My first WD noise complaint - please tell me what's quieter

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

I’ve had numerous WD internal drives through the years and been very happy. I currently have 5 various WD drives in a large fan-cooled Antec tower and it’s always been very quiet until my last upgrade. Based on such good luck with WD through the years, I purchased two WD5003AZEX 500 GB Black drives. MAN! They are noisy compared to everything else I’ve had.

I looked up the noise specs on WDC.com before selecting these drives, and expected them to be at least as quiet as the other Blacks, Blues, and Greens that I’ve owned. And I purposely chose smaller capacity drives expecting them to be quieter than larger ones.

Well, I’m dissapointed. Not only are the drives loud, they also didn’t improve my Windows Performance Score at all.

Both drives sound the same. I’ve swapped them in and out with other drives to confirm it’s just these. It’s not access noise chatter that’s a problem. It’s just the constant loud spinning noise. And it’s not a smooth whishing noise, but more of a peaky note somewhere around 800 Hz or so. Like someone’s blowing softly and constantly over an open beer bottle. Not super loud, but constantly audible and annoying in an otherwise very quiet computer.

So, I’m not asking for money back or anything. Just please point me to a solid, dependable, reasonable high-performing 3.5" SATA drive that’s really quiet. Needs to be Black or similar, 500 GB or larger. I’m not a gamer or overclocker, but I do record music with this PC.

I appreciate an honest, straight answer.

Thanks!

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Hello, 

Welcome to the WD Community.

First check if the sound comming out of the unit is normal.

Check the following link for assistance

How to tell if the noise or sound the drive is making is normal

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That’s a stock answer, which means you didn’t read my post. Please go back and read it.

Yes, it’s “normal”. It’s just louder than any previous WD drives I’ve ever had. Given the published specs suggest this drive should be as quiet or quieter than others, I’m inclined to believe all the drives in your current line are this loud.

What I’m looking for is some acknowledgement that maybe this particular drive, or all the current Black drives, are known to be louder than previous models, or perhaps they’re known to be louder than Blues or Greens. I just want a straight answer so I can pick out a quieter drive to replace these.

I suspect I’ll be looking around from another brand at this point. Shame, I’ve been faithful to WD for years, and I thought they were one thing I could count on. But this noise is unacceptable.