BleepingComputer.com: Old HDD came in silicone sleeve

I am attempting to "upgrade" a slightly ancient pc into something halfway usable. The HDD that was previously installed has a silicone encasing/sleeve around it. It appears that it originally came this way as the sticker is on top of the silicone versus on the drive itself.
To install the drive, it is screwed to a metal tray which is then screwed into the case.
My question is, is the silicone sleeve significant in this situation? I've never even seen such before. Should I try to remove it from the old drive and place it around the newer drive?

To attempt to make more sense in my descriptions, here is what I'm dealing with:

This post has been edited by geekofagirl: 09 May 2011 - 05:58 PM

Thats a Seagate IDE drive but I cant read the size.
Its supposed to be that way. Dont remove it.

Just mount the new one in the bracket. Connect IDE cable with the red stripe (pin1) towards the power lead. Then connect the power lead.

Is the replacement drive empty?

That series of Seagate drive had the noise reduction shroud incorporated into its design - leave it attached to that drive. Its casing is molded to fit, which a different drive will not, and even though the sleeve would probably stretch over a different drive, it might cause a problem like affecting its cooling.

Thanks!

And I was curious about the design. Noise reduction, humm, always seemed pretty noisy anyway.

They weren't a quiet drive, and the acoustic damping shroud was one attempt to make the sound less intrusive. I don't think it made much audible difference, but probably gave a better dB figure in specifications.