WD Caviar SE16 single-platter 320GB hard drive poll

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:10 am

Kishai wrote:The model info is:

Product of Thailand
MDL: WD3200AAKS-00VYA0
Date: 26 AUG 2007

Sorry, no surprise there. What you have is the older two platter drive. It uses 160GB platters and isn't anywhere near the same drive as the single platter WD3200AAKS being discussed in this thread.

Unfortunately Western Digital makes it hard for it's users to be able to tell what kind of platters they'll get when they order a 320GB drive (or most other drives for that matter).

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:24 pm

Kishai wrote:The model info is:

Product of Thailand
MDL: WD3200AAKS-00VYA0
Date: 26 AUG 2007

To be perfectly clear, the last set of alphanumerics after the dash -- 00VYA0 in your case -- indicate particulars. The single platter version is 00B3A0.

jasjeet · Post by **jasjeet** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:33 pm

im not sure which version i have but i bought mine 2 weeks ago but have noticed a ticking noise every 20 - 30 seconds, it just goes 'tick', like that.

is it normal or do i need to rma?

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:41 pm

Download HDTune. That program will tell you what revision you have. As for the ticking, I can't say for sure, but it doesn't sound good.

jasjeet · Post by **jasjeet** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:28 am

yeh it just makes a tick noise, it doesnt sound like the latch noise when the arm parks, thats usually 2 noises one after the other in a few seconds, this is also my Windows drive so its usually under small constant access.

the noises are random i just cant figure out what it is.

i made a recording have a listen, you might have to turn the speakers up as my mic is crap.

but at around 42 secs you can hear a clear tick/click.

i would really like to know if i should bother to rma.
thanks

btw i have version 1 mfr: Febuary 2nd

Kishai · Post by **Kishai** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:31 am

The continuing saga referring to my post 2008-08-12.

On 2008-08-21 i returned the two double-platter WD3200AAKS harddrives, one in a failing condition, to the retail supplier in personâ€”a round trip of about five hours for myself (one of the benefits of living in the sticks)â€”having been told by phone that i could have them replaced with WD6400AAKS drives and pay the extra above the current new price for this, my finding this satisfactory; and this being essentially confirmed after delivering them.

For one week i heard nothing, and before leaving home this morning i emailed the returns person asking why nothing had been done, he saying when i returned them that i would receive an email once it had been finalized giving me the extra cost that i would need to pay. On arriving home, i found a parcel, quite unexpectedly, in my mailbox (rural delivery where i am in New Zealand, with typical North American mailboxes with a flag for to indicate the collecting of mail). On opening it i discovered one of the noisy â€

Kishai · Post by **Kishai** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:29 pm

This morning NZ-time i received a phone-call from the returns chappy, sunny voiced (!). He told me that the drive sent to me from the suppliers (in NZ) was sent by mistake to my address (then why would they have my name and address i wonder?), and that they are still waiting to get the two WD6400AAKS drives ordered for me (as replacements for the double platter 320:s, plus my paying the difference at current prices). Not only that, but he said that he shall send a courier to me to pick up the received yesterday version 1 WD3200AAKS, so no cost to meâ€”just more stress because of all this! Just hope that there are no variations with the WD6400AAKS.

I suspect that my email did the trick; and iâ€™ve been a good customer with this (essentially) online retailer and they didnâ€˜t want to lose me. Will report when i get the WD6400AAKS:s.

Furthermore, the black round thingies on the WD6400AAKS casingâ€”i wonder whether they are some sort of vibrationdampeningdevices.

DevlÃ©sa,
Kishai

wundi · Post by **wundi** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:06 am

Hi,

I went to the local retailer here in Finland (verkkokauppa.com) today to check out what sort of WD3200AAKS's they had on the shelf. I checked maybe a dozen of them and they were all of the version 1 variety. They were also surprisingly old, manufactured in late February, although I mostly just checked the bottom sides.

It made my decision easier though. These WD's seem too "dodgy" for my taste. I'll replace my current system drive with a Samsung F1 320GB instead. Never had a problem with their drives. *knocks wood*

I even had to enable AAM on my Caviar GP 750GB because the seeks were just too loud, much more intrusive than with both of my old Samsung P120 250GB's. The idle noise seems better than with the P120's though. All my drives have been used in P180's own HDD bay only. Thankfully AAM doesn't really hurt here since I got the GP for media storage only.

EDIT: Wooooo 100th post!

lacrits · Post by **lacrits** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:34 pm

I just picked up my WD3200AKS today, 4th Sept 2008.
It's a 00B3A0, so I'm happy it's the single platter model.
The drive chassis and cover is exactly like the first sample.
Below details of the label and PCB.

Product of Thailand
DATE: 05 Aug 2008 (that's recent!)
DCM: HBRNHT2AAN
WWN: 50014EE1012E2738

The PCB is a "ELEC-8" reading "2060-701537-003 REV A". Note it's not a REV P1 like in the article.

I haven't yet connected the drive so I'll edit this post and add my take, rather feeling as I'm not so scientifical, on the characteristics of the drive. Fortunately I'm not a die hard silence freak so I can live with slight audibility and vibrations..

webwiznz · Post by **webwiznz** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:48 pm

I recently order a couple WDC drives for clients. Among them:

-a WD3200AAJS sata (dont have more details) which is the HDD with the least vibration ive ever seen. If you put your finger on it unmounted, you cant tll wether its spinning or not.

- a WD5000AAKS sata -- 00A7B0 malaysia DCM: EHRNHT2CA It has a lot of vibration, not like the worst spinpoint p80 but not far off. Also noisy seeks, much noiser than my WD2500JB (thailand)

Ive pretty much given up trying to second guess quiet drive brands , theres too much variance, and just when you find soemthing quiet, they change them.

dids22 · Post by **dids22** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 4:06 am

has someone see the 25 jun version?

the dcm and wwn are diffrents.

dcm: hhnnht2cg
wwn: 50014ee000b3eb72

mattthemuppet · Post by **mattthemuppet** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:48 pm

careful when you're going for a WD6400 drive - there are actually 2 versions, AAKS and AACS (Green Power).

dids22 · Post by **dids22** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:15 am

320GB

dm29 · Post by **dm29** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:46 am

Hi. I bought a WD3200AAKS but thereÂ´s no that second group of numbers (00B3A0) any more. Is a 003 class B though. I wrote to WD to clarify wether is a sigle platter (as it looks like) or not. Here is other data:

WWN: 50014EE05659EF3A
DATE: 29 DEC 2008
DCM: HARNNT2CH

Was built in Malaysia

Does anyone kwow wether is the previous 00B3A0??

Thanks

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:56 am

Download HDTune. HDTune can tell you the complete model number and benchmark results can also tell you what revision you have. (The single platter drive performs better)

oldchinese · Post by **oldchinese** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:21 pm

I am very care about any single unbearable noise at night.I tried this WD3200AKKS(version1 with few ribs) yesterday and result was very disappointed.
These noise are all noticeable at about distance between 30cm to two meters where I put my desktop case at a quiet night.
1)idle noise like a wheel runs without tyre,metal feeling.
2)Hight pitch clicking when read/write,like a small bell'sound usually wore on a dog/cat's neck.This drives me up the wall.
3)vibration induce "hum" through case.For almost every hard drive has it.

I don't know why since this series has been on the market so long and yet been improved(maybe result in more noises by cost-cut e.g. reduce weight of mass chassis)

I went and bought a Samsung HD502IJ 500GB(very heavy) and has only got the 3)vibration induce "hum" through case,but even this cann't improved thoroughly through my elastic "suspension".

I went and bought another one,Finally it please me with even when fit in a poor caddy(bracket) in Dell,and don't even need "suspension".

My advise you is go get Seagate if you consider 320GB middle range with a limited budget.

alex_sf · Post by **alex_sf** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:24 am

I've got two of them. They are both ...-00B3A0. Thats good already, BUT! It's all the same 5 ribs casing, moreover, though the PCB revisions are the same (2060-701537-003 REV.A) but they looks different. Manuf. date 14 SEP 2008. Still in contact with WD officials.

foo_on_air · Post by **foo_on_air** » Thu May 21, 2009 11:23 pm

I just figured out that at the time I was buying my WD3200AAKS there was obviously no single platter (at least in Austria)

I have two 00VYA0 which have been identified in this thread to use 2 platters. I have another one 00C9A0. I guess it's the same design, having very similar acoustics. The manufacturing date is 5 months later than the 00VYA0. Can someone identify the latter? Is there a way to differentiate between used platters? I've read somewhere that by looking at a HDTune diagram you can be able to assess but I doubt that.

donpipo · Post by **donpipo** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:15 am

foo_on_air wrote:Is there a way to differentiate between used platters?

Only by the weight I think, single-platter models are very light comparing with dual-platter ones.

Just a word here:

I just bought a single-platter WD3200AAKS-00L9A0 and this is again another version!

Drive is labeled as "Caviar Blue", with 16MB cache, very recently manufactured in Malaysia.
Like sample #1 with 5 ribs, same looking.

The drive is incredibly noisy at idle (it reminds me old Deskstars!

You can even hear it from the next room), not very quiet at seek, and runs very hot: 43Â°C outside the case!
AAM is enabled by defalut and can be disabled via Feature Tool, though there's almost no improvement in access time (15.6 -> 15.3 ms) neither in acoutics.

When I put a finger on the center of the disk, noise softens a lot, but the drive has the typical high-pitched whine of my very old 80GB non-FDB WD.
It seems that I've gone back in time...

Here are the information:

WWN: 50014EEA0BEDBAB4
DATE: 28 APR 2009
DCM: HGNNHT2CH

No luck with this one...

I'll try to take it back to the shop.

Alex.

donpipo · Post by **donpipo** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:16 am

An HDTune benchmark addition:

foo_on_air · Post by **foo_on_air** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:56 am

donpipo wrote:
foo_on_air wrote:Is there a way to differentiate between used platters?
Only by the weight I think, single-platter models are very light comparing with dual-platter ones.

I have no single-platter to weigh. Can someone post a figure? But I doubt my scale will be that accurate.

donpipo wrote: The drive is incredibly noisy at idle, not very quiet at seek, and runs very hot: 43Â°C outside the case!

All my WD3200AAKS do that too, ventilated or with no airflow. On a hot summer day like yesterday they reached around 40-42Â°C. I remember them being around 32-35Â° on colder days.

donpipo · Post by **donpipo** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:05 am

foo_on_air wrote:
donpipo wrote:
foo_on_air wrote:Is there a way to differentiate between used platters?
Only by the weight I think, single-platter models are very light comparing with dual-platter ones.
I have no single-platter to weigh. Can someone post a figure? But I doubt my scale will be that accurate.

All the single-platter drives I've had to weigh seemed to me kind of empty...

Like half-weight.

foo_on_air wrote:
donpipo wrote: The drive is incredibly noisy at idle, not very quiet at seek, and runs very hot: 43Â°C outside the case!
All my WD3200AAKS do that too, ventilated or with no airflow. On a hot summer day like yesterday they reached around 40-42Â°C. I remember them being around 32-35Â° on colder days.

Indeed but problem is that it's no more than 20Â°C here! My other drives are around 30Â°C (28 to 33Â°C).
There is a big difference!

Can I consider the WD3200AAKS as almost faulty?

foo_on_air · Post by **foo_on_air** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:16 am

I wouldn't say faulty, rather within manufacturing tolerances

I've returned one of the highly praised WD6400AAKS because its vibrations disturbed me. This drive is said to be nearly free of this issue and ranks on top of SPCR's the recommended list

donpipo · Post by **donpipo** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:31 am

Yes I own one WD6400AAKS... This is day and night compared to the aforementioned WD3200AAKS I own. That's why I have doubts regarding its (present and future) "health"...

Edit: I've got in contact with WD. My description of the noise made the drive elligible for RMA, but on the other hand, the tech stated that relatively high temperature is normal for this drive.
I'll return it to the shop for exchange, hoping I can find a nice 11 ribs B3 drive there.

Update: The shop was OK to exchange the disk, so we tested another one of the same model (there was no "nice 11 ribs B3" available) -> Same result

So forget about 00L9A0! The worst sounding recent drive I've owned.

I've taken a 320GB Maxtor single-platter instead, which is much much quieter both at idle and at seek, temperature is 35Â°C at load, but it's a bit worst performance-wise though...

I think WD made a big mistake by putting single-platter in the (almost) same big and light casing as multiple-platter drive. The drives feels too light, like empty. This is inducing a lot of resonance (the "finger-touch test"), the casing playing the role of an amplifier.
Seagate/Maxtor on the other way have reduced the casing size almost by half and their single-platter drives feel more solid and are heavier. I think that's the reason why their HDD, noisier on the paper, are much quieter than WD's in real-life.

Hope my sharings will help some.

Cheers,
Alex.

RogueTrader · Post by **RogueTrader** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:34 am

I have version 1, which is loud indeed.

WWN: 50014EE157611374
DCM: HGNNNTJAHN
Date: 28 sep 2009

WD Caviar SE16 single-platter 320GB hard drive poll

My WD Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS-00B3A0 looks like

new nomenclature

version 1(few rib)made 02.2009 Malaysia very poor!