Evaluation of the NoVibes HDD dampening system

This kit consists of a 5 1/4" adapter for fitting 3.5" drives into a halfheight slot. It's an elaborated version of the "rubberband trick", and uses very thick and solid rubberbands to suspend the drive in free air.

It's a very efficient way of practically eliminating structureborn noise, and in the case of HDD's, this is the major component of the generated noise. It could be compared with removing the horn of an old fashion windup gramophone. It doesn't improve on the directly emitted sounds from the drive though, and this could be compared with the noise just the "needle" in the old gramophone is making. Anyway a substantial improvement, and a must have.

The kit also came with an instruction sheet for how to fit the drive. It was helpfull and timesaving, as this wasn't obvious.

Manufacturer link : http://noisecontrol.de

Trouble ; the last couple of fastening screw holes where not tapped up, and I had to do this myself. No big deal, but it required a not commonly accessable taping tool. Cost savings I guess :)