Loud WD HDDs

jgre6747 · Post by **jgre6747** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:50 pm

Hi everyone! I have just built my first quiet HTPC - and for the most part it is very quiet. It is all in an LC17 case, and the fans (apart from a very low hum from the PSU - a corsair VX 450 - cannot be heard.

However... the two western digital hard drives seem louder than ever! There is a noticeable whine that is quiet loud, but the worst thing is the HDD paging. It seems amplified or something. To the be point it can sometimes be heard over a tv show or movie i am watching on it

Can anyone please help me ilence or at least quiet these drives?

p.s. they are WD 320gb dives if thaat helps

yaler · Post by **yaler** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:30 pm

Some drives develop a whine, and you just can't fix it. I believe some people think it is a telltale sign of impending drive failure.

If they're not that bad look into enclosures

It's widely suggested here that you try to:

1. Consolidate, get 1 large drive instead of 2 smaller ones (eg/ the new 2 platter 640gb wd drive instead of 2x1 320gb platter (or perhaps 2x2 160gb platter drives))

2. Soft mount/suspend/enclose but the first two may not work in silencing your whine. They will cut back on vibrational noise.

Goodluck

alfhenrik · Post by **alfhenrik** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:49 pm

However... the two western digital hard drives seem louder than ever!

That's the problem, once you've made the rest of the system barely audible or inaudible, there is always the hard drives...

I have the same issue, before I adventured into the whole "I-want-a-system-that-can-barely-be-heard" I could not hear my hard drives...now that all my fans are inaudible, my videocard is inaudible, my PSU is inaudible...there are my hard drives (1xWD5000AAKS and 1xWD7500AACS) clearly audible...

I've been messing around with the placement of them in my P180, I started off in the lower chamber but now I have them in the top chamber and they seem to have lost some of their whine but they are still audible...

I've just about given up on caring for now...as I've upgraded my hard drives 3 times within the last 6 months to find ones that are nearly inaudible...I have just put in 2xHD501LJ's but have yet to hook them up and power them up...

My last resort may have to be to buy an enclosure to put them in but I can only fit 3 enclosures in my case and I currently have 4 HDD's (may have to loose the WD 500Gb)...we'll see what happens.

Like yaler said, softmounting will probably not do anything to the whine as it usually just reduces the vibration of the hard drive (did wonders to my 500Gb Seagate 7200.10, still loud seeks though and no AAM available), and seeing as the LC17 might not fit a couple of enclosures (without modding it) you might have to think about getting a new hard drive...but you never know, that new hard drive may have the same issue...it's a never ending chase...

Sorry for the long rant...

jgre6747 · Post by **jgre6747** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:57 pm

Oh dear! I was hoping that wasn't going to be the case. Thanks for the replies though, at least i have a starting point. Will enclosures stop (or diminish the paging noise? - and what exactly is an enclosure? Like the external cases for 5.25inch hard-drives?

I think i can live with the whine if i have to...its the crazy loud paging i need to stop. So which is better for that - soft mounting (again how to i do this) or enclosures?

Thanks very much for the quick responses so far!!

yaler · Post by **yaler** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:39 pm

Enclosures will diminish all seeking and idle noise coming off of the drive, and it will help with vibration too. It won't completely kill the noise, for that you'll need to go esata or perhaps to slower drives / SSD.

Good enclosures are kinda expensive, and maybe not really worth it. I paid 90 bucks for my 2002C -- but it works.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:09 am

No whine with my 3200AAKS or 5000AAKS, but I do recommend enclosures once a machine is otherwise dead silent. Seeks and even spin noise are frustrating to live with once everything else has been tuned out.

I'll go for Scythe's Quiet Drive in my next build this summer, as that is most readily available in Finland. SPCR had good things to say about the vibration damping of the Silent Box, admittedly some years ago, but I doubt they would've gotten worse in the meantime.