Read the noise ratings on www.pcsilentreview.com. You'll find out that the 3.5" 500GB drives generally have significantly more noise than a 2.5" laptop hard disk (max. size is 200GB, but 200GB is very expensive, so realistically, you're maxed out at 160GB). There are some recommended 3.5" drives on the site, but from an audiophile perspective, I don't think you'll be very happy with them and they definitely aren't quiet. The recommended approach for an internal drive in a silent pc is to use a 2.5" laptop hard disk. If you want to purchase a drive and put it in an enclosure, check out www.newegg.com. They carry most of the drives recommended on pcsilentreview.
I have the fanless 500GB G Technologies G-Drive. There is no fan, but the drive spinning is noisy. I've gotten used to it and maybe it isn't a big deal for you, unless you like to listen to low-level classical music. I thought about buying a quiet 2.5" drive and putting it in an enclosure, but a 160GB or 200GB 2.5" drive isn't very large as a music server. Even a 500GB drive can only hold about 1000 CD's worth of music using Apple Lossless.
Here's one recommended solution. I haven't implemented it yet, but I plan to in the future. If you buy the new Apple Airport Extreme, it allows you to wirelessly hook up a USB hard drive. So you can buy a reasonably priced 1TB drive (plenty of room for a large iTunes library), hook it up to the Airport Extreme, and put it in a closet or a room separate from your listening room. Then, you have no noise problem and you have plenty of space for music. There are other side benefits from having a wireless server if you run multiple computers in the house. The overall cost is much cheaper than a silent solution in the room, which would require multiple 2.5" drives.
Also, you should consider backing up the server. If you do it right, you'd buy two hard disks, since you'll want to have one drive as a backup.
I have the fanless 500GB G Technologies G-Drive. There is no fan, but the drive spinning is noisy. I've gotten used to it and maybe it isn't a big deal for you, unless you like to listen to low-level classical music. I thought about buying a quiet 2.5" drive and putting it in an enclosure, but a 160GB or 200GB 2.5" drive isn't very large as a music server. Even a 500GB drive can only hold about 1000 CD's worth of music using Apple Lossless.
Here's one recommended solution. I haven't implemented it yet, but I plan to in the future. If you buy the new Apple Airport Extreme, it allows you to wirelessly hook up a USB hard drive. So you can buy a reasonably priced 1TB drive (plenty of room for a large iTunes library), hook it up to the Airport Extreme, and put it in a closet or a room separate from your listening room. Then, you have no noise problem and you have plenty of space for music. There are other side benefits from having a wireless server if you run multiple computers in the house. The overall cost is much cheaper than a silent solution in the room, which would require multiple 2.5" drives.
Also, you should consider backing up the server. If you do it right, you'd buy two hard disks, since you'll want to have one drive as a backup.
