You guys remember the clicking grinding noise old computers made? The drive head seeking while writing/reading, I think...

You guys remember the clicking grinding noise old computers made? The drive head seeking while writing/reading, I think. I'm thinking of building several small machines with old drives and running them headless as freenet nodes just to hear that soothing noise from my childhood.

How the fuck do I get a drive that sounds right? I think modern HDDs have some kind of mechanism to prevent this noise?
Do I just need to track down specific old models, or is there a way to get any old HDD to do it? (Something to do with power management? Head parking? I've seen the term "acoustic management a few times...)

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=033HCg3-Ghw
github.com/vain/ratterplatter
youtu.be/OPoawKOHjQ4
youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9GIRe2z7k
youtube.com/watch?v=vkTjFzbwhp8
youtube.com/watch?v=3PY4U6lEYDY
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

>Do I just need to track down specific old models, or is there a way to get any old HDD to do it?
What are you even talking about? Drives will seek as long as they're in use.

Yeah but they don't make that sound like they used to while doing it. I'm after the sound.

go to goodwill they all kinds of old computers for good prices

No shit, but why do you think only specific drives will have it? Pretty much anything pre-1999 (and many pre-2k5) are reasonably audible. Just run some old high-end shit for whatever job you wanted to do.

Wd blacks do it

thanks, guys

>You guys remember the clicking grinding noise old computers made?

My computer still makes that noise.

It's a 2010 Samsung HDD and I have my case open all the time.

I can't stand completely silent SSDs because with them I never know if there's intensive drive activity since a lot of devices don't even have drive activity LEDs anymore and using programs for that is annoying if you could just HEAR it.

whenever I "have to" switch to SSD I will try to find ways to make drive activity audible, like simulating a silent rattling or something.

Just get a program that shows disk activity in the taskbar, fuck.

>tfw can still remember the exact sequence of clicks and whirrs my old mac LC II internal HDD made when booting up

Do what I did, get an old HDD a few transistors and wire your HDD LED to the drive arm.

>computer freezes, you don't know what's going on

normal HDD:
>intense rattling noise from HDD activity-> seems like it is horribly taxed with something like ram swapping or malware, you can act accordingly

taskbar disk activity indicator:
>shows nothing because UI is frozen, too -> you don't know what the shit is going on

You can't beat old MFM 5.25inch drives tho.

fuck yes.

I'm so glad that I still have some RLL and MFM drives around. I just hope they still work. last time I used them was like in 2003 or something.

youtube.com/watch?v=033HCg3-Ghw

I just noticed something

>he didn't park them before turning off

No need to spend money OP: github.com/vain/ratterplatter

>whenever I "have to" switch to SSD I will try to find ways to make drive activity audible, like simulating a silent rattling or something.
>Just get a program that shows disk activity in the taskbar, fuck.

Hmm... is there a program that monitors drive activity and plays back samples of old HDD sounds? that would be a nifty solution.

>the_blini_ends_here.png

Speak of the devil!
>Linux
...and the search goes on

St-225, I have the exact same drive in my 8088 clone.

>>intense rattling noise from HDD activity-> seems like it is horribly taxed with something like ram swapping or malware, you can act accordingly
If your entire PC is frozen up due to shitware you have other problems besides this.

yeah, the old Seagate harddrives were INSANELY popular

The most soothing noise was the soft clicking of the 1-inch 20gb hdd inside my old creative Zen mp3 player. I miss that thing.

you could do it with a simple script, running a hidden vlc instance with the sound of your choice in loop and using the std i/o interface of vlc with your script to control the volume/playback.

Yup, I even bought some as backups if this one fails.

Doing it in software is no use if the system is under huge loads and can't even execute your script, also it's just a waste of resources.

Just do like or

I know what your talking about.
The Seagate ST251-1 20MB MFM hard disk drive had the most distinctive sound of any drive technology, and it's sounds have been used in several games including Duke Nukem 3D. I still have one.

forgot YT link for those who've never heard this beauty.
youtu.be/OPoawKOHjQ4

>waste of resources
like 0.001% of your CPU time once vlc is started. and unless your soundfile is very, very large your system will never be under too much load that it couldnt play back a sound. another way would be to solder a midi-box between each data line of the sata-connector on your hdd.
>a few transistors and wire your HDD LED to the drive arm
doesnt sound like you actually did it.
>HDD LED
referring to the one on your computer-case? so actually the one from the motherboard, so it would actually triggered by any activity from any of the SATA-Controllers? or did your ssd come with an LED?
also "just driving the arm" well, that sounds easier than it is (besides half the audible sound comes from the spinning of the discs). unless when you say "a few transistors" you actually mean a microcontroller.

Jup, I love mine, sounds freaking epic.

I first made this for an old computer I upgraded to a CF card drive because the old hard drive was broken, wanted to make it sound like a real old computer.
I'm no tech expert, but just get an old hard drive, find the head pins on the PCB, connect a transistor and the 5V rail to the pins and use the motherboard HDD LED to trigger it, screw it tight in your case so the sound travels better and only connect the power and the HDD LED wires, the LED on the case will still work too if you just intercept it.

Probably would be easier to make something that directly tells the drive to move the head like it would actually do if it's working, but this way it sounds quite good too and the drive actually does spin, you also don't have to worry about different drives if you have a bunch in your system, they all make the old drive do noises.

As I said, I'm no expert, the transistor I used was the same I used for LED lights that blink with music what I ordered a bunch by part name from a guide years ago.

This looks really cool. I want a dedicated shitposting machine like this.

there are plenty of lockup-type events where it can be helpful to know what your drive is doing, such as OS installs or the occasional taxing application

Buy mine, it's up for sale!

OP here how much

The one in the picture is an 8088 (XT clone) with upgrades(NEC V20, 8087 co-processor, Ethernet NIC, SB1.5 sound, EGA graphics, 1.44mb floppy, MFM 20MB HDD), MDA monitor, keyboard, serial mouse,FX-80 clone printer and all the plastics have been retrobright.
The last offer I got was 200€ but I told him to wait because I want to see what kind of offers I get, kind of off putting to sell it.

Can your 8088 run 8088 MPH demo? Or do you not have a proper CGA card in there?

>MDA
ω mmmmm~~

supposed to be heart-eyes

Look for basically any ATA 80GB hard drive. Get a ATA to SATA bridge and you are golden.

>implying I don't have a 3.5" floppy drive
>implying I still don't hear that click when Malwarebytes fires up
>implying I would ever leave A:chan behind

Yes, a perfect monitor, sharp Hercules/MDA graphics, plus this card can also display CGA and EGA in 16 shades of green on that monitor.

8088 MPH ran fine with SIMCGA on the old Hercules card, I bet it will run just as fine with the EGA card I have inside it now even on the MDA monitor.

and ATA speeds too... useless...

>A:
fking pleb

>How the fuck do I get a drive that sounds right?

Used/antique electronics shops.

"Electronics recycling centers"

Hamfests

Craigslist

Sidewalk (sometimes people just put this shit out on trash day)

E-Waste recycling day in your town. Some have it in the town-hall parking lot

Surplus government computer stuff

also

Calling around to various companies. Where I once worked, we donated a Commodore PET to a museum. It was used to punch CNC paper tapes until the company moved to PCs and CAD.

Wouldn't be so sure, it's coded for such specific hardware that even different CGA cards might not work.

Any program that does this gets the boot ASAP.

I will try again sometime, I'm pretty positive it will work, even if it won't work on the EGA cards backwards compatible CGA modes, it will most likely work on Hercules emulation mode with SIMCGA again, that card has hardware level emulation for Hercules.

interesting thread.

fills me with joy that there are still some left who are not as ignorant as the usual majority of Sup Forums.

Something something Serial Experiments Lain.

No way, I just moved my Serial Experiments Lain folder. This is some funky shit.

as I already said, sounds like bullshit

OP here I just started watching SEL yesterday.

Cyberpunk is coming back into the collective unconscious. ETA to normie fad 6 years screencap me

autism is cyclical, lad

Depends where you live, some places are pretty cyberpunk already.

agreed. nippon, parts of china and gorea are pretty cyberpunk. i really want to waste some time and money in shenznen.

youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9GIRe2z7k

I'm pretty sure those ones already autopark mechanically on power loss, taken a few apart in my time.
Guess it could be always safer to do it anyways.

>I'm pretty sure those ones already autopark mechanically on power loss

you might want to check again

unless you are moving the drive physically theres no reason to even park it

OP here

desu I'm the guy with the hanging computer- I never park my drives and they're fine.

This one? Right?

Yeah, although atm it's sitting on my desk so the AC hits it.

Oh you guys.

You don't have to park harddrives anymore since the IDE times.
The old MFM and RLL drives though were prone to hard crash when you nudged the desktop hard enough with the HDD not parked.

IDE and newer drives parked automatically the second they stop getting juice.

That's what we are talking about, the ST-225 and others in the video where a MFM drives.

Time stamp or nice b8 m8.

Apology for potato- note rug and Apple /// monitor

Forgot pic

LMFAO, thanks

Drives always will seek in use, but I understand you want the noise back.

You could always listen to a recording of it, but you could also put something like a WD400 (the largest drives I own that still make the noise loud enough to be heard) and throw it in a modern computer and put some games or large files on it.

You could also get a SCSI adapter and put 14 drives on the chain and goof around with those, but the bearing noise is ridiculous.

Pre-2004 I've found, mostly lower capacity.

Activity LED to visually check, and splice an 8 ohm speaker to it and listen to the ticks when the LED comes on and off.

>tfw I've still got a Mac LCII that makes clicks and whirrs while booting up

Can't put an MFM drive in a modern computer, all the MFM and RLL controllers I've seen are ISA (be it 8 or 16 bit) or EISA in one case.

Got any ST251-MLC2s?

mfw now your computer will roll off the table when you turn it on

>Linux
DAMMIT

Good picture of the screen updating itself there... What is that, a Video7 or a Paradise card?

So were Miniscribes, specifically the 3650. I saw those a lot, way back when.

Dem stepper motor noises, squeaky af but sound great to the plain fan noise of today.

Connect amplifier to activity indicator's pins.

Fuck, where? I've been wanting a PC clone for ages now!

>200 euros
DAMMIT, got anything cheaper?

Still got the 3.5 on the front of my PC... Ever put Windows 10 on a computer with a 5.25 drive? Always fun.

EGA should work.

I know, Parallel is much faster than Serial data transfers.

I know! He doesn't even have B:!

>antique electronics shops
None around here, dammit
>"Electronics recycling centers"
Already been, they tend to have Pentiums, but I want older computers now...
>Hamfests
None as far as I know...
contd. next

Why are some of your replies such failed trolling attempts?

>all me

contd.

>craigslist
!do not want!
>sidewalk
No PCs though, I've looked...
>E-Waste
Don't have that here...
>Surplus government stuff
Where?
>Calling around to companies
That's a bit difficult. Most of the time I've gotten Pentium III era stuff, nothing 486 or earlier...

Restores my faith in humanity a bit.

RF interference much

SCSI is always the best.

ST251 was the first to do this, I believe.

when you park the heads, they go into a specific position before shutting down so as to not damage the heads or the magnetic coating on the platters while the drive is spinning up / down.

Anything with a voice coil will park itself 99.9999999% of the time.

This.

OP mentioned ceiling computer, said he never parks his drives and they're fine.

Image quality cannot be found here.
Get some lights, man!

Which ones?

mfw they probably are

>I know, Parallel is much faster than Serial data transfers.
But we are talking about SATA here, the parallel in ATA was just a few wires shared with other devices, SATA being way faster as a serial connection.

>ST251 was the first to do this, I believe.
No, it still used an motor to move the head. Only magnetic ones started doing that.

>when you park the heads, they go into a specific position before shutting down so as to not damage the heads or the magnetic coating on the platters while the drive is spinning up / down.
When you park the heads, they go all the way out, so if the drive get shock and the head touches the platter, it won't matter that much and corrupt data on it.

SATA is faster because of clock speed (simplistically).
In theory, Parallel data transfers are faster because:
1 full byte per cycle for parallel
1 bit per cycle for serial
In theory, if you could run PATA at the same rate as SATA, it would be no less than 8 times faster.

Seagate ST251 auto parks, go get one and turn it off, still tried to park itself on shutoff.

>When you park the heads, they go all the way out, so if the drive get shock and the head touches the platter, it won't matter that much and corrupt data on it.
On new drives, but on anything made before 2009 moved it to the middle of the disk, that way the fewest cylinders would have the chance to be damaged.

Yes, ATA could be way faster then it is, but then it would need modifications on the hardware level.
Never argued with you about that, just saying that SATA is faster.

>On new drives, but on anything made before 2009
No, I'm actually talking about drives like tMGM drives, like the ST251 you're talking about.

>Seagate ST251 auto parks, go get one and turn it off, still tried to park itself on shutoff.
It can't, because the second it loses power the head stays where it is, you do know it's being run by an electric motor?

MFM* finger slip there

It is indeed.

It's run by a stepper motor, yes, but by the power of 1980s engineering power, the heads auto park when it is shut off (at least moved to the middle of the platter).

Remind me how many IBM DeskStar drives park off-disk. They park in the middle (near the spindle) so as to damage as little of the disk as is possible.

Laptop drives were the first to introduce off-disk parking with a small plastic ramp on the side of the platters for the heads to move onto and off of on spin up / down.

Understandable

See this for the ST251:
youtube.com/watch?v=vkTjFzbwhp8

From 0:29 to 0:35, heads parking on power down.

>MarWi16A is actually a really good channel, excellent choice of screenshot my man

>*clank*
>wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
>chunk-ca-chunk-unk-unk-unk-unk-unk
>brrrr-verrr

>BEEP

>clickclickclickclickclick
>clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick
>clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick

>tada.wav

Just get a PC speaker from an old case and wire it to the harddrive LED pins on the mother board.
BEEEEPP BEP BBBEEEEEEEEEEPPP BEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPP

Quantum Bigfoot

youtube.com/watch?v=3PY4U6lEYDY

Get a WD Black, you won't regret it.