WD120EFAX and AAM

WD Internal Drives Internal Drives
1

Hi, I’m the happy owner of a WD120EFAX, bought in 2020.
I used it for 3 years in a Win 7 rig, and now I’m using it in a new Win 11 rig.

If I remember well, with Win 7 I was able to set AAM to make the drive less noisy (I don’t care about performance).

I can’t find a way to do so with Win 11. Could you please advise on some software, be it WD or 3rd-party?

Thanks in advance.

2

Win 7 Pro was and is, by far a more superior OS in many ways.

HDD internal pattern about occasionally move of the head all by it self, this does not change due power management tweaks.
If you think the HDD sound as annoying? By 99% you are using one of the worst Chinese PC case.

PC case of thick steel with minimal amount of DC fan holes this is the best answer, always was, because it can absorb mechanical sounds.
Cheap cases operate as noise magnifier.

3

CrystalDiskInfo has an acoustic management option in the advanced menu.
Function → Advanced feature →
My WD Gold HDD at Raid Array they are at preset of : Auto AAM/APM adaption
AAM/APM control this is locked and not applicable for RAID Array.

My SSD this found also to be at: Auto AAM/APM adaption
Only the APM can be tweaked.

In theory if you see AAM listed at CrystalDiskInfo → Features field next S.M.A.R.T., then this specific Non-Raid HDD this accepts AAM control.
If this setting will hold as permanent or not, this is another story.

4

Thanks for your reply.

For the record my case is not particularly cheap : it’s an expensive Corsair Crystal 280X with a dual chamber design. The hard drive is on a special removable tray with rubber protections. It’s supposed to be a “silent” case rather than an “airflow” case.

Thanks for the tip about CrystalDiskInfo, I didn’t know that!
I have checked, and unfortunately AAM doesn’t seem to be available for my drive. The option is greyed out (I have tried with several CrystalDiskInfo versions).

Thanks anyway!

5

Latest version of CrystalDiskInfo this is sufficient if AAM this is supported.

You are welcome !