WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

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walalla
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WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by walalla » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:55 pm

Hi, i have two new WD RED: one is refurbished (warranty ends in 2016, where is the production date?), the other one is brand new (2015 production). The refurbished HD is quiet like a WD Green that i have. The brand new WD RED is not that quiet. It has an high pitched noise. It's low but audible. Is that normal? WD changed some components and made the Wd Red noisier than before?

od22
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by od22 » Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:51 am

I'd also like to know what's going on with these drives - currently looking for a 4TB to replace a 3TB Seagate which produces more airborne noise than I'd like, but lots of people are now saying the new WDs aren't quiet at all...

Mr Evil
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by Mr Evil » Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:12 am

I don't have a lot of samples to judge from, but I have a 2TB Green from 2012 that is totally silent, while the new 4TB Red from 2015 that I replaced it with is loud. I was most disappointed.

developer1
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by developer1 » Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:43 am

I was about to buy a WD Red 3Tb hard drive for my desktop Pc, until I stumbled upon all these negative comments about the new red version acoustics.

I couldn't find another 3.5 drive recommendation. Maybe the new WD Purple surveillance, which seems to be quieter than WD Red, but it is mean to be specifically for writing 24/7.

Any quiet 3.5 hdd suggestions?
Last edited by developer1 on Sun Apr 24, 2016 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Kobold
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by Kobold » Sun Apr 24, 2016 12:03 pm

I just bought a WD RED WD20EFRX and it is F******G loud. It makes a wooshing sound at idle I can hear from several meters away. This is a joke. It sound like static noise. Extremely annoying. The computer is silent otherwise.

I actually first thought it to be the CPU fun, but when I stopped it by hand I noted it is the hard drive.

I will really have to see what to do about this.

Daniel

P.S. I just noted that the wooshing noise goes away, when I slightly press on the black sticker I marked with red in the picture below. Then it just vibrates and sounds like a normal drive. I don't think this is normal, at least I hear no similar sound from my to WD30EFRX in the NAS. I think I will RMA the drive.
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developer1
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by developer1 » Sun Apr 24, 2016 1:04 pm

Kobold wrote:I just bought a WD RED WD20EFRX and it is F******G loud. It makes a wooshing sound at idle I can hear from several meters away. This is a joke. It sound like static noise. Extremely annoying. The computer is silent otherwise.

I actually first thought it to be the CPU fun, but when I stopped it by hand I noted it is the hard drive.

I will really have to see what to do about this.

Daniel

P.S. I just noted that the wooshing noise goes away, when I slightly press on the black sticker I marked with red in the picture below. Then it just vibrates and sounds like a normal drive. I don't think this is normal, at least I hear no similar sound from my to WD30EFRX in the NAS. I think I will RMA the drive.
Sad to hear that. Have you tried remounting it?

I've read that pretty much everybody who had noise problems with their WD drives, received a quieter one when they did RMA.

When did you buy your WD30EFRX? Was it a long time ago?

Kobold
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by Kobold » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:15 am

Hi,

remounting what? The drive or the sticker? The drive makes the same noise whether held in hand or not, so it is not a vibration problem, it really might be the wooshing sound of the head over the spinning platters. As this thing is brand new, I will just send it back tomorrow and test sth. else, maybe the Samsung M9T mentioned here, as this drive is just for data storage and anything important will anyway be backed up to the NAS.

D.

Kobold
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by Kobold » Tue May 03, 2016 12:26 pm

Small update: The Samsung M9T seems somewhat less noisy concerning the airborne noise than the WD (without having the WD around) or at least at a less annoying frequency, still above hearing threshold. Will have to consider putting it into some case (suggestions?) and into a 3,5" slot.

D.

quest_for_silence
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue May 03, 2016 1:42 pm

Kobold wrote:still above hearing threshold

Just a side note: any mechanical disk noise is above hearing threshold, at least at close distance.

Kobold
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by Kobold » Wed May 04, 2016 8:12 am

quest_for_silence wrote:
Kobold wrote:still above hearing threshold

Just a side note: any mechanical disk noise is above hearing threshold, at least at close distance.
I concur, but I am talking about 3-4 meters distance with the HDD in the case.

jean019
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by jean019 » Thu May 05, 2016 6:28 am

check the pdf spec of 2014 WD RED and 2016 WD RED :
noise (in db) increased.

ajon
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Re: WD RED noise: new ones are louder?

Post by ajon » Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:04 pm

I too am extremely disappointed with the new reds.
Bought the 6TB variant, nine of them last year for a new NAS, and holy moly they're LOUD!
Mine were manufactured 25 Aug 2015 with the model number WD60EFRX - 68MYMN1

Unfortunately these were for replacing an aging but quiet NAS, populated with 4x 2TB WD Greens (quiet ones), situated in the same room as where I work. The new NAS was $4000 down the drain, with only 20 minutes of use until I could stand the noise no more.

What makes me really angry and has now black-listed WD for me is the incredibly shady stunt they pulled, where they issued one model early on, that had a noise characteristic that made all the review sites market it as quiet. Then once those reviews were out, they "completely" switched the drive implementation but retained the model name. False advertising if I've ever seen one, and a borderline criminal act.

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