On Fri, Nov 19, 2004 at 05:18:27PM +0100, Benjamin Walkenhorst wrote:

> There's a 2GB Baracuda inside, maybe it's been replaced.  It's
> *definitely* the cause of the noise. At startup, before the HDD is
> turned on, the machine is pretty quiet. =)

<snip>

> Well I don't mind the speed really, the machine is - compared to my
> desktop PC - so damn slow it doesn't really matter, anyway. =) But
> that noise... It sounds like something in between a circular saw and a
> dentist's drill.

Yup, the early Baracuda drives from Seagate were quite noisy, I guess
it was figured that most of them would be put in servers in a machine
room, where no one would really notice the extra whine.  I mean, come
on, why would anyone need a whole gig of storage in a desktop, even 2
gigs?  Woah. ;)

They're loud, sound like a jet engine spinning up, and come to think
of it, yeah probably like a dentist's drill when going full speed.  In
their day, we put up with the noise, since they couldn't be beat for
speed.  These days?  Hardly seems worth it. =)

-- 
Michael Parson
mparson@bl.org