Vibration -- normal?

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

I have just purchased a MyBook Essential 2TB (USB3), and also a MyBook Live 2TB (Ethernet).

The MybookLive has absoluately no vibration at all, whereas with the Essential I can feel slight vibration from the motor (or spinning patters etc.) when I touch the case.

Is this normal? or is there something wrong / unbalanced spindle with the Essential to cause this slight vibration?

Thanks for any advice.

2

It is normal for a USB drive to vibrate, it is normal, do not worry about it

3

Thanks, but why is it “normal for a USB” drive? I understood that both the MyBook Live and the Essential use the same WD Green 2TB drive. ie Why would one vibrate and not the other?

4

Mine vibrates too, always has. It’s a big drive. I agree that this is most likely normal.

5

Most likely, the USB drive is been accessed more than your NAS, some drives vibrate more than others. Just to give you an example, I have several Passport drives, 500 GB, 750 GB and 1 TB, all USB 3.0, the 750 GB model vibrate a bit, now, the 1 TB is vibration free, I am 100 % sure that it vibrates to, but I have not noticed.

6

Ok I trust there’s nothing wrong with the drive – but I would prefer no vibration. As a mechanical engineer, I do know that zero vibration is preferable to having vibration in rotating machinery. I’ve never known vibration to increase the life of a component :wink: It only ever reduces it – especialy when it’s spinning at 6,000rpm!

Also, the point you make about one drive being accessed more than the other is not relevant here – because i notice it whether the drives are in idle or not. The only time the vibration stops is when it’s gone into ‘sleep’ mode – ie when the motor stops.