WD Red very loud noise when being used and quiet when it's not. is it normal?

R

Rovopio

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so... i bought my first WD red around 3 weeks ago...
from reviews i assume it should be quieter than WD green. i never have an internal WD green but i have a couple external 3.5" mybook (which is green? CMIIW), so im familiar with it's seeking sound and the fan-like noise it generates.

on my PC, the WD red when being accessed, even when i just use it to create new folder, or just accessing it to enter some folders, it emits a clack clock clack clock sound really loud like a drum.

it's at least twice or three times louder than wd green seeking noise.

initially i thought it was the drive dying. i tried crystaldisk info, and it's reported good. atm i'm doing the extended test with WD datalifeguard diagnostics, still 2 hours remiaining...

1 thing to note... it's very very quiet when not being accessed at all though. when i just use the SSD and not use the WD red at all, it hardly emits any sound. but as soon as i access it, it's clack clack clack clack clack, like marbles falling to the floor.

i tried gaming with it, and when i stand still in an area with no enemy, then no sound, but when i go to new environment, i assume the drive renders or smthn, then its clack clack clack again.

is this common behavior with WD red?

im going to try RMA the drive though i'm quite concern that the local distributor probably won't accept it because smart test on crystaldiskinfo is showing everything is just fine.

is there any test i should conduct before going to local distributor to RMA it?
 
moreempty said:
i dont think its normal, my disks are quiet. got some wdred 4 and 3 TB
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any tests i can try to check the drive health?
if i rma i probably have to argue with the local distributors, so it's always good to bring "proof"

the only thing i've tried is crystaldiskinfo and it reported good
 
Even though at times I answer questions when half asleep I should read the whole post... Sorry for wasting your time with that.

then its clack clack clack again
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I was going to ask you to record this sound. However have you disabled the 20 minute spin down while idle of windows? I mean you could be describing the normal spinup of a drive.
 
drescherjm said:
Even though at times I answer questions when half asleep I should read the whole post... Sorry for wasting your time with that.

I was going to ask you to record this sound. However have you disabled the 20 minute spin down while idle of windows? I mean you could be describing the normal spinup of a drive.
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since im new to building pc and pc components in general. that could be it.
how do i know if it's normal spinup of a drive anw?
does drive spinup means.. if i hvnt access the drive for some period of time, say 30 minutes, and then i go and access it, then it emits sound?

what about when i'm still accessing it constantly? will it go tock tock tock for 2 hours non-stop while it's being accessed for 2 hours non-stop? because that's what is happening.

whenever i access the drive to do something it emits the tock tock noise. i create new folder, tock tock tock. i stop doing anything on it then its quiet.

i play game on it and keep moving then its tock tock tock all the way.
i play game on it and just stand still, like in mass effect game, then it's very quiet.

is that normal spinup?
 
does drive spinup means.. if i hvnt access the drive for some period of time, say 30 minutes, and then i go and access it, then it emits sound?
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Yes. Unless you changed the default it should have spun down. And when you access the drive it will spin back up. It will probably take 20 to 30 seconds to do so.

Edit:
I deleted the rest of my answer because normal seeking is should be audible but not "really loud like a drum." or "like marbles falling to the floor."
 
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That does not sound like normal HDD sounds at all. It should make a small noise when seeking, reading/writing but not if its really loud like that.
 
drescherjm said:
Yes. Unless you changed the default it should have spun down. And when you access the drive it will spin back up. It will probably take 20 to 30 seconds to do so.

Edit:
I deleted the rest of my answer because normal seeking is should be audible but not "really loud like a drum." or "like marbles falling to the floor."
Click to expand...

Nexillus said:
That does not sound like normal HDD sounds at all. It should make a small noise when seeking, reading/writing but not if its really loud like that.
Click to expand...

okay as i've mentioned in the first post, im a long-time laptop user, i rarely use PC and this is the first internal drive i bought. so i don't have a comparison of what a regular quiet~loud drive sounds like (i did YT how wd drive sounded like though). From the the time i last posted here, i did some tests and have subsequent question about it... btw... the drum part of the post is an exaggeration, but the loudness level i'd say is quite like marble falling to the floor. i live next to a train station, so.. that kind of paint a picture on how loud this is. my old laptop fan is loud too so yeah.

so... i took out the drive from the case and put it on top of my motherboard cardboard box to test it out. i put it side by side with my external wd green and copy a 100 gb files to both one drive and then the other.
so... the tock tock sound is still there even after i took the drive out from the case but good news... it's not as loud as marble falling to the floor. it's still louder than my external mybook wd green but it's far lower.

upon scrutinizing the sounds very closely.. it makes me have a couple of questions i'd like to ask... i noticed that there are 2 kinds of noise coming from a hard drive, whirring fan-like sound and the tock tock sound.

the green mybook external emits noticeable whirring fan-like sound continously, however the tock tock sound is very low and at an irregular interval. (like tock... tock tock.. tock tock.... tock...) there's a period of quietness between the tock noise. the red however, if i dont put my ear very closely above the drive, i couldn't hear the wirring fan-like sound, so that part is great. but the tock tock sound when being accessed is at a regular interval (like tock tock tock tock tock tock tock to infinity), whenever i stop accessing the red drive, the tock almost instantly.

it's not loud but since it's at a regular interval it's probably takes a little while to get used to, and it's kind of driving me a little nuts tbh.

so my question is...
1) whenever a hard drive is being access, will it emits tock tock sound non-stop? if i copy 800 gb worth of files to the drive and it takes an hour, will it goes tock tock tock non-stop for an hour?
similarly.. if i edit video / picture files on the drive.. is that considered access? will it tock tock non-stop the whole time as well?

2) is that tock tock sound what drive reviews meant by "seek sound / seeking noise"?

3) lastly... what's that whirring-fan noise i hear regularly from the drive? is that the platter spin noise or is there a small fan inside a drive?

4) is the whirring noise what is called "idle sound"?

cheersss for all the help :D
 
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