New My Book is louder than old My Book, and makes continues rattling noise

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
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I have purchased 2 new WD 8TB My Book drives from Amazon and right after connecting them I noticed they are much louder than my old WD My Book 5TB.

Using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics I run a QUICK TEST, the result were OK. (both new drives get super loud for several seconds. Much louder than my 10 year old laptop with fan running on full blast.)

I ran an EXTENDED TEST for about 20 hours but then cancelled it because it had still about 70 hours to go. WD claims: “The average test time takes about 1 hour per Terabyte.” Error
So is this an indication that have a faulty drive?

I would appreciate it if anyone could listen to these recordings I made and confirm if the noise from 8TB My Book is normal or not.

for comparison:

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This is normal and expected from 8TB units. They use a helium filled motor base assembly technology that allows the drive to run cooler and deliver better overall performance but have a higher acoustic level than 6TB and lower capacity drives.

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=15108

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=15113

1 Like
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Thanks for the info. I understand the new 8TB is supposed to be generally nosier.
Now my only question is if a continuous rattling noise when the drive is idle is also normal

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You should hear the first 8TB My Books when they came out. They had 8TB HGST 7200 RPM Enterprise drives in them. (datacenter drives) Those were loud. Fast too.

You can use a program called HDDSCAN to get drive info from the drive. It will tell you the exact model number of the drive inside the enclosure.

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So I asked for replacement from Amazon. The new drives are equally loud and make the same rattling noise when idle. :frowning: The only difference is that the new ones come with 2 years warranty vs 3 years warranty!

WHAT?!!

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