Good way to isolate hard drive sound
A few possibilities:
- Use an anti-vibration mounting frame (it will isolate the vibrations from the case)
for best results, you will need a 5.25-slot for a 3.5 harddrive.
- Use anti-vibration pins, not the "normal screws" for mounting the hdd.
- You can isolate the whole case.
- Buy a new case. (reviews out there will help you to find a good one)
- Find out if your hdd supports silent mode. (but , then it will be a little slower)
user3107377 has some great suggestions. I’ll mention the steps I used for my system. I did a few simple (and cheap) things to cut down the vibrations and sound from my system (which came mostly from the hard-drive and fans), and sometimes I forget it’s even on (at least until it heats up and the CPU fan kicks in or I defrag my older, worn out drive).
- Insert rubber washers between the drive and drive case
- Don’t tighten screws all the way (which only helps to conduct the vibrations to the case). Of course you need rubber washers for this to work well, per the previous point
- Mount a 3.5" drive in a 5.25" bracket to have more control
- Use rubber feet on the bottom of the case instead of the hard-plastic feet that come with cheaper cases
- Place the case on a soft surface instead of a hard wood desk (free under-padding remnants from a carpet store works great)
And yes, you’ll probably need to leave some ventilation holes for airflow for proper cooling, unless you opt to use water-cooling, in which case you can not only completely close up the case, but you can forgo fans altogether which reduces system noise even further. As others have mentioned, you can also engage your hard-drive’s AAM (automatic acoustic management) function if it supports it (though be aware that while it reduces noise, it also reduces performance slightly), or just use an SSD which is completely silent.
If you completely encase the HDD then heat will become an issue.
If you leave ventilation then sound will escape
Catch 22.
Your best solution is SSD - completely silent.