[gmcc]

So, if you want a Seagate you should get one which they have set up at the factory for quiet rather than highest performance.

I just wanted to add that I have a 200G Seagate in my PC, model ST3200820AS. It was advertised as being some sort of "whisper" quiet, and it Is unless you do anything that causes the head to seek. Then it more resembles marbles in a garbage can.

Not a big deal for my PC but it would be pretty irritating in the living room I think.

George

 

[gmcc]

Thx for that update.

I'm totally staying away from Seagate and sticking with mainly WD

But to confuse the issue a bit, at work where I maintain (among other things) 150 or so various servers and desktops, I see a lot more WD failures than Seagate. For utility use like that I still buy Seagate almost exclusively. It's just for this particular application that I think the noise could be a problem.

[edited to say: Seagate is apparently not noisy if one buys the right model (DB35 series) for this application. See info on down in the thread.

 

[gmcc]

Unless you are buying a Seagate DB 25 drive which is tuned for DVR's. .

I'd take your word for it, but that is why I did provide the model # of a drive I bought for my home computer, where the head stepping noise is much more noticeable than in a work environment where the background racket is higher to start with.

I'll likely research this a bit before I buy something to upgrade my series 2 to a larger drive because in general I do like Seagate drives for their longevity.

 

[gmcc]

Seagate DB 25 drive

I just took a look through Seagate's current products and don't see anything with any reference to DB 25. Is this in a current series of Seagate stuff?

 

[gmcc]

If you use the mfsCopy function in winMFS to copy the old drive to a new, larger drive, your recorded programs will be preserved. At the end of the mfsCopy operation, you'll be asked if you want to expand the new drive to use its larger capacity. It's all done quite easily if one uses Spike's winMFS.

I'd get a drive which is already factory set for quiet head seeks or one which supports user setting of acoustic management. That means be careful about Seagates since you don't get to set acoustic managment on their drives. If you want a Seagate, get one which is already factory set for quiet operation.

I finally had some free time this week and got around to doing this and I must say, it went very well without a problem. Well, there were some problems but none related to MFSLive but rather to a couple of bad CD's and one dead CD player.

I used a 160G drive as the replacement because I had it in stock, which made it pretty much free for the moment and I'm not sure I need or want much more than that anyway. I was slightly worried that the drive might make too much racket for the living room but I don't hear it at all once in the case. (it was not a made-for-this drive, just a Seagate ST3160023A Barracuda)

GMcC

 

[gmcc]

I finally had some free time this week and got around to doing this and I must say, it went very well without a problem. Well, there were some problems but none related to MFSLive but rather to a couple of bad CD's and one dead CD player.

I used a 160G drive as the replacement because I had it in stock, which made it pretty much free for the moment and I'm not sure I need or want much more than that anyway. I was slightly worried that the drive might make too much racket for the living room but I don't hear it at all once in the case. (it was not a made-for-this drive, just a Seagate ST3160023A Barracuda)

GMcC

Reply to myself just to get this in the thread: My upgrade noted above is working mostly trouble free, except for an occasional few moments of pixelization from time to time in various recordings.

I can't really know if this is due to the drive I used, or the CATV system getting marginal from time to time. I suppose if it continues I might break down and buy a specific drive for it and do it over (I still have my original drive stored in a safe place).

GMcC

 

[gmcc]

Personally I wouldn't use the Western Digital as I see their failure rate being much higher in my place of business

Yup... I don't buy WD for work anymore and in fact I stick with Seagate for just the reason you mentioned.