HDDScan worked fine for me.
> 
> My Hitatchi (Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332 (0F10383) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive, newegg $85) didn't seem loud, but I ran HDDScan anyway. I had no problem setting the AAM slider to 128. This was on a Windows XP machine, using a USB->Sata bridge (SYBA SY-U2SAIDE USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter with Power Adapter - Retail, newegg $19).
> 
> The backup and restore took longer than I thought it should, but the overall process still took just 50 minutes. Maybe because I was using my netbook which has a relatively slow drive and Intel Atom CPU.
> 
> I already had a torx T10, and that worked fine on all 14 screws, even the 4 torx T15 holding the drive to the enclosure. No real need to buy a T15 just for this upgrade.
> 
> WinMFS worked fine, the dialog display about expanding the drive popped up fine, and I ran MfsSuperSize, and my drive now reports 157 hours of HD recording available.


Thanks for the valuable feedback and congrats! The Torx driver sizes have been noted before. At one point TiVo was using two different sizes...one for the box and another for the hard drive sled, but more recently they started using the same Torx 10 screws for both. I think the FAQ left both in to be sure some folks would be prepared.

A SATA to SATA truncated backup and restore usually takes about five to ten minutes (depending on the PC's capabilities). Anything else (particularly using a USB adapter) would take a bit longer...although 50 minutes does seem a long time.

Enjoy!


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## justen_m

richsadams said:


> A SATA to SATA truncated backup and restore usually takes about five to ten minutes (depending on the PC's capabilities). Anything else (particularly using a USB adapter) would take a bit longer...although 50 minutes does seem a long time.


Just to clarify, the whole process, from unplugging my Tivo to plugging it back in, took a total of 50 minutes. I'd guess MFS took about 10 minutes for the backup, and 5 minutes for restore. I bench marked the 1.6ghz Atom on my netbook as equal to the 1.8ghz P4 on my ancient desktop, so I was probably on the low-end regarding PC capabilites. Plus, my netbook has a 5400rpm drive. The backup file is 396mb.

And thanks to you and bkdtv for the excellent FAQ with the detailed instructions. It makes the upgrade idiot-proof.


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## richsadams

justen_m said:


> Just to clarify, the whole process, from unplugging my Tivo to plugging it back in, took a total of 50 minutes. I'd guess MFS took about 10 minutes for the backup, and 5 minutes for restore. I bench marked the 1.6ghz Atom on my netbook as equal to the 1.8ghz P4 on my ancient desktop, so I was probably on the low-end regarding PC capabilites. Plus, my netbook has a 5400rpm drive. The backup file is 396mb.


Ah...got it. That's more like it.



justen_m said:


> It makes the upgrade idiot-proof.


Well...I wouldn't go so far as to say that...but maybe fool proof.  Thanks really go to bkdtv for the FAQ and Spike at MFSLive.org for creating the programs. I do wish he'd add a PayPal donation option...he deserves some rewards.

Enjoy!


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## kellison

Newegg has a Hitachi Deskstar that goes on sale today as their afternoon Shell Shocker deal at 1pm PT. It looks like it might be the HDS721010CLA332 drive for $67.99 with free shipping. Let's hope. I've got a three month old TivoHD that would be loving some more recording space. I'll post an update when it goes up & can confirm the model.


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## kellison

It's the Hitachi Deskstar HD31000 IDK/7K (0S00163) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (retail package) drive that's on sale today at Newegg... $67.99.


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## richsadams

kellison said:


> It's the Hitachi Deskstar HD31000 IDK/7K (0S00163) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (retail package) drive that's on sale today at Newegg... $67.99.


That's an excellent price for this drive. It's the specific one mentioned earlier for upgrading TiVo's. As mentioned I have three of them, one as a backup drive and two running in a NAS. They are very quiet (adjusting the AAM to 128 using HDDScan would make them even more quiet) and they run surprisingly cool. They've been flawless for several months now. A number of folks on the forum are very happy with them in their TiVo's. Offer ends at midnight Pacific. Here are the specs should anyone want to read up on them...

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/33586ADC145D59A086257603007B022E/$file/DS7K1000.C_DS_final.pdf


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## kellison

Rich, thanks for confirming this is as good choice. Reviews outside this forum (mostly PC users) seem about evenly split with either praise or complaints about DOAs, noise, premature failure, poor customer support from Hitachi, etc. I think I'll dive in for two & see what happens.

I have a refurb 400GB Hitachi Cinestar IDE I plan to use to upgrade a Series 2 (5400) 80GB Tivo. Some time ago, I upgraded a Series 2 (2400) 40GB with a random 160GB WD I purchased for a PC but never used. It's noisy, but works fine otherwise. Would the HDDScan utility help with the noise? I used Instant Cake for that upgrade, but plan to give WinMFS a try for these upgrades & try to preserve my recordings & cable card pairings.


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## richsadams

kellison said:


> Rich, thanks for confirming this is as good choice. Reviews outside this forum (mostly PC users) seem about evenly split with either praise or complaints about DOAs, noise, premature failure, poor customer support from Hitachi, etc. I think I'll dive in for two & see what happens.
> 
> I have a refurb 400GB Hitachi Cinestar IDE I plan to use to upgrade a Series 2 (5400) 80GB Tivo. Some time ago, I upgraded a Series 2 (2400) 40GB with a random 160GB WD I purchased for a PC but never used. It's noisy, but works fine otherwise. Would the HDDScan utility help with the noise? I used Instant Cake for that upgrade, but plan to give WinMFS a try for these upgrades & try to preserve my recordings & cable card pairings.


You should be able to adjust the AAM on the WD drive w/HDDScan. It's probably at 258 now. I'm not sure how much it will help, but it's worth a try.

By comparison to "the old days" winMFS is dead simple. Just be sure to follow each step carefully and you should be a happy camper in no time.


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## slimjim867

chrisf707 said:


> Hey guys, Im new here and have a few questions.
> 
> I recently purchased a HITACHI Deskstar 1TB HD, used winMSF to copy my original drive, and installed the new one in the tivo. Everything went perfect and works great, HOWEVER this new drive is Extremely loud, even if im not recording a show it is still making tons of noise. Im looking for suggestions on how to make this drive quieter.
> 
> I saw a few posts suggesting using HDD scan to change the AAM settings, but after downloading HDD scan, i was unable to change those settings. When the drive was connected, the AAM settings box was grayed out, and i could not select it. Does anyone know if maybe you cant change these settings on this drive?
> 
> So any suggestions on how to shut the drive up would be great.
> 
> PS I cant post the newegg link because I dont have enough posts yet, but if you go to newegg.com just put in "HD31000".
> 
> THANKS,
> -Chris


After reading this thread last week, I ordered the HD31000 from NewEgg for 70.00 plus the 10.00 mailaway for the gift card. I ordsered it on Sunday night and got it on Tuesday. I installed it on Wednesday (yesterday). It took even less time for me than Justen.....I have an eSata external dock and I was not transferring programs. But my point is that this drive is much quieter than the original Green WD drive. I also could not use the AAM tool and figured I'd try it without burning a boot CD with the Hitachi tool. The thing is almost silent. I'd go with the previous comment that all drives are not equal. Can you exchange it for another of the same? I'm ordering another drive this week for my other Tivo. So I'll be sure to power it up before I pull my Tivo apart to make sure that it is a quiet drive.


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## tvmaster2

justen_m said:


> I just finished the upgrade. HDDScan worked fine for me.
> 
> My Hitatchi (Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332 (0F10383) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive, newegg $85) didn't seem loud, but I ran HDDScan anyway. I had no problem setting the AAM slider to 128. This was on a Windows XP machine, using a USB->Sata bridge (SYBA SY-U2SAIDE USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter with Power Adapter - Retail, newegg $19).
> 
> The backup and restore took longer than I thought it should, but the overall process still took just 50 minutes. Maybe because I was using my netbook which has a relatively slow drive and Intel Atom CPU.
> 
> I already had a torx T10, and that worked fine on all 14 screws, even the 4 torx T15 holding the drive to the enclosure. No real need to buy a T15 just for this upgrade.
> 
> WinMFS worked fine, the dialog display about expanding the drive popped up fine, and I ran MfsSuperSize, and my drive now reports 157 hours of HD recording available.


I'm trying to run HDSCan on this very drive, as administrator, on a fresh Windows 7 install, and Automatic Acoustic Management is not accessible for this drive. I have two Seagates that ARE accessible, so I think the program is working. Is it possible Hitachi has changed the mechanics of the drive in the last 6 months? Or, is the fact that it's my system drive (C have something to do with it?
It's a little noisy, to be sure.


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## richsadams

tvmaster2 said:


> I'm trying to run HDSCan on this very drive, as administrator, on a fresh Windows 7 install, and Automatic Acoustic Management is not accessible for this drive. I have two Seagates that ARE accessible, so I think the program is working. Is it possible Hitachi has changed the mechanics of the drive in the last 6 months? Or, is the fact that it's my system drive (C have something to do with it?
> It's a little noisy, to be sure.


Anything is possible. Try using the older Hitachi Feature Tool v2.11. You can find the links to it on the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ, Section IV, #32:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160


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## tvmaster2

richsadams said:


> Anything is possible. Try using the older Hitachi Feature Tool v2.11. You can find the links to it on the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ, Section IV, #32:
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160


I've tried both 2.11 and 2.15, and niether can even SEE the drive (SATA running in AHCI).
Any suggestions? The app seems to only want to look for IDE drives.
And, I'm running Windows 7


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## richsadams

tvmaster2 said:


> I've tried both 2.11 and 2.15, and niether can even SEE the drive (SATA running in AHCI).
> Any suggestions? The app seems to only want to look for IDE drives.
> And, I'm running Windows 7


If you're running Windows 7 in administrator mode, I'm not sure why it's not seeing it. I don't think it would have anything to do with it, but try turning off any virus scan program you might have.

There are some reports that the AAM on the latest Hitachi 2TB drives cannot be adjusted, however the drives can be seen by the Feature Tool (or hddscan) and other diagnostics can be run. It might be something to do with your BIOS setup, but you said that hddscan recognizes a Seagate drive...so it doesn't make sense that it wouldn't see the Hitachi. I'm stumped. Perhaps someone else can jump in?


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## tvmaster2

richsadams said:


> If you're running Windows 7 in administrator mode, I'm not sure why it's not seeing it. I don't think it would have anything to do with it, but try turning off any virus scan program you might have.
> 
> There are some reports that the AAM on the latest Hitachi 2TB drives cannot be adjusted, however the drives can be seen by the Feature Tool (or hddscan) and other diagnostics can be run. It might be something to do with your BIOS setup, but you said that hddscan recognizes a Seagate drive...so it doesn't make sense that it wouldn't see the Hitachi. I'm stumped. Perhaps someone else can jump in?


looks like I'm out of luck - I've tried three different apps for doing this, and they've all failed. This is a retail Deskstar, with all the same serial numbers as ones mentioned earlier in this thread. bummer.


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## justen_m

My only guess then would be what you already suggested - it's failing because it is the root/system drive. Can you pull the drive out and put it in another PC where it wouldn't be the boot drive? Kind of a hassle. I don't think I'd bother. Then again, the two fans on my main PC (CPU fan and main case fan) are pretty dang loud already.


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## richsadams

tvmaster2 said:


> looks like I'm out of luck - I've tried three different apps for doing this, and they've all failed. This is a retail Deskstar, with all the same serial numbers as ones mentioned earlier in this thread. bummer.


Hmmm...that is a bummer. Is it the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.*C*? The "C" suffix is very important as the acoustics are quite good, 2.4 to 2.5 bels. Whereas the 7K1000 Deskstar (w/o the "C") can be very noisy (2.9 - 3.2 bels ).

I have two of the 7K1000.C's running in an NAS. I didn't adjust the AAM and they are very quiet, about the same as a WD GP drive (standard, not AV). Would it be worth a try to throw it in your TiVo, close up the case, sit back and see how it sounds (or doesn't)? Or is it in a bedroom? If yours has the same acoustics as the ones I have I wouldn't think you'd hear it running if you're a little distance away and the TV/sound is on. Just a thought.


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## tvmaster2

richsadams said:


> Hmmm...that is a bummer. Is it the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.*C*? The "C" suffix is very important as the acoustics are quite good, 2.4 to 2.5 bels. Whereas the 7K1000 Deskstar (w/o the "C") can be very noisy (2.9 - 3.2 bels ).
> 
> I have two of the 7K1000.C's running in an NAS. I didn't adjust the AAM and they are very quiet, about the same as a WD GP drive (standard, not AV). Would it be worth a try to throw it in your TiVo, close up the case, sit back and see how it sounds (or doesn't)? Or is it in a bedroom? If yours has the same acoustics as the ones I have I wouldn't think you'd hear it running if you're a little distance away and the TV/sound is on. Just a thought.


ok, just so I'm sure we have the same drive, where does the "c" appear - on the external drive sticker, in software ID? That may clear this up.


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## richsadams

tvmaster2 said:


> ok, just so I'm sure we have the same drive, where does the "c" appear - on the external drive sticker, in software ID? That may clear this up.


According to the NAS HTML admin page my drive's ID #'s are: HDS721010CLA332. I pulled one out and that's the model number on the drive label. That translates to the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332:

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Deskstar-7K1000-C-HDS721010CLA332-internal/dp/B0035WQBOY

And here:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?px=FO&scriteria=AA78001

I bought three at Fry's late last year in a retail package. The sticker on the box (yes I save them  ) indicates that it's the HD31000 IDK/7K.

Does any of that match up with what you have?


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## tvmaster2

richsadams said:


> According to the NAS HTML admin page my drive's ID #'s are: HDS721010CLA332. I pulled one out and that's the model number on the drive label. That translates to the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Deskstar-7K1000-C-HDS721010CLA332-internal/dp/B0035WQBOY
> 
> And here:
> 
> http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?px=FO&scriteria=AA78001
> 
> I bought three at Fry's late last year in a retail package. The sticker on the box (yes I save them  ) indicates that it's the HD31000 IDK/7K.
> 
> Does any of that match up with what you have?


on my box, lol, I keep them as well... it's either H3IK10003272SP, or HD1D403M, which is the serial number, and there's more...on the bag it's labeled as H3D100032721S -how in earth is a consumer to know what they are buying.


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## richsadams

tvmaster2 said:


> on my box, lol, I keep them as well... it's either H3IK10003272SP, or HD1D403M, which is the serial number, and there's more...on the bag it's labeled as H3D100032721S -how in earth is a consumer to know what they are buying.


It does seem like trying to compare mattresses. 

It looks like you have this drive:

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Desks...0ORU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290220099&sr=8-1

That's different than the package I bought, but it still appears to be a Deskstar 7K1000.C based on the description. Sooo...I'm not sure what to tell you.  Hard drive specs seem to change pretty regularly due to progress and improvements (so they say) so what you have may not be as quiet, hard to say. The spec sheet for it is the same however. Go figure.


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## tvmaster2

richsadams said:


> It does seem like trying to compare mattresses.
> 
> It looks like you have this drive:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Desks...0ORU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290220099&sr=8-1
> 
> That's different than the package I bought, but it still appears to be a Deskstar 7K1000.C based on the description. Sooo...I'm not sure what to tell you.  Hard drive specs seem to change pretty regularly due to progress and improvements (so they say) so what you have may not be as quiet, hard to say. The spec sheet for it is the same however. Go figure.


Well, thanks for trying - haha - at $60, it was too good to be true I guess. Power management is workable, but the AAM readings all come back as "no supported", and that's a shame, cause' this drive sure can chatter when it wants to. Surprisingly, it stays quite cool.


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## supersnoop

I just picked up a couple of these 7K1000.C's with a manufacture date of August 2010, and I can't get anything to adjust the AAM. I tried old versions of HDDScan and the Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11. They are louder than I expected, and I can't seem to do anything about it.


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## richsadams

supersnoop said:


> I just picked up a couple of these 7K1000.C's with a manufacture date of August 2010, and I can't get anything to adjust the AAM. I tried old versions of HDDScan and the Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11. They are louder than I expected, and I can't seem to do anything about it.


Well, unfortunately it looks like Hitachi has changed the specs on these drives...both with respect to being able to adjust the AAM as well as the OOB noise levels. That's too bad because they were a good option earlier.

Would you say that the noise level would be distracting once installed and running inside a TiVo (would the TV or A/V system audio overcome the read/write noise)? Would you find it acceptable in a "normal" environment, but perhaps too loud for a bedroom...or are they now just too loud period? TIA!


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## unitron

supersnoop said:


> I just picked up a couple of these 7K1000.C's with a manufacture date of August 2010, and I can't get anything to adjust the AAM. I tried old versions of HDDScan and the Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11. They are louder than I expected, and I can't seem to do anything about it.


Are you booting from an Hitachi supplied cd image, or trying to do it through Windows?


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## supersnoop

unitron said:


> Are you booting from an Hitachi supplied cd image, or trying to do it through Windows?


Both. I've tried with HDDScan versions 3.3, 3.1, 3.0, and 2.8 (the first version where AAM seems to be available), as well as the Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11 bootable CD. I also tried a newer version of the Feature Tool, but AAM was not a menu option anymore.


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## supersnoop

richsadams said:


> Would you say that the noise level would be distracting once installed and running inside a TiVo (would the TV or A/V system audio overcome the read/write noise)? Would you find it acceptable in a "normal" environment, but perhaps too loud for a bedroom...or are they now just too loud period? TIA!


That's a tough call. It was much louder than I expected, and I'm sure it would be unacceptable in a bedroom. In an open rack in my media room, it seemed too loud. I might give it a try in an enclosed cabinet in the living room. I bet that would be okay.


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## richsadams

supersnoop said:


> That's a tough call. It was much louder than I expected, and I'm sure it would be unacceptable in a bedroom. In an open rack in my media room, it seemed too loud. I might give it a try in an enclosed cabinet in the living room. I bet that would be okay.


Thanks for that. :up: I never adjusted the AAM on two I have running in an NAS and they were very quiet out of the box, so it's obvious they've changed providing the one you have is the 7K1000.C model for sure (as the there are other 7K1000 models w/o the "C" suffix that are much noisier). If you do put it inside, let us know how it sounds. TIA!


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## jimpmc

supersnoop said:


> I just picked up a couple of these 7K1000.C's with a manufacture date of August 2010, and I can't get anything to adjust the AAM. I tried old versions of HDDScan and the Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11. They are louder than I expected, and I can't seem to do anything about it.


I had the same experience has supersnoop...bought one from newegg last week (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22-145-304 )...manufacture date shows as May-2010, but was not able to adjust AAM using HDDScan or Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11 (boot from CD). Both indicate that AAM is not supported.

Unfortunately, it is very loud as is, making a seeking noise constantly, and much louder than the stock drive in my TiVo HD was. I am going to look for a replacement if the clicking doesn't settle down and there isn't any other suggestions to change the AAM to 128.


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## unitron

jimpmc said:


> I had the same experience has supersnoop...bought one from newegg last week (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22-145-304 )...manufacture date shows as May-2010, but was not able to adjust AAM using HDDScan or Hitachi Feature Tool 2.11 (boot from CD). Both indicate that AAM is not supported.
> 
> Unfortunately, it is very loud as is, making a clicking noise constantly, and much louder than the stock drive in my TiVo HD was. I am going to look for a replacement if the clicking doesn't settle down and there isn't any other suggestions to change the AAM to 128.


In my experience a clicking noise indicates a bad or failing drive, not just a noisy one.


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## jimpmc

unitron said:


> In my experience a clicking noise indicates a bad or failing drive, not just a noisy one.


It's not really a clicking noise, just a loud on/off seek noise every 1-2 seconds that is constantly happening, presumably since it is recording the buffer.


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## unitron

jimpmc said:


> It's not really a clicking noise, just a loud on/off seek noise every 1-2 seconds that is constantly happening, presumably since it is recording the buffer.


Still sounds like something ain't right.

I'd be mighty suspicious of that drive.

You might want to think about returning it for a refund and getting a different brand and model, if possible.


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## supersnoop

These part numbers are so darn confusing. I double checked, and the two drives I purchase are indeed 7k1000.c's. Fry's had them on sale (listed as 0F10383) for $50 on the day after Christmas. They have another drive listed as the 7k1000.c for $70. As far as I can tell, it's the same drive. Mine are dated AUG-2010.

I returned the first one any bought two WD15EVDS's, which are incredibly quite. They're AV drives, and they were only $83 at Frys. The AAM was already set to 128 on those, but I did have to run wdidle3 to disable the idle timeout. For some reason, one would take the wdidle2 /d command but the other failed. Either way, those are performing perfectly in my S3's.

I just installed the Hitachi in my THD, which lives in a cabinet. AAM is unavailable on this one, too. I can still hear it, but it seems more quiet. It will be fine in the cabinet, even if I leave one of the doors open.

jimpmc


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## richsadams

Good to know. The Intellipark /d disable command doesn't seem to work on some WD drives for some reason. The recommendation is to set it to /s300 (5 minutes). That extends the timeout past the point where it's an issue for a menu restart/soft reboot. 

Did you happen to notice the manufacture date(s) on the EVDS drives?

Glad to hear they're all up and running now. Happy New Year!


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## supersnoop

I didn't notice on the drive, but I just plugged the serial numbers into WD's warranty check web page. Despite the serial numbers being 12000 apart, they both come back as 10/26/2010.

The only difference is, one I installed the TiVo image and tried to get it started in the TiVo, but it wouldn't start up, so I ran wdidle3 on it. That one wouldn't take /d, but did take /s300. The next one, I ran wdidle3 /d straight out of the static bag, and it took.


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## richsadams

Interesting...thanks for that. Nice job! :up:


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## justen_m

Is there a way to get my drive mfg date from my computer? I have three 7k1000.c drives. Two hooked up to an xpp system, one on a tivo.


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## richsadams

justen_m said:


> Is there a way to get my drive mfg date from my computer? I have three 7k1000.c drives. Two hooked up to an xpp system, one on a tivo.


Not as far as I know, at least not without opening the computer and looking at the drive's label. Although as Supersnoop noted above, it might be revealed in the registration process.


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## unitron

justen_m said:


> Is there a way to get my drive mfg date from my computer? I have three 7k1000.c drives. Two hooked up to an xpp system, one on a tivo.


You could download and burn the MFS Live CD, boot from it, and do:

hdparm -I /dev/"computer in question"*

If it doesn't give you the info you want, you'll at least have the cd and some experience using it.

*It'll be something like hda or hdb or sda or sdb, depending on total number of drives and whether regular parallel ATA/IDE or SATA


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## kinggabbo

I have the Hitachi 7K1000.C (0S02860) from Fry's and it will not let me adjust the AAM using the old or new version of the Hitachi feature too or using HDDSCAN. The packaging says basically nothing about what drive it is, the guy at Fry's told me it was the Deskstar HD31000IDK/7K which is why I got it. 

Obviously it's not that drive and this one is very loud in my Tivo with no way to turn down the AAM!!! Does anyone have a solution other than exchanging the drive for a different model?


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## richsadams

kinggabbo said:


> I have the Hitachi 7K1000.C (0S02860) from Fry's and it will not let me adjust the AAM using the old or new version of the Hitachi feature too or using HDDSCAN. The packaging says basically nothing about what drive it is, the guy at Fry's told me it was the Deskstar HD31000IDK/7K which is why I got it.
> 
> Obviously it's not that drive and this one is very loud in my Tivo with no way to turn down the AAM!!! Does anyone have a solution other than exchanging the drive for a different model?


Per some earlier posts it looks like Hitachi removed the ability to change the AAM on their most recent drives. Not much else to be done except exchange it for a quieter model. IIRC someone found a fairly quiet model and posted about it a little while back. You may want to do a search. The other option is to switch to a Western Digital GP drive.


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## imatt

The 7210 1Tb drive from Hitachi does not have the acoustic management either.
It is unbearably loud in my TivoHD in a glass-front cabinet. Constant crunching.

richsadams, you say to try a WD GP drive like the WD10EURS?


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## richsadams

imatt said:


> The 7210 1Tb drive from Hitachi does not have the acoustic management either.
> It is unbearably loud in my TivoHD in a glass-front cabinet. Constant crunching.
> 
> richsadams, you say to try a WD GP drive like the WD10EURS?


Being a dedicated A/V drive, the WD10EURS' AAM is set to 128 by default and is almost certainly quieter than the Hitachi.


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## imatt

I picked up this at my local store:
http://www.staples.com/Western-Digi...-Desktop-Hard-Drive-(7200-RPM)/product_760997

It worked like a charm after disabling the intellipark feature. Silent!


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## richsadams

imatt said:


> I picked up this at my local store:
> http://www.staples.com/Western-Digi...-Desktop-Hard-Drive-(7200-RPM)/product_760997
> 
> It worked like a charm after disabling the intellipark feature. Silent!


Congrats and thanks for that. :up:

Couple of quick questions. Did you attempt to boot up and/or restart TiVo prior to adjusting the Intellipark feature?

Did you happen to notice the model number of the hard drive - the number on the hard drive itself, not the box? It would be WD10XXXX (where the X's are letters). Also, did you note the date of manufacture (printed on the hard drive)? TIA and enjoy!


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## unitron

richsadams said:


> Congrats and thanks for that. :up:
> 
> Couple of quick questions. Did you attempt to boot up and/or restart TiVo prior to adjusting the Intellipark feature?
> 
> Did you happen to notice the model number of the hard drive - the number on the hard drive itself, not the box? It would be WD10XXXX (where the X's are letters). Also, did you note the date of manufacture (printed on the hard drive)? TIA and enjoy!


After jumping through enough hoops to get the picture on Staples site big enough to see the 16MB cache sticker on the box, I'm betting WD10EACS.

EDIT:
At least I was, but I notice that Staples has 32MB cache listed in the "product details", which would make me suspect WD10EADS, so there's no telling what WD put in there (said the guy who just returned a 2TB WD to J&R because of misleading pictures--they made good on it), although if Staples is advertising 32MB and selling 16, I'd be tempted to bring it to their attention because there's no excuse for an outfit as big as Staples not to know what they're buying and selling.


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## richsadams

unitron said:


> After jumping through enough hoops to get the picture on Staples site big enough to see the 16MB cache sticker on the box, I'm betting WD10EACS.
> 
> EDIT:
> At least I was, but I notice that Staples has 32MB cache listed in the "product details", which would make me suspect WD10EADS, so there's no telling what WD put in there (said the guy who just returned a 2TB WD to J&R because of misleading pictures--they made good on it), although if Staples is advertising 32MB and selling 16, I'd be tempted to bring it to their attention because there's no excuse for an outfit as big as Staples not to know what they're buying and selling.


I'm betting an EADS as well.


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## unitron

richsadams said:


> I'm betting an EADS as well.


If the 1TBs are like the 2s, the EADS is more expensive than both the EACS and the EARS, so it's likely not to be the EADS.

Staples is advertising this as the WDBAAY0010HNC (that's the number on the box).

The box I recently got from, and returned to, J&R, was the WDBAAY0020HNC and inside it was the WD20EACS (16MB cache, 4K "advanced format" sectors).

I think I'll drop by Staples tomorrow and see what the cache size sticker on the actual boxes say. If they have it in stock in store.


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## Stuxnet

unitron said:


> If the 1TBs are like the 2s, the EADS is more expensive than both the EACS and the EARS


EADS is LESS expensive than EARS (EADS is an older model). YMMV.


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## unitron

Stuxnet said:


> EADS is LESS expensive than EARS (EADS is an older model). YMMV.


I wish that were true for the 2TB EADS.


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## Stuxnet

unitron said:


> I wish that were true for the 2TB EADS.


At Tiger Direct the WD20EADS is $.02 cheaper, lol, until NewEgg restocks EADS (if that's possible).


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