New Toshiba X300 6TB HDD - Clicking Noise When Writing Data and Loud Noise in General?

Flogger23m

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Recently received a new Toshiba X300 6TB HDD. I am a bit worried as this drive is much louder than any other HDD I've ever owned and when writing large amounts of data I hear a minor clicking sound every 5-6 seconds. When this drive is plugged in the noise emitted from my case at idle practically doubles and you can certainly hear the X300 6TB, which sounds like a muted grinding noise. However the noise is far from being "loud", but in a quiet room you will hear it.


Here is an admittedly poor quality video I took which has the "clicking noises" (when writing data):



Crystal Disk Info:
https://i.imgur.com/yv7CwDF.jpg

My case is a Fractal Design Define S, which does include rubberized spacers for the HDDs to minimize the sound as well as padding on the side panels. For reference, I've only ever had 7,200 RPM drives including WD Blacks were are practically silent in comparison. Currently I run a 5 year old WD Black 2TB which is essentially noiseless, as well as a 7,200 RPM Toshiba 3TB P300 which is also essentially noiseless.

Does this seem normal for an X300 6TB? I've read reviews of this drive being quiet but it is certainly louder than any WD Black or Seagate 7,200 RPM I've ever owned.

Testing wise I've disconnected case fans to see if any were wearing out one by one and those made no difference. The noise levels return to near silent when I remove the X300 and return when I reinstall it, so it is clearly the X300 and not a case fan or the WD Black.
 
Yeah, the 6TB models. I'd have to look up the exact P/N, but they say X300 on the top so probably the same.
 
I've had a couple of drives, a seagate 3tb and a toshiba 4tb (pre x300 model) that can get noisy accessing certain directories in a arc midi case (uses same mounting setup as define s) but not like the sounds you posted. Let us know how the rma process goes please.
 
oh. I have RMA'd a Toshiba drive before. You will need a copy of your receipt, unless the process has changed. They would *not* look up the drive by S/N to verify it was within warranty period, I *had* to have the receipt, which of course I didn't keep. Thankfully I was able to get a reprint of it emailed to me and they accepted that, but it was pretty bullshit overall.
 
oh. I have RMA'd a Toshiba drive before. You will need a copy of your receipt, unless the process has changed. They would *not* look up the drive by S/N to verify it was within warranty period, I *had* to have the receipt, which of course I didn't keep. Thankfully I was able to get a reprint of it emailed to me and they accepted that, but it was pretty bullshit overall.

I got this via the Dell eBay store so I will try and go through them. Will run some tests over night before contacting them though.

Warranty wise if I recall there are some extra hoops to jump through if it is a retail drive, which mine is. WD Blacks are a bit pricey these days otherwise I would've bought another.
 
My preference is HGST for anything 4TB and up personally, though I can't say I've been through their RMA process because I've yet to have one fail within its warranty period. Considering I've (or really, my company) has bought 200+ of the damn things, that's a pretty good record for me :)
 
Sorry to hear that...I thought they looked like some good drives and nice 128mb Cache.

I'm kinda torn between one of those and an External USB 3.0 Drive. Quite some Affordable Options, Seems the Externals are highly regarded and Reliable.
 
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I have no problem with Toshiba drives, except for their RMA process. In addition to needing the additional receipt, instead of replacing the drive they gave me $ as credit on their Toshiba store or whatever, which I could use to order a new drive. In my case, this actually worked out because I was RMA'ing a 3TB drive and was able to pick up a 5TB drive as its replacement.

However, I RMA a good number of drives for my company, and the point is to get a replacement with as little muss and fuss as possible, and their process - both parts of it - interfere in that. Everyone else you just give a S/N for your drives and they look up the warranty and ship you a model-equivalent replacement drive with no muss/fuss. Toshiba is just different.

That said, we still pick up plenty of their drives; specifically, anything 2TB or 3TB in size where HGST doesn't play ball we get Toshiba.
 
Toshiba drives are noisier than others I have noticed, they are 7200 RPM and the fastest drives I seen.I was getting like 225MB speeds on them. Now there is no clicking but I have a seagate which does click when writing or when doing nothing at all and scares the hell out of me. Sometimes it sherrks in the middle of writing large amount of data but no errors or anything else. No other drive does this. There are some drives which occasionally click to re-calibrate but thats rare. Which means it is having trouble finding the markers. Maybe a head alignment problem although they are designed to be self adjusting but a drop and such could shake it off. Your replacement would still be loud but if in warranty I would get it replaced due to the clicking. WD specifically says they re-calibrate occasionally. I have not sat around for hours with new drives to see if it does. Old drives I mean decades old did this often. Especially after the heads were parked. Then I found out the clicking means its the click of death. Which sounds like a BONG.. The little clicks are head moving to next track.. So this depends on the particular drive. Even same model numbers might use different firmware which does things differently. The 6TB has 6 platters so they would be louder than helium filled 7/8 platter drives. They say the cheaper motors are what makes the noise, but Toshiba seems to use the same as most others so this must be a design problem where noise and airflow amplify the noise. Since WD and SGT do not make any noise now ever since they bought out CDC before that their drives screamed and the heads moving could be heard in the next room.
 
Toshiba drives are noisier than others I have noticed, they are 7200 RPM and the fastest drives I seen.I was getting like 225MB speeds on them. Now there is no clicking but I have a seagate which does click when writing or when doing nothing at all and scares the hell out of me. Sometimes it sherrks in the middle of writing large amount of data but no errors or anything else. No other drive does this. There are some drives which occasionally click to re-calibrate but thats rare. Which means it is having trouble finding the markers. Maybe a head alignment problem although they are designed to be self adjusting but a drop and such could shake it off. Your replacement would still be loud but if in warranty I would get it replaced due to the clicking. WD specifically says they re-calibrate occasionally. I have not sat around for hours with new drives to see if it does. Old drives I mean decades old did this often. Especially after the heads were parked. Then I found out the clicking means its the click of death. Which sounds like a BONG.. The little clicks are head moving to next track.. So this depends on the particular drive. Even same model numbers might use different firmware which does things differently. The 6TB has 6 platters so they would be louder than helium filled 7/8 platter drives. They say the cheaper motors are what makes the noise, but Toshiba seems to use the same as most others so this must be a design problem where noise and airflow amplify the noise. Since WD and SGT do not make any noise now ever since they bought out CDC before that their drives screamed and the heads moving could be heard in the next room.

225mbs is fast for that, kinda another reason I was looking at like the x300, old wd blue Loafs around at like 125-150mbs....
 
The Toshiba's are fast enough, but they're not noticeably faster than any other high capacity 7200 RPM drive with similar cache; general performance on these drives is largely controlled by physics and not anything really in the control of the drive vendors.

Do note that drives with higher density platters perform better than lower density platters; in general this means the highest capacity drives perform better.

We use Samsung, HGST, Toshiba, and Seagate drives pretty interchangeably. If you're getting a desktop drive and not using a RAID array, and don't have the cash for a SSD, one of the hybrid drives are a good mid-ground. They unfortunately don't come in the highest capacity though. And if you're doing any kind of RAID, then they aren't any good for that.
 
Helium drives are preferred for low power and low spin noise (seeks are still loud, however).
 
After my last experience with Toshiba warranty service I vowed I'd never buy another and I won't. By far the worst in the industry.
 
The Toshiba's are fast enough, but they're not noticeably faster than any other high capacity 7200 RPM drive with similar cache; general performance on these drives is largely controlled by physics and not anything really in the control of the drive vendors.

Do note that drives with higher density platters perform better than lower density platters; in general this means the highest capacity drives perform better.

Yes since platter density is like 1TB per disk for 6 years.. My 2TB 2 platter seagate gives like 205MB.sec while my 5TB 5 platter Toshiba gives 225MB/sec..

So Toshiba must be using tracks more towards the edge than seagate. All higher density platters seems to be SMR. But I saw some info on using multiple head controllers to read from multiple platters at once. So if they used those 8 platter drives we can get SSD like xfer rates.
 
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