Should I assume based on sources below that WD20EZRX uses 1TB platters?
Which should I buy? Should less platters reduce noise?
Are there any other good choices for silent 2TB drives?

HNY

http://rml527.blogspot.com/2010/10/hdd- ... _1109.html

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/S ... 771438.pdf

WD20EZRX
123 MB/s

WD20EARX
110 MB/s

Neither drive will give you stellar performance. I've had several of the EARS drives in my server for a long time and they were nearly inaudible. Unless you were exceptionally sensitive to noise, you wouldn't hear them. I haven't worked with the EARX or EZRX models, but my guess is that either of them would be acceptably quiet.

I have both and both are very quiet, but it's very difficult for me to compare since they are in in softmounted Scythe quietdrives. I would go with the EZRX because of one less platter.

Good to know the WD Green is quiet. I just bought a WD Blue 1TB. It is very loud in my Antec Solo II build. In fact, it's the only audible component and I can hear it at idle several feet away. I am shipping it back to Amazon tomorrow and have already ordered the WD Green 1TB to replace it.

The odd thing is that my older WD Blue (WD6400AAKS) drives (in a Solo with silicone grommets) are much quieter than this new drive.

FWIW, I'm running a WD20EARS in a ReadyNAS Duo and it's fairly quiet - not inaudible, but definitely quieter than the 1TB 7200.12 that it also houses.

However, The Seagate 7200.12 has made quite a bit of "buzzing" noise (not sure how to better describe it, but it's pretty obnoxious) over the past few months and its reallocation sector count has increased, so it seems to be failing.

I have my eyes on either the WD20EZRX, WD20EARX or WDBAAY0020HNC-ERSN.

Since the drive will be used in a NAS, I guess performance isn't too important, so at this point I'm thinking about just getting what is cheaper? There doesn't seem to be any major differences between the different models.

Sorry about the thread-hijack, but this seemed like a relevent place to post, at any rate

I have both drives, and the EZRX is noticeably louder.

I ended up grabbing an EARX, which was a very noticeable noise reduction from the 7200.12 that was definitely on its last legs

I installed the EZRX in a Solo II and it is very quiet. However, I am not using it as an OS drive. It's just for storage.