WD Black 2TB (3.5in) is one noisy HDD

[mikeymikec]

It appears to be working correctly, but the sound made when accessing data is much more noisy than say the WD Black 1TB I bought 1.5 years ago (which I can hear in my pretty quiet computer if I listen for it). The 2TB one however I can easily hear in a noisy PC.

The noise level doesn't sound unhealthy, just surprisingly loud.

 

[i7Baby]

HDDs should be nice and quiet. Sounds like its going bad.

Back up any data you don't want to lose.

Do a Checkdisk on it.

Check it with WDs Lifeguard software - long test.

 

[BFG10K]

HDDs should be nice and quiet. Sounds like its going bad.

Not necessarily true at all. Performance drives (like this one) often have elevated seek noise. It's how they keep random access times low.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

How do you mount your drives, or do you make best effort to isolate them from case-metal so as to stifle noise transmission and amplification?

 

[rchunter]

I have 2x 4TB wd blacks (wd4003fzex) and they are quiet. I have them in a fractal design r5 though so that might be why I can't hear them. That case is pretty sound proof.

 

[bradly1101]

Is it vertical? For some reason the vertical drives in my old case got noisy. The new drives mounted horizontally in my current case are nice and quiet (two WD 1TB Blues in RAID0).

 

[StinkyPinky]

WD Blacks seem to be a bit of an inbetween drive imo. If you want pure storage it's best to get the 5400 or 5900rpm drives, or if you want performance you're best to get a SSD. As SSD's drop in price I wouldn't be surprised if 7200rpm drives just drop off the market.

 

[rchunter]

WD Blacks seem to be a bit of an inbetween drive imo. If you want pure storage it's best to get the 5400 or 5900rpm drives, or if you want performance you're best to get a SSD. As SSD's drop in price I wouldn't be surprised if 7200rpm drives just drop off the market.

I can't see 7200rpm drives going anywhere anytime soon as they are still widely used in servers. Nothing at all wrong with wd blacks. Mine are VERY quiet. SSD's are too damn pricey, (for the big ones at least).

 

[Bill Brasky]

It appears to be working correctly, but the sound made when accessing data is much more noisy than say the WD Black 1TB I bought 1.5 years ago (which I can hear in my pretty quiet computer if I listen for it). The 2TB one however I can easily hear in a noisy PC.

The noise level doesn't sound unhealthy, just surprisingly loud.

Nothing wrong here. I have two 2TB WD blacks in an Antec P280 mounted on rubber grommets, and they're loud as balls compared to the rest of my extremely quiet system. I bought them before I built the quiet PC and couldn't bring myself to leave them on the shelf, but it sucks they're so loud.

edit: I'm pretty sensitive to computer noise. "Loud as balls" is relative

 

[futurefields]

my wd black 3tb sounds like morse code

 

[Soulkeeper]

This drive has the DSA, perhaps that is adding a unique noise profile ?

I have a 1TB FAEX without the DSA, i'd consider it to be quiet