Commodore 1541 when it runs over a copy protected sector. I still make that noise in my head when I'm waiting for something that is taking far longer than it should. (Or occasionally with my mouth, depending on who I'm around and how tired/obnoxious I'm feeling.)

What, this post was about hard drives? Well, you ever drop one of those things on your foot? I have, and can confirm they're hard AF. Next question.

beastlike wrote:

Quantum Fireball
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yA9qwWlQRxE

That would drive me crazy, especially from an IDE drive. Is this sound really sought after in retro systems?

I have a Seagate ST43400N full-height SCSI drive that makes the best assortment of sounds I've ever heard from a hard drive. Similar gurgles and such as the ST225/251's make at startup, with some deep, soft, solid thunks during seeks at times. I think it might be the voice coil actuator that does it, but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it's music to the ears 😀

My favorite hard disks when it comes to noise are the ST-225, ST251, and the ST-157A. Voice coil drives can make nice noises, but the stepper motors have always been pleasing to me.

Any Quantum hard drives greater than 1GB does make soft ticking sound when accessed. Same with Maxtor.

Cheers,

Old Conner drives for me sound the most nostalgic. I have one in my 486 for that reason.

I had that exact Connor drive in the 1st post and even when I upgraded 2 years later to a WD 1GB drive still preferred the sound of the Connor. It was a pleasant sound over other drives tick sound

beastlike wrote on 2019-12-26, 00:35:

Quantum Fireball
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yA9qwWlQRxE

I am glad mine does not grind non stop except only during heavy read/write sessions. I don't mind old hard disk sounds in an old PC but if I had to listen to a grating HDD in a modern system with SSD I'd unplug asap 🤣.

im another in favor of the st-225. You have to hear it at least once, if you've never had the opportunity.

*press power button*

"640(k) Ram installed"

chucka-chucka-chucka-chucka-chuck-chuck
beep-beep!

*bios beep*

"Starting MS-DOS..."