WD My Book 8TB strange sound

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Hi, i got some problem with new HDD WD My Book 8TB

P/N: WDBFJK0080HBK-NA
Model:WDBFJK0080HBK-EESN.

After plug cable in, during start it does strange sound. It is my 3rd HDD from WD, but i never heard such sound before
Here is video:

Is it normal? What do you think about that?
Thanks for reply.

PS:
product of Thailand
(i had a 128 GB kingston MicroSD Card made in Thailand and it died after 1 mount)

2

Hello,

Take a look at this link. Hope it helps.

http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=568

3

Hi, thanks for reply but from that post im not sure if its ok or not, maybe someone with same HDD model could compare if it does same things like in video.

4

I am also getting the same sounds from my My Book 8TB.
Can someone please confirm if this clicking sound is the infamous “Click of Death”?

5

We need to wait until 8TB HDD will die and then we can say yes it was. But i didnt want to risk all 3 WD HDDs 8 TB did same sound also more strange sounds during tests,…

i sent them all back to reseller and bought WD My Book 4 TB HDD and WD My Passport 2TB Ultra Metal Edition. Both are very quiet.

6

Mine sounds exactly the same. I shipped it 2 times to RMA replace, this is my 3rd 8TB unit and they all make the same rattling noise in IDLE it is similar to pneumatic hammer. It looks like the whole 8TB WDBFJK0080HBK series is defective. Somebody from WD support should tak a closer look at this problem. Rattling sound Video - CLICK

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7

As long as the drive is passing diagnostics, then the what you’re experiencing isn’t a problem. The “noise” you’re hearing is to be expected since the drive is working to prevent disturbances in the media lube caused by the prolonged dwelling of the media head at a single location. This is common for HDD suppliers as a preventive activity for reliability.

For more information you can check out Answer ID 15108.

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

1 Like
8

From my experience I know that if the drive makes strange noises even when it pass all the test such drives do often fail. I’ve never heard similar sound in any Hard Drive and I had a lot of HDDs. I had a seagate 8TB and it didn’t make such noise. Does your higher models like 8TB RED NAS or 10TB Gold also make this pneumatic hammer sound?

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9

Sound is subjective. So, when you say pneumatic hammer, I’m thinking something really loud and grinding. When I viewed the video above, I saw that the user was also running a test. That sound is from the utility putting the heads through paces to make sure they’re working correctly. As long as the drive is passing the test, and you are not experiencing increasing bad sectors, the drive is fine.

The sound you should be worried about is a non-stop click, click, click, where the head-arm is slapping the center spindle. If you have that sound, the drive won’t pass anything, it’ll have failed completely.

You need to keep in mind that these drives are helium filled drives, and they will behave in some different ways than the previous drives you are used to. The difference is due to the Helium filling and is designed to get you the best performance out of the drive.

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If you turn my movie from 0:58 and increase your volume you will hear it, this noise is quiet and reminds pneumatic hammer, it can be only heard in IDLE and in IDLE it is present for the most of the time. For me everything what should be heard from hard drive in IDLE is head sound from time to time and of course engine sound. Sound loudness is subjective and I could agree that first loud rattling sound when hard drive starts is normal, it is only reflecting, all your drives I’ve ever had were very quiet, but let’s say it is normal, this HDD is loud, but I am not concern about drive loudness, mainly I am worried about new kind of noise which I haven’t heard in any HDD before. If you say that it’s normal than ok, for me something is not right. Software diagnostics are not fully reliable, sometimes it’s better to just carefully listen. I had drives that had something wrong with mechanics, it made loud clicking, rattling noises e.t.c, despite they passed all the tests they died soon. I don’t want to risk all my data, I will return this HDD and try to find 8TB which makes normal sounds.

1 Like
11

The drive should be fine. These are Helium filled drives. Helium is a different medium with different properties that air. What you’re hearing especially during the idle process is supposed to be happening.

12

I RMA’d one drive last week because of that rattling noise. I ordered a new one from another seller, and it’s doing the same exact noise. On top of that, every 5-10 seconds, there’s a grinding click occuring when idle. I thought the new helium technology was supposed to be an improvement, but I see that it’s going backwards. I work in a quiet environment and such noises are extremely irritating.

Helium is supposed to make HDD’s run cooler, but that external 8TB is running idle at 41C, and 50C under load, while my internal disks are all around 32-35C.

I was very excited to get an 8TB helium HDD, but so far I’m very disappointed in it. I might have to return it. I wonder if the (pricier) WD RED 8TB does the same noises… Perhaps I should get that model instead.

I own a Seagate 8TB Archive and I despise it for its loud grinding when accessing data, and weird clicks when idle. And now WD is showing me they can be as bad as their competition! Totally unacceptable. Seriously WD, you should think about such issues when you design and release new products to the consumers, and make an effort to fix them at least. :pensive:

P.S. I checked youtube, and the WD RED indeed does the same ticking noise every 5-10 seconds as I described - YouTube but at least it doesn’t do the rattle.

13

Sounds like a R/W head isn’t flying right … has an aerodynamic problem. Depending, it could last this way for a very long life or kiss the surface enough to cause an early death. Sounds remind me of early days of rotating memories … I know, I was there.

14

So far with our 8TB MyBook it makes the rattling creaking sound every so often in idle, it’s more prominent when it first starts up or is disconnected improperly. As far as I’m aware, 8TB and higher all make the same noise without any issues. We have had ZERO problems whatsoever. And I mean this thing has been through an earthquake and fallen 7 ft and works like it’s brand new. No performance problems and that’s not something i would normally expect. So far I’m satisfied with my drive and I’ve nothing but good things to say. My colleague also owns an 8TB drive but I’m unsure of what brand, and he says his makes the same constant creaking sounds. After so long I guess you get used to it. But if you’re looking for a large drive that doesn’t make any noise, I don’t think you’ll be able to find one.