Western Digital SE owners, come in!

[pillage2001]

I'm just curious. How loud are your drives?? Does your drive whine?? Don't get me wrong, I've got a 120GB WD SE, I'm just making a deduction base on what I've found.

It seems that the WD SE drives have some mechanical problems (Base on what I've seen). Out of 3 WD drives I've tested and used, 2 of the drives gave a high pitched whine and the other 1 which I am using now is silent than any drives you'll ever hear. I've read some threads stating that the D740x is quieter than the WD SE which is not true(at least to me). I've got a D740X at my disposal too and the WD SE is quieter than the D740x by miles.

SO now, I want to know, how many of your drives are whinning?? Or even a least bit of whine?

 

[RaymondY]

I currently have a WD 80GB SE drive and I find it extremely quiet. I can't hear it most times and the only way I know it is working is because the case HDD light is flashing.

Thinking about getting another 80gb drive but haven't decide to sure yet. May wait until SATA drives come out.

 

[Imported]

I have two of the 80GB SE and the only time they make noise is when they access something on them..

 

[Goosemaster]

Mine has a VERY loud whine....

do you think it is a problem....?


failures pssobile?


...I JUSt got it and now am pissed...


By the wya..here at the office, there is an old SCSI RAID arrary on the table next to me...now THAT is a whine...damn things are driVING ME NUTS

 

[NFS4]

NE1 have a WD 800JB Special Edition hard drive that whines at idle?

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: NFS4
NE1 have a WD 800JB Special Edition hard drive that whines at idle?

Weird, I did a search on whine but nothing came up. :Q

Imported, your drive is okay as far as it does not whine I guess.

Goosemaster, I don't think there's a problem but the whinning does get annoying after a while. Ask NFS4, I believe he's had enough. My housemate has a WD SE that whines but he does not give a damn to it. His pc is in the common area and it's annoying me as hell.

 

[techfuzz]

I have a 120GB SE as well, but I can't hear the whining, although that might be because all the fans inside my case drown out the noise. For comparison sake though, there is a 20GB BB WD in the computer on the desk right beside me here at work that I use as a development machine, I can hear the HD whine a little, but it is not unbearable and I didn't notice it until I listened for it. Then again I'm around computers all day so I don't notice anything unless they're making scratching, grinding, or popping sounds!

My 2 cents.

techfuzz

 

[zzzz]

MIne (120gb SE) does not whine.

 

[Rahminator]

You should direct your question specifically to people with quiet computers , because if one has a Delta fan on their CPU and 5 other fans in the case, they won't be able to hear themselves think much less their hard drive making noises. Anyway, if noise is an important factor to you just as it is to me, get a Seagate 'Cuda. It's not a record breaker when it comes to performance, but its silence makes up for it.

 

[Adul]

i have a d740x and a WD 80 Gb JB drive has well. Both are very quite, with the maxtor being slightly quieter then the WD.

 

[RichieZ]

Have a 1000JB in a firewire case, didn't think it was loud at first. But then i replaced the hd in my laptop and its fricking silent. Now I barely turn on the WD unless I need to becasue I find it unbarebly loud. My laptop is silent. U can barely hear it even when its accessing.

 

[jazzman42379]

I have the 80GB SE, and must say that this drive has been wonderful! It's quite, and has shown no sign that anything might be wrong.

Sure hope these WDs don't end up like the IBMs with their reputation for failures.

My 2 cents...
Jazzman

 

[glugglug]

WD1200JB here. Completely silent, the only way I can tell it's in use is the access light.

 

[Ilmater]

I think anyone whose hard drive is the loudest component of his or her computer is insane anyway. I have 4 PC Power and Cooling fans in my computer (they are about the quietest fan you can buy that pushes any decent amount of air) and they hopelessly drown out anything that my nard drives could put out. I own 5 (including one 800JB) and my old maxtor is the loudest of them all (17.2GB 7200RPM), yet not a single one has ever bothered me. For a while, until I could get a case that would fit all of the drives, I had to run with the side panel off. I had it sitting right next to my head too. 5 hard drives, all 7200 RPM, and one ABSOLUTELY SILENT 120mm fan right next to my head. What the hell is wrong with you people?! I just cannot understand how someone can make a hard drive choice based on noise. Now, if I were moving to SCSI, I might talk differently, but no IDE hard drive should bother you that much.

Raleigh, mumbling "Dudley has a rare disease combining symptoms of amnesia, dyslexia and color blindness, with an acute sense of hearing. My research-"
Dudley, from two rooms away "I'm color blind?"
Raleigh whispers "I'm afraid you are."
- Royal Tennenbaums

 

[dbwillis]

My 1200JB is nice and quiet. so are my 2 BB drives

 

[GrumpyMan]

Mine are very quiet, and I do not have a loud computer (many fans). Can't tell it's running unless I look at the LED.

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: Rahminator
You should direct your question specifically to people with quiet computers , because if one has a Delta fan on their CPU and 5 other fans in the case, they won't be able to hear themselves think much less their hard drive making noises. Anyway, if noise is an important factor to you just as it is to me, get a Seagate 'Cuda. It's not a record breaker when it comes to performance, but its silence makes up for it.

I would have direct it to them but I, personally, have a very loud pc too. I still can hear the whine and my GF even wakes up due to the whinning!

It seems that not many are having problems with them. I was just wondering if it's really a design fault since 2 out of 3 drives I came across whined.

 

[foofoo]

i have 3 x 80gb jb, 1 x 100gb jb and 1 x 120gb jb
all are more quiet than the processor fans.
but... one on the 80jb drives was clicking horribly when i first got it. rma fixed that but that's a 20% failure rate for my small sample.

 

[huthut]

It's not only WD drives that whine. I had a Maxtor 15GB that whined and I had to return it cuz the sound drove me nuts.

 

[SocrPlyr]

mine makes what i might consider a very loud whine compared to the rest of my system... but it isn't anything that i have to worry about... if you have something spinning that fast... it is bound to whine... also it isn't that loud... i would compare it to the hmm of most refridgerators... it is definately quieter than the stock amd hsf... (however my current system is intel...)

Josh

 

[Hottar]

Im going to RMA my second 80GB SE, the first one was quiet but would occasionally make terrible sounds and then my system rebooted and the filesystem was damaged on the drive. After a fix or reformat it would run for a couple of days again and then the same story. The last time it died I couldnt even reformat the drive.
The one i have now which was sent as a replacement has been working for about a month and is quiet, but im experiencing bad blocks and sectors. after a reformat its fine for a couple of days and then starts to behave badly again.
I certainly hope that when i get my third one it will not break down.. maybe I should check with my retailer if i can get another drive as replacement?

 

[Dan]

I have a 100GB SE and it's extremely quiet.

 

[tbates757]

I have about an 8 month old Western Digital 100GB SE hard drive and it's been silent, when i rearranged things it was making a lot of noise but I think that was because it wasnt fastened securely and was rattling around (quiet now). Just fiddle with it a bit, they should be quiet.

 

[RaiderJ]

I think anyone whose hard drive is the loudest component of his or her computer is insane anyway. I have 4 PC Power and Cooling fans in my computer (they are about the quietest fan you can buy that pushes any decent amount of air) and they hopelessly drown out anything that my nard drives could put out. I own 5 (including one 800JB) and my old maxtor is the loudest of them all (17.2GB 7200RPM), yet not a single one has ever bothered me. For a while, until I could get a case that would fit all of the drives, I had to run with the side panel off. I had it sitting right next to my head too. 5 hard drives, all 7200 RPM, and one ABSOLUTELY SILENT 120mm fan right next to my head. What the hell is wrong with you people?! I just cannot understand how someone can make a hard drive choice based on noise. Now, if I were moving to SCSI, I might talk differently, but no IDE hard drive should bother you that much.

I disagree. I have a watercooled setup, with waterblocks on my CPU, GPU, and chipset. The only fan I have is a near silent 120mm fan over the radiator, so my 2 hard drives ARE the loudest component of my system.

 

[acidvoodoo]

my drive is silent. if i want to hear it, i can put my ear up to the case and slightly hear it. sometimes it's so quiet i'm not sure if it's loading like game levels or something, always have to glance down at the case light. it's an extremly good drive an di am very happy with it. btw it's the 80 gig one