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Anyone here use a 160 GB Western Digital for an upgrade?
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Posted by: chris1

Has anyone here installed a 160 GB Western Digital (160BB) as a single drive in a TiVo? How noisy is the drive? How hot does it get?

Posted by: weaknees

Those drives are a bit noisier than average, but more importantly, they are a lot hotter than average. Why not go with Samsung or Maxtor?

Michael

Posted by: Bluewookie

quote:
Originally posted by weaknees
Those drives are a bit noisier than average, but more importantly, they are a lot hotter than average. Why not go with Samsung or Maxtor?

Michael

That sounds like a bit of an exaggeration to me.

I've got a Hughes SD-DVR40 with a WD 160 GB and a WD 120 GB, and I've never seen the temp above 34C

I also have a Hughes HDVR2 with a WD 120 GB, and only the stock fan, and I'e never seen it over 39C.

Posted by: Hopeless

quote:
Originally posted by Bluewookie
That sounds like a bit of an exaggeration to me.

I agree, but I will say that I like the Samsung drives a lot. They're very quiet and pretty cheap! I've used several and have never had a problem. In my admittedly limited experience, they've performed better than Maxtor and Western Digital drives.

Posted by: weaknees

OK - maybe we just hear from the people who have problems, but we get emails frequently asking about overheating in units. 9 times out of 10, those people have WD drives. Of course, it may just be the popularity of those drives and the rebates associated with them, but we get virtually none from users of Samsungs, and very few from Maxtor users (we get some from Seagate users at times).

Michael

Posted by: Nihilator

I personally am using four WD drives in two of my four working TiVos (the other two are using single Maxtor drives). The dual-120GB setup runs hotter than I'd like (45-ish), but then again, there are two drives in there, and the Sony has, for whatever reason, *always* run hotter than the Philipses, even when it only had one drive in it (42 degrees). The 60/80 setup runs closer to the high 30's. The single-drive Philips units, using Maxtors, are in the low- to mid-30's.

For what it's worth, I've only ever had one drive fail on me, and that was a 120GB Maxtor. It was under warranty, and was promptly replaced by Maxtor.

--Chris

Posted by: skyler4321

I don’t think the WD drives have FDB motors. The WD drives are running about 1 bel louder than the Seagate or the Maxtor. An increase of 1 bel is about three times the noise. My first new 160GB Maxtor DiamondMax plus 9 died after one month and then a new 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax plus 9 died after 2 weeks. I lost every thing twice in 6 weeks. I am now trying Seagate drives. Unfortunately the new Seagate’s don’t have adjustable acoustics. They are very quiet drives though I can hear the head seeks a little. I have noticed that the Seagate drive are running a lot cooler to the touch and the Tivo temp is down 2 deg. C. Only time will tell.

Posted by: skyler4321

WD states their drive acoustic specs in dBA. The WD Caviar SE at idle produces 34dBA. 1bel is = to 10dBA. So 34dBA is 3.4 bel The Seagate Barracuda only produces 2.5 bel at idle. An increase of one bel corresponds to a three fold increase of sound.

Posted by: danp2000

I have both Samsung and Maxtor drives in my TiVo's. Having only purchased 2 Samsung (5400 spindle) drives I can't really speak to reliability only that I have never had one fail (very cool and quiet though).

I just had a 3 week old Maxtor DiamondMax 9 Plus fail but it was replaced promptly by the retailer I purchased it from.

The other issue I have with Maxtor drives is they get locked by the TiVo whenever I put them back into service and have to be qunlocked before I can work on them from the PC (I heard this has to do with firmware that Maxtor started using after they purchased Quantum).

Posted by: TivoDoctor

I have tried both Maxtor and Western Digital drives. The Western Digital drives do seem louder to me. They also seem to have a high pitched whine which is quite annoying. The AMSET program makes a significant difference in quieting the Maxtor drives. None of my Maxtor or Western Digital drives have failed.

Posted by: MaK10

i got the 160gb western digital yesterday for my upgrade.. all went smooth.. i cant really hear anything louder, only because there is so much crap running in the room anyways... not sure about temp.. ill check it.... but ive had no problems so far... day 1 and counting :P

checked the temp.... after 2 days, its fluxuated between 34-38c thats the highest ive seen so far... so far so good...

Posted by: sahurd

I just upgraded my Series 2 DTivo from the stock Maxtor 40GB drive to a WD 120GB drive. There definitely was more noise with the new drive (sounds like reads/writes/seeks). I then took the drive out & ran the generic "ataac" acoustic mgmt utility on the drive. It definitely was quieter after that, but still a bit noisier than before.

FYI, Steve

Posted by: Willie1961

Thanks for all the help and good information.

I have 2 DirecTivo's scheduled for install on 2-18-2004.

I ordered a 160gb Samsung drive from Newegg.com for 103.00 (free shipping). If that goes hitch free, I will prolly order another for the 2nd Tivo.

Willie