[mythtv-users] Quiet, reliable hard drives

[Mark Wedel]

On 12/11/2017 01:44 PM, Hika van den Hoven wrote:
> Hoi Tim,
> 
> Monday, December 11, 2017, 10:19:52 PM, you wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
>>   ---- On Mon, 11 Dec 2017 20:48:23 +0000 Mark Wedel <mwedel at sonic.net> wrote ----
>   >>
>   >>   Any recommendations for a quiet & reliable hard drive for mythtv?  SSD would
>   >> fit the bill, but at 2 TB capacity (what I'm looking at), still a bit pricey.
>   >>
>   >>   I'm currently running 2 machines - a system with enterprise quality HD that
>   >> stores the data in a far way room (drives going on 5 years of operation and
>   >> still strong) and a frontend/main linux computer with all SSD.  Ideally, I'd
>   >> like to consolidate, but those enterprised HDs are quite noisy, and I like the
>   >> relatively quietness I have now.
>   >>
>   >>   Mythtv pretty much never records more than 1 thing at a time.  The storage is
>   >> also used for zoneminder & other minor storage use.
>   >>
>   >>   I'm tempted by the 2.5" lap top drives - those generally seem quieter & lower
>   >> power, but I'm not sure if they'd be up to long term use.  Though the Firecuda
>   >> comes with a 5 year warranty, suggesting some degree of robustness.
>   >>
>   >>   I currently mirror all of my data, and I'd probably want to do that with the
>   >> new setup.  I'll probably free up an SSD, so can use that as read/write cache.
>   >>
>   >>   Looking for thoughts/suggestions.
>   >>
>   >>   Thanks.
> 
>> i too would like to fully SSD my home server, but a raid1 of 4TB's
>> is prohibitly expensive for a nicety.
>> are you interested in a new case? best advice i can give is one
>> with HDD vibration kits. some sort of rubber mounted mechanism really is the way to go.
> 
>> i personally go for WD or Hitachi for mechanical. fwiw, crucial for SSD.
> 
>> aside from performance, i've not had much issue between 2.5 or 3.5
>> drives, they've all been much of a muchness for reliability.
> 
>> your setup sounds similar to mine. I'm running a Pentium G3240, 6GB
>> ram, ssd boot, 2x 4tb WD Red in raid1, and the quietest 2.5" drive i
>> could find for mythtv recordings which turned out to be a spare
>> 250gb WD laptop HDD. The Reds had an annoying churning noise when
>> mythtv recording. ZM runs as a partition on the raid1 Red to go with file server.
> 
> My backend has 4 4T WDreds and I do not really hear them. The sound I
> mostly hear are the fans to keep the system cool. Also why bother
> about a little bit noise on your backend, it does not need to be in a
> room you normally use and if it is a little bigger machine you do not
> even want it there for its looks! Just put it somewhere with enough
> ventilation and out of sight and hearing.
> 
> A frontend is something different.

  That is one reason I was also thinking 2.5" drives - there is the drive noise, 
as well as associated noise, like cooling requirements.  2.5" should generate 
less heat, thus need less cooling, and then also less noise.  It is a total 
system problem.  Quietest hard drives in the world are not useful if the cooling 
fans make a lot of noise.

  In my case, I want to get down to 1 system that is backend + frontend + 
general linux machine, for a variety of reasons.  The system is more than 
capable of doing that in terms of cpu & memory - its just storage that is the issue.

  The 2 TB HDDs currently in the file server are Hitachis, and as said, going 
strong, but very noisy.  I know when they are working as I can hear the seeks 
(and this during activity, so this is not a head parking issue)

  I think I actually might have an old laptop HDD, from when I updated my laptop 
to an SSD.  I should plug that in and see how it goes.