Silent DVD drive?

[Wasabisam]

Hey guys,

I did a quick search and didn't bring up any topics so i thought i would ask.

Heres the thing;
My computer is in my room, which is next to my parents room. the wall is thin and they can hear my pc when i burn or copy stuff off cds/dvds. Most of the time when im burning its late, and im not suppose to be awake lol. I don't have much money to spend on a new dvd drive since i just bought one. I was wondering how can i make it silent or quieter when burning/copying.

Thanks guys.

Sam

Oh and +rep to anybody who gives me a good answer which works:p

[NightrainSrt4]

I can't really think of an easy way to make a drive quieter. You could try wrapping it in sound proofing material but unless your going to cover up the bezel portion of the drive sound is going to escape from that side.

Sounds to me like your computer is on the same wall as the parents room. I would move it to the side completely opposite if you can. That should make a big difference.


Another way, because it sounds like either your parents have really sensitive ears or your drive is a monster, is to slowly over the period of a few weeks increase the nighttime ambient noise in your room. Like put on music for the couple hours your at the computer really silent the first night. Then take it up one notch every day or two. Eventually they may become accustomed to you making some noise, and by that time they wont hear the drive :p

This situation just sounds less of a 'make a silent drive' and more like a 'how do we mask/hide the sound from the parents'. But if someone has an actual idea as how to silence the drive, without going over the costs of buying a quiet then by all means go for it.


Ohh and you can try burning the disk at lower speeds. The drive won't whine at such a high pitch that way. Just take a little longer thats all.

[Wasabisam]

Yeah its on the same wall as my parents. They dont really have sensitive ears but its load when copying movies to harddrive or burning, i was copying movies before and it was loud. I dont really wanna move my pc to other side of the room. For the simple reason, my Cupboard door blocks my screen when people walk in. Im just a person that doesn't like people looking what he has got open ( not that its rude or anything )

Sam

[Wasabisam]

http://www.pccasegear.com/prod4736.htm

Are these what your talking about Minty?

If so i am going to pull my drive out tomorrow and put it on the ground fora bit , see if its quiet, because there wont be vibrations then. So if that will make it a lot quiet ill buy some of them rubber things.

Sam

[dgrmkrp]

I don't thing that you can lower the noise just my using rubber grommets.. because the bulk of the noise comes from the disc that spins at more than 10k rpm and vibrating, internally.. so, you have to close the unit completely to mask the inner vibrations.. or use a quiet drive ;) usually this have a more complex dampening and self-balancing mechanics, a rubber o-ring on the tray door, suspended internals.. if you really want to stay up and burn dvds in total silence, check silentpcreview.com too :)

[Luke122]

Antec ships silicone grommets to mount the drives to the case, and this makes a huge difference in vibrations transfer to the case. Aside from that, make sure the drive is mounted using 4 screws, and that there are no loose components in/on/around the case.

[Wasabisam]

Yeah hmmm.
On the same topic, is there a way to when you hit the open button, it like makes a bit of noise doing that because the motor spins up then stops then spins then stops again. Can you lower the voltage or something so it opens/closes slower?

EDIT:
I saw on a website that they hold the HDD and the Optical Drive, in mid air using like elastic or something. Would that stop much noise?

[Mach]

As your drive spins up, especially when burning, you get more noise. The easy answer is to slow down your drive, especially if you have extra time while you sleep. That will solve part of the problem.

See Deco box (http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/decobox/) for info on how one person used baffling to stop pc noise in their mod.

See Silent PC Review for ideas on how to silence your HD and DVD (http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7&topicdays=0&start=150)


Noise reduction comes in two forms, dampening and baffles. Think of your DVD as a bell. You can put your finger on the bell to stop it ringing or put it in an insulated box so you can't hear it ringing. (You could put it in a vacuum but the compressor noise would likely be louder than your PC).

Baffles are likely better suited than dampening for the noise that you are hearing. Can you pull your DVD drive out of the case and put it in a box? A foam core box with egg crate foam (closed cell foam works best). See the deco box link for how he baffled his crate and the inverter noise. That's what you need to do with your DVD.

If you cannot acoustically isolate the DVD, you can try dampening but it will likely not be as effective as baffling.

The DVD spins and vibrates the DVD player which transfers to your case. Dampening blocks vibration just like putting your finger on the bell. You can mechanically isolate using rubber grommets or elastic can help to keep the vibrations from getting to your case and creating more noise. This works well for HDs and to some extent CDs and DVDs.

You can also mass load; Increasing the weight of the DVD ROM and your case, reduces vibration. You can also bulk up the DVD ROM using dampening materials to provide "mass load" so it's too heavy to resonate.

Car audio stores sell things like dynamat (expensive) or raamat (not as expensive). It's the same stuff as the computer stores sell for eliminating pc noise. You can also use similar roofing material you find at your local DIY. Just make sure it doesn't have asphalt in it or every time your computer heats up your room will smell like new blacktop.

Edit: I just realized most of this was already said...don't mind me

[Stockholm1984]

Basically, the best idea I'd have would be to isolate it from the case as much as possible (essentially what everyone else has said! :)). Any vibration caused within the drive is going to be amplified as it passes through the metal of the case, possibly through the desk and to the floor as well if there isn't much absorbant material between the system and the ground. Using rubber grommets between the drive and the case will help as well as possibly raising the case off the desk surface with some insulating matting. The latter will also reduce any vibration caused by the other noisy things in the case (fans, HDs etc.) though it might not be amazingly noticable because, like dgrmkrp said, a lot of the noise comes from the disc itself moving within the drive so a higher priced drive would be the only way to stop it completely. One other thought though, make sure the side panels, drive bays are all screwed in tightly as the vibration caused by the drive may be amplified even more if it causes a panel to move about.

[si-skyline]

jsut been reading thisand its unlucky for some xD but i might beable to point you in the right directon abit. i dunno...

anyway the drive on my laptop is cool.. it has a acoustic mode and the drive then is much quieter.. but this feature came with the laptop so i just posted incase it got one of the other fellas gears working :P

[progbuddy]

Get a new DVD drive. 35 bucks for a good one with lightscribe.

Also, maybe screwing it in a bit tighter, using rubber washers, and placing it in a different slot may prevent vibrations within the case.

[NightrainSrt4]

I don't think any of those cheaper drives are really going to suit his needs that much. When they burn at full speed most still let off that high pitched sound that you hear quite audibly if the room is really quiet. A cheaperish drive isn't going to fix that issue. The disk is spinning seriously fast.

I think hes getting some of the noise from vibration, and most of it from the actual sound of the drive spinning up. If you have room, I would go with one of the baffling ideas, that seems to work well.

My first ideas were more along the lines of someone who didn't have money to buy either a new drive or lots of mats to make it quiet.

If you don't have the money for stuff, 1.) move around the furniture/computer and 2.) burn at a much slower speed. This will make a huge difference in the sound, but it will take you much longer to burn. So its a trade off.

If youve got the money, get a silent/quiet drive, or try the baffling technique.