Any way to reduce HD noise?

[theNEOone]

My tower was silent until I purchased a 4TB WD Red (5400 rpm) for backup purposes. The drive spins all the time (despite the fact that it's not actively used) and makes noise as a result. It's mostly inaudible (can't hear it while I'm typing or if I change the fan profile for gaming, for example) but when the room is silent, I can make out a faint hum. I confirmed it's the HDD by unplugging the power to the drive.

I recall reading that this was a very quiet drive, which was part of the reason I purchased it. Did I make a mistake or am I just spoiled from being on SSDs exclusively for several years now?

Are there utilities that I can use to power down the drive while not in use?


=|

 

[UsandThem]

You can set Windows to put it to sleep after so much inactive time (under Power and Sleep - Advanced settings).

Outside of that, did you install it on rubber grommets so it isn't transferring it's 'hum' to your case? Maybe that is what you are hearing.

I would imagine going from a SSD, which is silent, to any spinning drive would be somewhat noticeable.

 

[UsandThem]

I found this review which states during their testing of the drive, it does produce a low 'hum' noise:

The WD Red 4TB is remarkably quiet; it emanates a faint hum while idling, and its seek chatter is barely audible from a few inches away. Only the 3TB version produces less noise, likely because it has fewer platters. Drives with higher platter counts tend to generate more noise.

http://techreport.com/review/25391/wd-red-4tb-hard-drive-reviewed/3

Maybe you won't notice it after a few days, or maybe you can get a 'quiet' case, or put some sound dampening material in your existing one.

 

[corkyg]

I put my backup drive in a mobile rack and can manually turn it off when not needed. That also facilitates having more than one backup drive.

 

[fleshconsumed]

A quiet hum can be either you hearing the drive motor, or the drive transmitting vibrations to the case and you hearing the hard drive induced case humming.

You first step should be to decouple the hard drive from the case and soft mount it somehow. Lots of cases like Antec P183/P280 provide soft rubber grommets for HDD mounting. If your case doesn't have anything like that then you will have to improvise.

If after decoupling your hard drive you still hear it hum, then you're just hearing the drive's motor and platters spinning. In this case the only solution is a better case that traps the sound or putting the hard drive into something like Scythe Quiet Drive to dampen the sound. They don't sell these new anymore, but you may be able to track down them used somewhere? I have used those in the past, and in fact still use one in my primary PC, it does help to cut down on the hard drive noise. However, a word of warning, Scythe Quiet Drive does raise temperature of your hard drive, you will need to make sure that there is ample airflow over the Scythe Quiet Drive to keep your hard drive sufficiently cool inside.

These are you only two options if you want to keep your hard drive. Other unorthodox options would be biting the bullet and buying another big SSD, moving your mechanical hard drive to NAS somewhere else and then just using that drive over network, or buying 2.5" drive since they are typically quieter than 3.5" ones.

P.S. www.silentpcreview.com is a good resource for questions like these. It doesn't have high traffic it used to 5 years ago, but you can still search forums for better ideas on how to silence your drive.

 

[theNEOone]

Thanks guys --- all good help. I think I'll probably end up putting the drive in an enclosure and connecting it to my router in the living room and using it as a proper NAS.


=|

 

[fleshconsumed]

Thanks guys --- all good help. I think I'll probably end up putting the drive in an enclosure and connecting it to my router in the living room and using it as a proper NAS.

Should be fine solution if you're using it for backups on as needed basis only. If you're planning to run that 24/7 in an external enclosure I'd suggest finding a way to cool that down somehow. External enclosures without active cooling can be terrible for hard drive temperatures. If your router has second USB port you can buy a small USB powered fan and aim it at enclosure for example.

 

[nerp]

I have my home server in a closet under the stairs of my split level house next to my internet connection and router. Now that I have no actual spinning hard drives in my home office, I'm never going back.

 

[Elixer]

I put my backup drive in a mobile rack and can manually turn it off when not needed. That also facilitates having more than one backup drive.

This is what I do as well, works very well.