How to quiet hard drives in Antec 300?

[dealmaster]

Hey guys, I just put together a HTPC and am using an Antec 300 for the case. The only problem is that hard drives that used to be super quiet in my P180 are now making very loud noises while seeking, and I think it's because the drives are in direct contact with the steel of the case, there's no rubber or silicon grommets that came with the case to muffle the sound.

I tried to wedge some silicon in there, but the drives sit so flush with the mounting bays there's hardly any room to fit them in (maybe 1/16th of an inch total wiggle room, if that), so what can I do to quiet them down?

I went to Lowe's and looked at their rubber washers, but most seemed too thick/too large/had holes too large to work in this application.

I don't really want to mess with drive suspension with bungees unless it's a last resort, so if anyone has any advice, I'd be all ears. I've considered getting an adapter and mounting it in a 5.25" bay, but that's kind of a stop-gap and wouldn't solve the problem for good as I plan on adding more drives in the future.

 

[semiconductorslave]

You can buy a cheap internal enclosure that puts the drive into a 5" bay if you have one to spare. I bought one for I think around 15$, is aluminum and has rubber grommets in the sides. There are thermal pads that line the inside to transfer the heat. I used this in my first HTPC build with an old WD 120JB and boy did that make a difference! No more high pitched whine, and could barely hear the clicking. All the rubberband, grommet, silicon in the world wont equal that solution.

Note: most of the silent enclosures like this are for 7800RPM drives only, not 10000RPM, but HTPC use on a drive is minimal. Make sure you turn off file indexing for the drive too, it is pointless on a HTPC.

If you need to know the exact brand, I will look tonight and post.