In my review about the WD Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS-00B3A0 hard drive, I reported on the existence of two difference types of housing for the drive. In the interest of silent PC enthusiasts, this is a poll to try and get a sense of whether one version is more widely distributed. (Discussion about the article is here.)

The differences are most marked on the underside of the drive, on the casting side where the PCB is mounted. The photo below shows version 1 (which is my own arbitrary identifier, since it was the first one I saw) on the right and version 2 on the left. Version 2 is quieter, not by a large margin by normal PC standards, but it's significant if you're into uber-quiet PC.



If you have one (or more) of these drives, please post in this thread whether yours looks like version 1 or version 2. Please also post the date of manufacture, which is on the label on the top cover, as shown in the pic below.

I ordered my WD3200AAKS on March 27th (from Newegg), and I got the first version. My drive has a manufacture date of February 12th 2008. (I answered in the poll)

I bought one in Singapore on 30 Mar 08, and it is the first version, Manufacture date 24 Feb 2008, Make in Malaysia

Would be interested to see reviews on the Seagate 7200.11 Single platter 320GB too.

I don't have these drives but I'm passing on this information from my brother, who has four of them.

There are more variations than the two samples reviewed here.

Of his four:
All four have the top plate of your version 2.
All four have the ELEC-8 PCB.
Two have the bottom with 11 support ribs; these were made on 31 Jan 2008.
Two have the bottom with 5 support ribs; these were made on 01 Feb 2008.

So I don't know how to vote in the poll since none of the drives exactly match either your version 1 or version 2.


I would speculate the following based on the manufacture dates:
1) The top plate has been changed to the version 2 design?
2) The bottom casting is whatever they happen to be using at the time?
3) Ditto for the PCB?

I'm sorry for intruding in this topic, but if someone can post the results of HD Tach Long Bench test of one of these drives?

I have doubts right now, buy this drive or not

Just wanna say that my local store has second version, but I didn't see the manufacter date...

EDIT: no need for HD Tach test anymore, angelkiller did that...thanks again man

Dito and it is the lighter version. Unbelievable, now that I've actually have a somewhat quiet new computer, I'm quite annoyed by the drive.

Any Kiwis know which version we are likely to get here from the main wholesalers?

Hi i'm in New Zealand and just purchased one of these drives. The bottom of my HDD has 6 support ribs and looks like the WD6400AAKS. I will post pictures soon.

WD3200AAKS
10 Feb 2008
Made in Thailand

BTW could someone point me towards those HD Tach results? Have been searching but cant find any.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14380/13
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=3269&p=2
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3236

you can download hdtach yourself and run it to see if your results are any different

http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/in ... est=HdTach

If I bought one of these now from somewhere in the UK like ebuyer/scan/overclockers would I get the more quiet version or would it still be pot luck?

I'm temped by the SE 320Gb for its better performance, but I'd rather get the WD GP 500Gb if it's going to be pot luck whether its the good, the bad or the ugly version

Mine is from Scan.

Maybe I'll just get a WD GP then, unless the 640Gb model doesnt suffer from this same descepencies between batches?

I bought today this drive and got Version 2.

From Malaysia, date: 30 January....

Local store had a restock of the 320GB hdd, these were made on 4 Apr,
but apparent are of the 2 platter version, made in thailand though.

It seems, there is also the Version 3 of WD3200AAKS. The drive motor is different from all previous versions.
The drive is very noisy: no seek sounds at all, very small vibration(7+), but very loud high pitch tone from the wheel.
and

Oh no - that's not good at all. I've been through bearing whine issues with WD for years. It is so hit/miss. Thanks for input.

Wow, that's HUGE news. Ugh.

Hello,



This looks almost the same as the noisy model we already know about. How do you know it isn't the same?

Oh and welcome to SPCR!

See image!

Heehe. The ole bait'n'switch con. Also popular among the LCD brands. Too bad I hate gambling.

I finally got around to posting those pics. This drive was purchased in New Zealand 22 April 2008. There seem to be a number of different versions of this drive. I note the PCB and bottom chassis are different from those in the SPCR review.

Could the last one be an older dual platter version? It's not 00B3A0.

I really hope it's not dual platter. Its model number is WD3200AAKS-75VYA0

Unfortunately, I think it is. The B3 is the single platter version. Could you post your results for HD Tune for comparison?

I figure I got stuck with a dual platter drive after looking at these results. Damn I didn't reaslise there were different versions of the WD3200AAKS before purchasing.



Edit: According to DailyTech

Hello,

We bought a 320GB SE16 drive from NewEgg -- it just arrived today, and it is "type 2" i.e. the quieter one with 11 ribs!

Hello

I just bought one in India.

It has both the 5 rib casting and wider ridged cover of version 1, although the cover has an extra ridge. The extra ridge should stiffen the cover and perhaps quieten the drive. The PCB is by DYnamic and its part number is 2060-701537-003 REV A, changed from the earlier 2060-701537-002 REV P1.

Manufacturing date is 16 April 08 so it does not seem that Western Digital have favoured the quieter 11 ridge casting after early production trials.

From the label: Product of Malaysia, DCM HARNHT2CG

I was doing musical chairs with my hard drives and pulled them out today to install my new Velociraptor, so I took a look at mine.

Mine looks like Version 2 on the Left with the more radial ribs.

Product of Malaysia
DATE: 23 JAN 2008
DCM: HGNCHV2CH

It's incredibly quiet, in fact the quietest drive I have. Including the WD6400AAKS and the Veliciraptor in 2.5" Scythe.

-Ed

Hello, I found 'version 1' in a local store. How much more noise is there compared to the other one (i.e. "ver. 2")? Sorry, I forgot to look at the manufacture date. But, it had the 'five ribs.' It's about $60 (Cdn $$). If I can't find the other drive, is it worth buying? I am looking for a single-platter HD to be my new OS/System drive.

I don't know if the other version is available but in Ontario (Canada), I can confirm that at least one distributor/retailer is carrying version one with the reduced number of 'ribs.'

FYI.

Edit: Sorry to add but would retailers know what you're talking about if you ask if they stock the '11 ribs' drive? Is it worth it to try to find one? There's a bunch of distributors near me who sell the WD 3200AAKS drive with the B3 code but I don't know if they have the 11 ribs or 5 ribs. Is it possible that both types could be found in the area? Thanks, if anyone knows.

Have recently read the article on the WD3200AAKS harddrives. I have two bought in september 2007, dated august 2007 (am in New Zealand)—and one has just failed (it was from new obviously noisier spun up than the other, the latter being relatively quiet), or to be more precise, is failing (SMART) and i can still boot into it and use it, but do nothing to it regarding partitioning, verifying, &c, and i triple backup eveything so no problems there—and was surprised to find that both are identical to each other but different to the ones in the article! Having also read the article on the WD6400AAKS, i compared them to it, and found that the casing cover (including the plugged holes) and the PCB-side ribbing of my WD3200AAKS drives are identical to the WD6400AAKS illustrated; however, the PCB itself, which looks similar in all three reviewed drives, is different on mine!

The model info is:
      
      Product of Thailand
      MDL: WD3200AAKS-00VYA0
      Date: 26 AUG 2007
      
Thus, all this differs, including the paper sticker, from those reviewed.

I hope you find this of interest; just seen Dirge’s (from NZ also) input, and mine are identical looking to his but with slightly different model designation—looks like i got dual platter ones also.':x' Will be interesting to see what i end up with as a replacement, as presumably the warrantry covers this.

Devlésa