Too noisy HDD, is this normal? Any recommendations for quiet HDDs?

[xie_zhuoxuan]

Hi guys,
I have recently built a PC with Seagate Barracuda 3.5'' 2Tb 7200rpm and a 500gb Samsung PM981.
I realised at quiet nights that my HDD is quite loud, with even louder drdrdrdr sound when writing. The sound is even much louder than my case and CPU cooler which is a Corsair Spec Alpha and a D15S respectively. I don't have a noise testing gauge but the noise is roughly the same as when all the fans are running at FULL speed.
I am thinking about returning the HDD to the seller by paying 20% restocking fee and get a 2.5'' drive instead, will it be quieter? The WD black 1Tb 7200rpm looks pretty good, do you guys have other recommendations?
Many thanks

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

hard drives are going to make noise no matter what. because the nature of them is that they have magnetic disk platters layered on top of each other that spin and the needle reads the data through them. So they are going to make noise period. as to how much noise will depend on your case and how much noise it lets through on top of how you mounted them, if they are not tightened down well enough then they will vibrate in their cages and will make extra noise. if they are just lying inside of the case loose then that will cause them to be able to vibrate around more and make even more noise. if they are getting old then the motor in them that spins the platters will make more noise.

So for noise you should make sure that they are fastened down well in their cages so as to rattle as little as possible.
as for it making as much noise as you say when it writes, I have never had an issue with my barracuda but then again, my PC case is pretty good at keeping the noise in. It's possible that you got a noisier drive than most. But I would just look into sound dampening material for you case to keep the noise inside better overall.

 

[asoroka]

You will always hear a mechanical disk when it is doing I/O.

A 2.5" will be quieter but you will still hear it.

Why do you need a local 2TB hdd, can you put it into a NAS enclosure (in another room) and access it as a network drive.

Performance will be reduced, but whether this matters will depend on your usage requirements.

If you just use it to hold movies and archive files then performance will not be an issue.

I have been through this exercise and that is the solution that I ended up with after having tried many HDD options.

If you must have a local hdd. Look at using rubber mount grommets to isolate the hdd so that your case and desk don't act as a sound amplifier (think acoustic guitar body for example, small string vibration becomes loud due to resonance)

 

[Rdslw]

2.5 HDD is ~half slower. if you want something quieter go for 3.5'' 5400 RPM drive.
if you want to go full quiet instead of speed Laptop 2.5" drives tend to be a lot quieter than 3.5" units. (and also slower)

Use hdd as storage, if windows will not access it then this setting should give you quiet night:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/21454-turn-off-hard-disk-after-idle-windows-10-a.html

if you return it and seek replacement, go for WD-RED. its reliable and should be quieter.
https://techreport.com/r.x/seagate-desktop-sshd/noise-seek.gif

 

[audie-tron25]

Although HDD's do have some noise, I doubt one operating correctly could be as loud as you are describing. You should check to see if the HDD is damaged before you return it, just in case it is faulty so it can be RMA'd. Try using this program:
- https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/

 

[seagate_surfer]

Hello xie_zhuoxuan, take a look at our Knowledge Base article on noise levels from hard drives. Every drive does make a certain amount of noise, just make sure you are installing it correctly.

 

[xie_zhuoxuan]

Thank you so much guys for your contributions! I am not able to thank every single one of you because that will make this thread super long with many useless information but I did read every single answer and I want to thank @Rdslw for providing me the chart of noise level and the power off option which really helps and also special thanks to @asoroka who give me the suggestion of building a NAS which I am really interested and wanna look into. Really appreciate your help guys!!!

 

[xie_zhuoxuan]

Hi asoroka,
Thanks for replying!! Both you and Rdslw has made some really useful contribution towards solving my problem. While Tom's hardware can only choose one solution, I am gonna credit it to Rdslw first because he made my situation much better for now by telling me the power-off option. However, your answer, NAS is actually the ultimate solution to solve the noise problem predominantly, so I will switch the best answer to yours after I build my own NAS and I assure you I won't forget.
Speaking of NAS, may I ask you some quick questions? I always want to built my own NAS but gave up eventually because I thought it might be too troublesome, but I googled just now and it seems quite easy though I need to spend some money to buy the server.
So what I am wondering is,
1. In a NAS system, the hard drives are probably running 24/7, will that harm the disks since they never take a break?
2. I have a WD Green 3TB at hand which I use as backup, can I use it to build up a RAID 1 in NAS with the Barracuda 2TB? Is RAID 1 even necessary?
3. As you mentioned, performance will be reduced. Approximately how much would be the reduction? What is the limiting factor? The router?
4. Can my other devices such as laptops access the files using WIFI? From my understanding, the NAS server connects to the WIFI router so no matter my devices are connected using LAN or WLAN, it should work, right? Just like a wireless printer.

Thanks for your time asoroka, really appreciate your help! You don't have to reply in detail for most of my questions, just Yes or No will do so you can save your time.

You will always hear a mechanical disk when it is doing I/O.

A 2.5" will be quieter but you will still hear it.

Why do you need a local 2TB hdd, can you put it into a NAS enclosure (in another room) and access it as a network drive.

Performance will be reduced, but whether this matters will depend on your usage requirements.

If you just use it to hold movies and archive files then performance will not be an issue.

I have been through this exercise and that is the solution that I ended up with after having tried many HDD options.

If you must have a local hdd. Look at using rubber mount grommets to isolate the hdd so that your case and desk don't act as a sound amplifier (think acoustic guitar body for example, small string vibration becomes loud due to resonance)

 

[mdd1963]

I have an 7200 RPM HGST 4 TB NAS drive in a front loading ICY Dock bay, and it is near silent even when being accessed....