Hello there. I got this drive two weeks ago and I’d like to confirm with the community if this level of noise is normal. I’ve never heard anything like it coming from an internal drive, and in theory the Gold brand should be quieter than the rest. Please note this is its IDLE state:
The drive is louder than anything else in my computer, including fans running on load. Even a NAS server sitting next to the PC with 4 10TB Reds is quieter.
The exact model of the drive is WD102KRYZ. Any comments? Is this kind of noise to be expected in these drives? Many thanks in advance!
Hello,
Please refer to the following KBA article: Error
I think this is normal noise of WD Gold edition drives. They are enterprise class and are louder than consumer class drives. They are meant to be installed in servers runing 24/7 so quiet operation is not a design priority. Have you ever heard old SCSI server drives? they sounded like a jet engine so this is quite an improvement. However if you want to be sure nothing wrong with your drive run the Extended Test of WD Data Lifeguard application.
That’s my conclusion, yes, that it was normal. But I don’t think the “it’s for enterprise” is a valid argument. After some research, I found several folks complaining that the WD101EFAX model is considerably louder than the WD100EFAX. They described the sound as a “really loud fan” or high-pitched hissing. Exactly what I experienced with this drive. Extremely annoying.
Looking at the specs, it happens that both the WD102KRYZ and WD101EFAX models share the same acoustics rate: 34-38 dB. A minor model version change resulting in a NAS drive that is twice as loud? Unacceptable.
Between the SMR vs CMR debacle and now this, it feels as if WD is becoming sloppy. I’ve been using the brand for decades, and I’m simply disappointed that I can’t trust it as I used to.
