The Definitive Maxtor Silent Store Guide Rev. 2.0

[ichpen]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Hello ichpen,

When I first wrote the guide, I think Maxtor's AMSET was the only one that could do it. I might be wrong though. When did you start using the IBM tools?

BTW, they sound a lot smarter than Maxtor's AMSET!


Hello phsstpok,

Hmm... I had a DiamondMax Plus 40 too. I had AM enabled. And when our team basically runs on Maxtor drives. And all of them had AM enabled out of the box. They should really ship the drives with AM disabled and post the utility more prominently on their website.

To answer your question I've been using IBM Drive Tools for over a year now. I've been able to set AM mode on all IBM and Maxtor drives using these tools. They are IMHO considerably more robust and efficient than anything Maxtor has come up with. It's only a shame I can't say the same for IBMs drives. As I mention above the tools will treat your raid card as a regular IDE controller, they can also be used to switch off SMART mode on the drives (assuming the BIOS doesn't switch it back on again). The diagnostics section is also more comprehensive and informative. The only restriction the IBM tools have is that you cannot perform a low-level format on a non-IBM drive. This is a shame because a low-level format on a 30gig IBM drive takes around 10 minutes whereas a low-level format using the Maxtor tools on a 30 gig drive takes 4 hours on my machine.


FYI, all of my Maxtor drives have had AM enabled out of the box (OEM packages). The DM+ 60 drive was set dead in the middle between quiet and fast. The DM+ 8 drive was set at one notch below fastest settings.

[Tangoted]

Adrain, There is another utility that Gateway has called GWSCAN (free) that is good for checking HD's and writing all zero's to the HD. It does take a few hours, but really does a great job of cleaning a HD. http://support.gateway.com/support/d...rSearch=gwscan

I have 3 Maxtor drives, a 60GB, an 80GB, and the new 120 GB DiamondMax Plus 9. All three HD's say 9ms seek time. I will try checking these, and report back. I was totally unaware about this sneaky feature. As with the rest of you, I bought these new ATA133 drives for speed, not quiet. Really appreciate the heads up. I just installed the 60GB ATA133 as Prime, and the 120GB ATA133 Plus 9 as secondary. Will see what happens.

ichpen, would you be so kind as to provide a name and link for the IBM utilities you are using so I can download and try. I looked through IBM's site, but not sure what to use for the ide maxtor drive's I have. Thanks

[chucko]

If you happen to be running a MB with an Intel 8xx series chipset (most models) you can use the Intel Application Accelerator to display and/or change the status of AM. You can find the Intel Application Accelerator here:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/

[merboy]

OK so i downloaded the utility to handle my Maxtor drive, but now I want to turn off the acoustic management that SiSoftware Sandra is reporting is also running on my Seagate drive......i have not been able to find ANY reference to this tech. on the seagate site....anyone have any information? Do the IBM tools work for other drives? I haven't found the ibm toolset either. CAN YOU TURN OFF AAM ON SEAGATE DRIVES????

any help you could render would be greatly appreciated!!

<proceeding to speed up my maxtor drive! yay>

[merboy]

Originally Posted by merboy

OK so i downloaded the utility to handle my Maxtor drive, but now I want to turn off the acoustic management that SiSoftware Sandra is reporting is also running on my Seagate drive......i have not been able to find ANY reference to this tech. on the seagate site....anyone have any information? Do the IBM tools work for other drives? I haven't found the ibm toolset either. CAN YOU TURN OFF AAM ON SEAGATE DRIVES????

any help you could render would be greatly appreciated!!

<proceeding to speed up my maxtor drive! yay>

OK, so i called SEAGATE support and according to Seagate they are being sued by someone claiming that they own the rights to the acoustic management "tool" or method that seagate was using in what they call their "ACCM" (their accoustic management software), and as such they have removed it from their site and really don't offer ANYTHING for any customer who has a drive (like my barracude IV that shipped with AAM on by default)....I asked about Maxtor having a tool and seagate's response was "well they paid to license the tech"......so i guess i need to know if i can use the IBM tools still....or find the ACCM (seagate software) floating on the net.

anyone?

[Adrian Wong]

Hello merboy,

Although Maxtor came up with the name 'Silent Store', I believe most hard disk manufacturers are using the same technology.

You can try using the Maxtor or IBM tools. They should work with Seagate drives.

[merboy]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Hello merboy,

Although Maxtor came up with the name 'Silent Store', I believe most hard disk manufacturers are using the same technology.

You can try using the Maxtor or IBM tools. They should work with Seagate drives.

hey man thanks for your reply! When I ran the Maxtor tool it scanned all the IDE channels and it realizes that there is a maxtor drive, and then non-maxtor drives and won't action the non maxtor ones....I've heard (read) that the IBM tool can work with many drives but I don't have the IBM tools and I haven't been able to find it. Do you know where I can get it?or have it?

thanks!

[merboy]

Originally Posted by merboy

hey man thanks for your reply! When I ran the Maxtor tool it scanned all the IDE channels and it realizes that there is a maxtor drive, and then non-maxtor drives and won't action the non maxtor ones....I've heard (read) that the IBM tool can work with many drives but I don't have the IBM tools and I haven't been able to find it. Do you know where I can get it?or have it?

thanks!

I GOT IT!!! FOUDN THE SOLUTION!!!

I used the Hitachi tools to access my drives and changed the acoustic management on my Seagate drive. Seems this software scans the bus/ide channels and pulls up all your drives and can access many of the features on-board your HD. WOrked like a dream. The file is called ftool_ver194.exe, available from: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

excerpt from the page about the softwares capabilities:

The Feature Tool allows you to:

Enable or disable the read-ahead or write cache.
Change the drive Automatic Acoustic Management settings to the:
Lowest acoustic emanation setting (Quiet Seek Mode), or
Maximum performance level (Normal Seek Mode).
Change the predefined capacity of the drive. This option can be used in situations where there is a BIOS limitation and the drive is not recognized.
Switch the Ultra DMA mode
Change Advanced Power Mode - allows you to change between the lowest power consumption and the highest power consumption (maximum performance level).
Show Drive Temperature - shows the current drive temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit.

wurk!

[TungstenBoy]

cool!!!!!.........hitachi is ibm.....hitachi bought over ibm........i read dat ibm tools can be use on other company's hard disk............

[Welch]

OK, i have been reading everything that you guys have said, not sure you all are still posting on this but if you are i need help! I found this forum by the guy who posted about his Maxtor Diamond max 9 6Y080L0, I too have this hdd and noticed a few problems. When i load my win XP home it would have about 40 seconds of apps not coming up but acting like it would if i normally clicked them. Then suddenly all of the programs i had click on would come up at once! I run Adware SE about everyday, Diskeeper Pro 8.0, Ace utilites, and a few others. Its not fragmentation, spyware, or junk files, i only have 13% of my 80 gig drive! I figured it was Seek time! But couldnt lay my finger on it! I have ran windows XP for 8-9 months, wihout a reinstall. I know too many people who say you should reinstall every 2 months im just losing it becuase of whats going on and the fact that i cant get my seek time down from 13.5 ms
Is it possible to get it to at least 11 or 10ms?

My machine is as follows (I built it)

MSI K7N2-Delta(mobo) AMD XP 2600+(Everest says its a Barton core)
Maxtor DiamondMax9 6Y080L0 IDE ATA/133 (also Everest knowledge)
512mb ram pc2700 is what i bought (Everest is sure its 3200 I HOPE )
MSI Nvidia Geforce 5600 FX XT 128

And after all of that TOTALLY updated DirectX and Updated video drivers, i only get an average of 30 fps in Call of Duty! this should not happen!!!!!!!!

ANYONE please i need some help with this