540 Air: HDD noise (hot swap bays)

Has anyone come up with any solutions for somehow quieting the noise of the HDDs in the main cabinet (hot swap bays.) I think because they are basically sitting on the bottom of the case there's a lot of resonance occurring when they are being accessed.

I have a WD 1502FAEX in one of the hot swap bays, and it's perfectly quiet.

 

What HD are you using, and can you feel them vibrating when you hold them in your hand while they're running?

 

RodeoGeorge

Has anyone come up with any solutions for somehow quieting the noise of the HDDs in the main cabinet (hot swap bays.)

No ones complained about it before.

Running 2 WD raptors. Only noisy when the drives are accessing info, obviously.

Has anyone come up with any solutions for somehow quieting the noise of the HDDs in the main cabinet (hot swap bays.) I think because they are basically sitting on the bottom of the case there's a lot of resonance occurring when they are being accessed.

 

hdd create the most noise in a computer aside from fans running full tilt

this is a problem with most any case and the best cure really is high quality drives

you can press on the drive to see if its in the drive and or resonating in the case.

Has anyone come up with any solutions for somehow quieting the noise of the HDDs in the main cabinet (hot swap bays.) I think because they are basically sitting on the bottom of the case there's a lot of resonance occurring when they are being accessed.

 

I have the same problem with this case and a hdd resonating like a bomber airplane

I have the same problem with this case and a hdd resonating like a bomber airplane

 

your hard drive when vibrating will make a rattle every time so the issue isnt the case but the drive...

An alternative if you're sensitive to this type of noise would be to use a 3.5"-to-5.25" drive bay adapter designed specifically to dampen 3.5" drive noise.

 

Great suggestion, especially if you are trying to build a quiet passive set-up. I had the same problem with an audible vibration I couldn't track. Turned out to be the lone HDD. I swapped in a very old, dying drive. Problem vanished. I decided to go all SSD in pursuit of quiet, but I wish I had thought of the above suggestion at the time. I have some old Icy-Dock boxes lying around. It's also a very inexpensive way to add a finished look to the bottom of the 540.

When I first got the Air 540 I had to WD drives (and no noise issues with them) in the hot swap bays but both crashed, got 4+ years out of them, and replaced them with a Samsung 840 evo and a new WD blue 1TB. I got lots of vibration noise... I found that if i pull the drive out and squeeze the bracket that keeps the hot swap in, the noise level goes down. I seem to have to do this once a month, I have only had this problem since i replaced my old drives and using a drive bay adapter isn't an option for me since both drive bays are taken. Optical drive in one bay and fan controller in the other.

I'm running a WD 1TB Black drive and the only noise that I hear is the drive reading and writing, but it's nothing out of the ordinary from the noise that I've heard in previous cases. Perhaps your toolless trays are sitting a little loose in the mounts or your drives have some unusual vibrations going on. Whatever the case, that's not normal for the 540.

I took my hdd and moved it to the back side of the 540 and mounted it just above the psu with screws... operating temps are higher for it but acceptable. Odd thing when i did this the noise from the water pump quieted down.. actually thought it wasn't working properly because it has been noisy from day one.