HDD sounds like a very loud fan

[theHexley]

I recently picked up two WD Blues to set up in a Raid 0 config (added to my current ssd and WD Green). After installing them, when I turned the computer on I thought something was wrong with one of my fans because of how loud the computer suddenly was. The drives aren't making any clicking, clunking or otherwise alarming noises, but emit a quite loud persistent whir, significantly louder than the rest of my PC. They pretty much sound like a very very loud case fan.

I understand that the spinning platters do emit *some* noise, but should it be this loud? With my green I could hear the noise of the drive whenever it would spin up, and the telltale ticks of the arm, but nothing like this.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Hexley. Welcome to the community!

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with your WD Blue drives. The WD Blue HDDs are indeed a bit louder than the WD Green drives, as they run at 7200RPM. As for the WD Green drives, they are specifically designed for secondary storage, to run cool and quiet with less power consumption. This might make the gap of emitted noise between the two models. Otherwise the WD Blue drives are not louder than other 7200RPM drives and even though they're a bit louder than a WD Green drive, they should not be as nearly as load as a cooling fan. The environment might also affect the noise of an HDD. I would suggest that you check if they are properly mounted with each screw tied up. I would also suggest that you download DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostic) in order to test the drives and see if anything alarming pops-up, just in case. Here's where you can download it from: Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows and here's how to run the tests:
How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

On another note, I'd recommend, that if you decide to have other RAID/NAS configurations in the future, that you use WD Red drives instead of WD Blue drive for that purpose. They are specifically designed for NAS/RAID environment and have firmware, which significantly increases their performance when it comes to RAID arrays. Plus, they're quieter than a WD Blue drive as well.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD