Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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looking_for_silence
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Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by looking_for_silence » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:04 am

Hello,

My hard drives (2*WD Red 2.5" 1TB WD10JFCX) are currently the loudest part in my computer. I can hear them with the case closed and at 4-5 m without problem.

I don't understand as they are supposed to be quiet (24-25 dB theoretically, 32-35 dB on review).

Does someone know a quieter 2.5" hard drive (maybe a 3.5" hard drive ?) or is an SSD the only way out ?

Thanks !

CA_Steve
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Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:07 am

Welcome to SPCR.

Have you determined it's the HDDs and not the HDDs interacting with the case? What's the current set up? Maybe you can alter their mounting and resolve the noise issue.

looking_for_silence
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Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by looking_for_silence » Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:20 am

Hello !

Well I am holding the HDD in my hand and I can hear that it is quite loud already without any mounting.

In comparison the CPU fan (Noctua NH-L9i) is completely silent (at around 1000 rpm) even if my I put my hear next to it.

Unfortunately I don't have any hard numbers except my hearing. I was thinking about buying a sound meter, but I've heard that the not so expensive ones (<100 $) cannot go below 30 dB, so I am not sure that it will be very useful ?

Perhaps it's just a noisy hard drive or a bad sample ?

I can make a video if it helps, perhaps with some kind of sound reference (like tapping on the table ?).

Thanks !

quest_for_silence
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Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:28 am

looking_for_silence wrote:are currently the loudest part in my computer.


What's your current setup?

looking_for_silence
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Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by looking_for_silence » Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:20 am

Hello !

Hum it seems that my previous message is still in moderation ? Apologies if it is a repost...

I can hear the hard drive pretty loud when I am holding it in my hand, so I don't think that this is a mounting problem.

The sound is much louder than my CPU fan (Noctua NH-L9i at around 1000 rpm) which is almost silent (even when I put my hear against it).

Sorry I don't have any hard numbers except my hearing. I was thinking about buying a sound meter but the ones below 100$ don't seem to go below 30 dB so I don't know if it will be useful or not.

It may be that this particular model is loud or maybe it is a defect sample (however I have 2 of those and they have the same sound) ?

If this is the most quiet I can get with a hard drive (2.5" or 3.5"), then I suppose that a SDD is the only solution ?

It's strange because I don't have a particularly good hearing and some people managed to get a 'silent' built with a HDD.

Thanks !

Abula
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Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by Abula » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:24 pm

There is no mechanical hdd that are completely silent, some are quiet, only an ssd will be totally silent, that said, there are some that are very quiet. I just bought a WD RED 3TB for my synology DS111 and i cant hear the hdd at 2mts, i hear more the little fan, that reminds me i gotta do something about it... =(

I had good experiences with Hitachi 2.5 hdds, from the 5k500b (i still have 3 of this running for 3 years on laptops and htpcs), very little vibration and i personally dont hear them, but i had a little bad experience with the 5k750, it made a screeching sound every like 1hour or was very annoying, i moved it to 2.5 external usb3 enclosure and works pretty well there. On my main desktop, im running a Hitachi 7k1000, that to me its prety quiet aswell, but vibrates a lot more than my past 2.5, but expected for 7200rpm. I recently upgraded my download station and one of the my external 2.5 enclosures to the new Hitachi 5k1500, and vibrations are low and noise... again to me its very quiet, but this could vary from user to user and sample to sample. It been bought a lot recently, specially by PS4 users, lots of good user reviews, that dont tell much about how it is in terms of noise, but its a pretty reliable hdds, at least that two that i bought no issues for 6 months now.

I would probably give a try to hitachi 5k1500 or the WD 1tb red, whatever you feel might be better, for me on 2.5 it always been hitachis on my laptops, they have work really well for me, and i tent to stick and reward companies that deliver a good product, so that's my suggestion. You do have to accept the higher access time being a 5400rpm drive and laptop drive it will be slower, but thats how things are, on pure raw transfer rates they can saturate a gigabit lan, so for what i use them they are fine, i'll leave you a CDM of my 5k1500,

Image

looking_for_silence
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Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by looking_for_silence » Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:11 pm

On this review: Test: 14 Notebook HDDs, it seems that he 2.5" WD Red 1 TB (WD10JFCX) has the same sound profile as the 5k1500 (33-35 dB).

I think I'll try to make a video to give you a 'feel' of what I am hearing. Perhaps I have two bad samples ?

If someone can also make a video of their quiet 2.5" hard drive, it will help me a lot (with some kind of reference sound, like a gentle tap on the table).

Thanks for your feedback !

looking_for_silence
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Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:58 am

Re: Is the WD Red 2.5" 1TB quiet ?

Post by looking_for_silence » Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:43 am

Hi again,

So I made 2 videos to demonstrate the noise:
First one is with just the fan (Noctua NH-L9i at 1000 rpm).
Second one is with the 2.5" WD Red 1 TB (WD10JFCX).

In both videos, I also try to lightly tap on the case to have some kind of reference sound.
Normally you should be able to have an idea of the HDD noise level. For me I can hear it without problem at 2-3 m.

Perhaps someone can confirm that this is normal noise level for a quiet 2.5" HDD ?

Thanks in advance;

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