Do I need to worry about noise from WD Black Caviar 1TB OEM drive ?

[woostersoz]

I just bought a 1TB Western Digital Black Caviar OEM drive and a similar sized WD Green OEM drive for use in my MSI Wind barebones PC.

I have my OS installed on the Black Caviar and am using the Green for my audio/video files storage. During times of intense I/O on the Black Caviar drive (when the orange light on the front panel is on long and bright), I can hear the disk - it is relatively loud.

On the other hand, I cannot ever hear anything from the Green drive. Is there any reason for me to be concerned about the noise I am hearing from the Black Caviar ?

 

[chef7734]

The green drive spins at quite a bit slower speed thus it is quiet. I am not sure why the Black is so loud but kinda worried me when it first spun up so loud. I will most likely move to a velociraptor as my primary drive and the black as my storage.

 

[aford10]

If it sounds like an intermittent clicking, then you have a problem. If it's a consistent high speed clicking, it's the normal sound from the needle on the platter.

 

[woostersoz]

If it sounds like an intermittent clicking, then you have a problem. If it's a consistent high speed clicking, it's the normal sound from the needle on the platter.

Could you pls clarify ? By "intermittent", do you mean during an actual I/O operation, whether it is intermittent ? the way I make it, the disk revs up, makes the loudish noise consistently and then dies back down once the operation is complete - don't know whether this description makes any sense but wanted to check on what you meant - thanks

 

[chef7734]

This is normal with the black. The clicking he is talking about is a click click click. Means the drive is going bad.

 

[aford10]

The 'intermittent' clicking I'm referring to is a single click about every 60 seconds. It will usually cause the computer to momentarily freeze. If it's a higher speed clicking, you're fine. That's just the normal noise from the drive.

 

[aford10]

I have an older raptor drive that makes a good amount of noise. It's nothing to worry about unless it's causing your PC to momentarily freeze.

 

[woostersoz]

fantastic - from what I read in your replies, this seems to be normal for the Black.. I can sleep better now
thanks for your prompt responses

 

[aford10]

You should feel secure with the WD black series. They are very good drives, you made a good choice with your purchase.

 

[dougyfresh]

I have a WD Caviar black 1 TB drive from newegg. I don't hear any weird noises with mine. I am however quite used to 2x 74 Gig Raptors and a medium-noisy case. But still...can't say that I've heard what you describe....good luck! Five-year warranty for-the-win.

 

[woostersoz]

will wait with my fingers and toes crossed i don't hear any clicking - it's just an overall loudish noise from the drive - was just surprised to hear that especially since the Green does not make any noise - but the answers given above have satisfied my curiosity (and worries)

 

[blackybgg]

I just bought the same disk, and nested in NZXT LExa S case, and hear strange relatively loud noise comparing to WD My Book external drive I am using too. Can`t believe this is the normal behavior of this product.

 

[blackybgg]

HEY, find the solution! The key is to make hard drive a little bit slower with appropriate software, link: http://www.withopf.com/tools/aam/

Credits: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/terabyte-hitachi-acoustic,2084-2.html